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Cool but obscure X11 tools

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Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#171

Post by eastendguy »

microcolonel wrote: post #44
throwamay1241 wrote: post #10

For those looking for obscure-but-useful, checkout xdotool. `sleep 2; xdotool type "foo"` is super handy for typing passwords into virtual machines which don't support guest additions. I'd rather not elaborate on the filthy things I've made it do, but rest assured you can use it to do some quick and dirty automation tasks if you really need to :)

I suggest Sikuli, it does fuzzy matching on your screen contents to determine whether to continue with your dirty, dirty hacks.

For a new light-weight alternative to Sikuli that does not require Java, check out the UI.Vision browser extension + xmodule:

https://ui.vision/x/desktop-automation

Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#172

Post by zlynx »

bechampion wrote: post #9

xeyes isn't obscure , how else do you test that ssh x forwarding works otherwise :)

xeyes is also a great way to tell if you're in a Wayland session. If it tracks your mouse always, it's X. If it only tracks in its own window, it's Wayland.

Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#174

Post by ksangeelee »

kfir wrote: post #150

To read that "editors/vim" is an obscure tool is nothing short of astonishing.

To be fair, it's Gvim that's listed, which presumably is bundled with the main vim package.

I had some vague awareness there was a GUI version of Vim, but only just checked it out after spotting it in the list. The menus serve as a handy reference for common commands. Quite good really.

Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#175

Post by netsharc »

Accacin wrote: post #161
big_chungus wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Code which, for most people, does work. That doesn't mean other stuff couldn't have been better. Here's the problem the systemd argument: it's motte-and-bailey. Systemd is a huge collection of tools, not just an init system: it's got resolved, journald, logind, tmpfiles, bootctl, networkd, and more. However, whenever it's criticized, proponents fall back on "but it's a great init system!" I agree that the unit file…

> Also, he thinks he's smarter than every one. Wow, are we insulting people like we're twelve now? Again, I have to ask. Why are you not writing a replacement for systemd? Again, another person in this thread seems to think they know everything yet don't seem to have any code to show for it.

Please be advised, I've downvoted your comments asking "if you know better, where's your code?", because I think that line of argument is absurd and has no legitimacy.

To use some analogy, imagine I, a non-cook, have been invited to a restaurant by friends. After the meal I say to the waiter "this food is way too salty!", and he replies, "Oh yeah, then go in the kitchen and replace our cook!".

What, you think we all don't have dayjobs and can just devote our time to...

1) learn to code C/C++ 2) learn about the OS 3) architect, code and debug a replacement

? Please don't be an absolutist and think "everyone can contribute to open source!", in the real world, time is finite.

Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#176

Post by mongol »

acdha wrote: post #165
arendtio wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I think Lennart misjudged how much trouble his projects caused. And especially Systemd was nothing you could easily avoid. So I can understand that there were quite a few people angry at him and the way he was doing things. In addition, he is someone who can dish out to others too (I remember a (badly prepared) talk he attended and completely sabotaged by asking questions and make the speaker look like a total…

> Well, I think Lennart misjudged how much trouble his projects caused. And especially Systemd was nothing you could easily avoid. Think about your second sentence a bit, and why it's true: major Linux distributions adopted systemd. Did they do that because it really caused a bunch of trouble or because a deliberative review process showed that it solved a number of hard problems? A small percentage of people having…

i think Lennart should be commended. Certain "projects" have such breadth in scope that they seem undermountable because they require an entire ecosystem to follow. Init was one of these. He managed to change it, it hurt, but it was for the better, all things considered.

Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#177

Post by brimstedt »

z3t4 wrote: post #29

Cloud computing is becoming a thing ... eg. apps that runs "in the cloud" or in your browser. But with Xserver you can just ssh -X into any machine, run an app, and the front-end GUI will be visible on your machine! You can even play games that way. Technology keeps going in circles ...

I find xforwarding extremely slow and sluggish. Can/Do you use it efficiently?

Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#178

Post by flomo »

mwfunk wrote: post #134
scrollaway wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lennart Poettering is a dev who has contributed massive amounts of code most people in this thread use every hour of every day. Code which, for most people, does work. It's not like free software has a shortage of talented contributors that people hate for a variety of reasons. At some point you have to actually point out the issues productively, rather than the boring character assassination, or just randomly saying…

This aspect of the community is one of the biggest turnoffs to me. There are a lot of people who formulate these really over the top narratives about everything, which lead to (for example) writing long seething angry personal rants about people like Lennart (Miguel de Icaza was another lightning rod back in the day). The sheer emotion expressed invalidates whatever point they're trying to make, but at the end of the…

Well stated description of the culture around this. I find it hard to take technical critiques of systemd seriously because the well was poisoned from day 1 by personalizing this to such a great degree.

Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#179

Post by Avamander »

liability wrote: post #164
Avamander wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone has a thick enough skin to deal with situations the best way. The community should take lead as well.

The "community" in this case is in fact not a community at all, merely a loose set of people who's only common characteristic is having an opinion on systemd. A reasonable user of SystemD, like myself, has no power to coerce a complete stranger who sees fit to email Lennart a death threat. The "community" cannot stop this. Either Lennart should work on how he handles such criticism/abuse, or Red Hat/IBM should hire a…

I'm not talking strictly about death threats, calling him random slurs already is too much and has happened on HN, this "loose set of people" should not, and it'd already probably change his opinion about different communities. Lennart should absolutely sometimes choose his words, like Linus, but I don't think we should be excusing insults with saying "it's unenforceable" when most places haven't really tried to remain civil due to personal beliefs.

Re: Cool but obscure X11 tools

#180

Post by lmilcin »

throwamay1241 wrote: post #10

For those looking for obscure-but-useful, checkout xdotool. `sleep 2; xdotool type "foo"` is super handy for typing passwords into virtual machines which don't support guest additions. I'd rather not elaborate on the filthy things I've made it do, but rest assured you can use it to do some quick and dirty automation tasks if you really need to :)

I use it for all sorts of things.

I recently had to do some mandatory training which would require me to spend 30h in front of the computer clicking every couple of seconds. The issue is that I already know the material perfectly well, so my time would be spent better learning something else.

Nothing so difficult that couldn't be done with simple shell loop and automated clicking with xdotool:)

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