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Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

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181–190 of 666 posts

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#181

Synergy. It's a keyboard and mouse sharing client/server application that runs on every platform I use. I don't know if better alternatives exist because it has just been rock-solid for the last 12 years that I've been using it. I've used it in multi-monitor and machine desktop setups (e.g. an Apple laptop paired with a Windows desktop and linux desktop for enterprisey cubicle development), as well as to let me drive…

I just purchased this recently (having used it ages ago) to drive a second computer on my desk. My problem is that once the guest machine goes to sleep, I can't seem to wake it via Synergy. Is this expected behavior? I have WoL enabled, so theoretically I should be able to just move my mouse over to the sleeping monitor to wake it up.

Unless synergy has explicit support for WoL (it didn't last time I used it, but it's been years), it won't just work.

You'd need to patch the synergy server to send a WoL magic packet[1] to wake up the client whenever it sends a message that might hit a client that's asleep. (some systems might support something other than the standard magic packet, but I don't know of anything else that works consistently cross platform.) Might also need to look at making sure the client connection comes back up clean and have some delay to make sure it's ready to receive whatever message started the process, and doesn't timeout while waking up.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN#Magic_packet

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#182

Alfred ( https://www.alfredapp.com ) Alfred is absolutely the most game-changing app I've ever been introduced to. I only use it for finding files, searching, opening a page by direct URL, defining words, calculator, translation (via Google), launching apps, and quickly jumping to apps that are already open. It's probably saved me hundreds of hours in clicking around, etc. I've never purchased the paid version (been…

I've installed Alfred before but just kept using Spotlight. I never saw why it amazes so many people. What does it do that Spotlight can't?

See my comment above. For me it seems more accurate.

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#183
post #43

Sublime Text Files auto save, so a crash, or even accidental close will not cause you to lose anything. Also handles massive files, which is nice. On top of being a nice, very configurable code editor,

I like sublime text too. but the most recent update seems to have an issue. sometimes when opening a file on linux, I won't see any content rendered unless I resize the sublime text window.

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#184

I'm absolutely amazed I haven't seen Photoshop on the list yet. Incredibly powerful, very reliable, thoroughly worth the pricetag - and I don't love subscription software. It's generally a joy to use. And I can't think of another piece of powerful visual creation software that is.

Photoshop is incredibly glitchy, at least its Windows version is. It manages to crash even while initializing.

CS5 never crashes for me...

That said, The price tag is obscene. Large price tags for specialty business software is fine when the publisher is an indy developer with a small demographic. Photoshop does not qualify.

I understand they will charge whatever the market will pay, but that doesn't make it right or "not evil". It's 2016 and I think we should really grow up as a species. Competing so ferociously with your fellow man that you make all the money and they end up dead should not really be socially tolerable.

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#185

Alfred ( https://www.alfredapp.com ) Alfred is absolutely the most game-changing app I've ever been introduced to. I only use it for finding files, searching, opening a page by direct URL, defining words, calculator, translation (via Google), launching apps, and quickly jumping to apps that are already open. It's probably saved me hundreds of hours in clicking around, etc. I've never purchased the paid version (been…

By far my favorite Alfred integration is with Dash, the offline documentation viewer: https://kapeli.com/dash

I have an Alfred workflow with a hotkey of COMMAND+OPTION+CTRL+P that searches Dash. I then type whatever it is that I'm searching for and Alfred displays the likely matches sorted by the docset preference order in Dash. It makes me feel psychic and I can't imagine working without it now.

It's the first feature I show people who ask, "Why use Alfred instead of Spotlight?"

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#186
Git, Linux, Python, Sublime Text, Redis, Postgresql, VLC.

Also Ubuntu, I remember how I always felt having a half broken setup when I started using it in 2007 but for the past 2-3 years it just worked, really stable, no more release upgrade mess ups, really enjoy it.

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#189

Alfred ( https://www.alfredapp.com ) Alfred is absolutely the most game-changing app I've ever been introduced to. I only use it for finding files, searching, opening a page by direct URL, defining words, calculator, translation (via Google), launching apps, and quickly jumping to apps that are already open. It's probably saved me hundreds of hours in clicking around, etc. I've never purchased the paid version (been…

I currently use Launchbar, does anyone have any good examples of where Alfred might be better?

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#190
MOC. Music on Console. I've been using it forever with no issues of any kind. It's immediate, it's lightweight, it never fails, it works with my files in my hierarchies, it has all the important functions mapped to individual keys. It's brilliant. My wife calls it "nerd mode," which obviously makes it even more appealing.
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