Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

fourth-wall.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 336 posts

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#121

Post by oneplane »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #85
bubbab wrote: post #77

I use PowerToys just for the easy key remapping, which I wish was a built-in feature in more keyboards. Works very nicely as a simple alternative to AutoHotKey. My RSI has gotten a lot better by just remapping Caps Lock to Ctrl. If any PowerToys feature deserves to be added to Windows, it's gotta be the Keyboard Manager.

Key shortcut remapping should absolutely be a base feature of every single OS for accessibility reasons. Back when I used to use Adobe Fireworks there was a shortcut for flattening the current selection, I believe it was cmd+ctrl+shift+Z and I'm pressing this hundreds of times a week and eventually it gave me RSI. After this happened I remapped it to cmd+F, luckily the app had the ability to do that but honestly I co…

In macOS at least you can remap any key as well as keyboard shortcut (both globally and per-app) from the built in OS keyboard preferences. The only thing it requires is that the thing you want to change has a "menu item" (so a named thing in the top menu bar in any of the submenus). Hotkey mapping works by simply mapping to any of the texts in those (sub) menus, however deep you want to go. The great thing about it is the developer of the app doesn't need to do anything to allows that, and it essentially only gets broken if an app goes out of its way to be as non-native as possible (i.e. if it doesn't even use the standard libraries that ship with the OS).

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#122

Post by pletnes »

bubbab wrote: post #77

I use PowerToys just for the easy key remapping, which I wish was a built-in feature in more keyboards. Works very nicely as a simple alternative to AutoHotKey. My RSI has gotten a lot better by just remapping Caps Lock to Ctrl. If any PowerToys feature deserves to be added to Windows, it's gotta be the Keyboard Manager.

It’s a great feature. It doesn’t always work 100% stable though. Would love to see it put further into the OS somehow. Macos key / modifier remaps are much more stable than powertoys’.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#123

Post by oneplane »

samstave wrote: post #98
whywhywhywhy wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Key shortcut remapping should absolutely be a base feature of every single OS for accessibility reasons. Back when I used to use Adobe Fireworks there was a shortcut for flattening the current selection, I believe it was cmd+ctrl+shift+Z and I'm pressing this hundreds of times a week and eventually it gave me RSI. After this happened I remapped it to cmd+F, luckily the app had the ability to do that but honestly I co…

100% And it should be a global panel for all installed apps.. With a tab for each app-map, and the ability to export/import a settings file.

It is, minus the built-in import/export (but plists can be copied): https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchlp2262/12....

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#125

Post by samstave »

octagons wrote: post #15

Fancy Zones makes my day-to-day so much more convenient. I wish there was an equivalent in Linux that worked as well - I’ve tried a few gnome plugins but always been disappointed.

Winery+arrows change the location/min-max of a window.

Win+shift plus arrow moves window to each monitor

Three finger swipe on track pad give you open windows as displayed on each desktop, with ability to drag window to whatever desktop.

I keep three desktops, all with a different wallpaper so I know which desktop for what.

All work windows on D1 - research - d2 - and primary app I’m using if needs full screen on d3.

The only problem is forgetting to switch desktop when you switch mental modes…. Like opening a bunch of HN links in your app desktop…

So just redraft them from whatever to wherever.

I’ll check out fancy…

—-

What I also like, is I have two external USB monitors for my laptop..

And I have a diff display layout depending on which of the additional screens I have plugged in. It remembers the location of each.

So when I have just one screen plugged in, the second is to the right.

When both are connnected: it knows that one is right and one is up above.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#127

Post by [deleted] »

bubbab wrote: post #77

I use PowerToys just for the easy key remapping, which I wish was a built-in feature in more keyboards. Works very nicely as a simple alternative to AutoHotKey. My RSI has gotten a lot better by just remapping Caps Lock to Ctrl. If any PowerToys feature deserves to be added to Windows, it's gotta be the Keyboard Manager.

[deleted]

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#128

Post by withinboredom »

Zardoz84 wrote: post #105
adam_arthur wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of the box windows management for MacOS is much worse than Windows, so not sure I follow? Power Toys does make Windows 10x better though... and they really should make it the default once it's fully stable. I used to prefer MacOS for development, but Windows has far surpassed it in recent years, between native linux experience in WSL and better QOL tooling via Power Toys. The removal of vertical taskbar has been…

Simply try a native Linux install. You will find far better that "our way or the highway" behavior of Windows and OSX .

That assumes the kernel supports the hardware. There’s nothing more annoying than only having a left speaker work, or WiFi not working, etc

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#129

Post by ziml77 »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #25
azalemeth wrote: post #2

Many, if not most of these tools contain functionality that is built into other major OSes, and had been for a long time. I don't really understand why Microsoft doesn't include them by default.

I actually think it's bad for an OS to include too many features out of the box. Basically every modern platform has already gone too far in this direction, making computers more difficult for casual users to understand. Vendors should include only the bare essentials, then let users who want more add their own extras. Imagine an OS similar to the original Macintosh, or maybe early versions of iOS, but with add-ons t…

I actually find it strange how many people I'm seeing crap on PowerToys because you get the features out-of-the-box on other platforms.

First off, macOS is missing its own features such as three-finger tap to middle click and window snapping, and what you get on Linux is going to vary based on your DE.

Second, building something in adds bloat for people who don't use it and can kill off choices of third-party options that might do the feature (subjectively) better (I still see people mad that Apple killed Sherlock by building their own version of it in)

I like the idea of something pluggable, but also with sane and disableable default features that 98% of users will be totally fine with.

Re: PowerToys – open-source Windows utilities

#130

Post by R0b0t1 »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #96
jcrben wrote: post #67

I found that IT at work wouldn't let me install powertoys because they didn't like the Awake feature. Please bundle these in of allow us to install them one by one.

That's stupid, there's no way to avoid that. If you can't do it in software you can do it in hardware. I do it when working at home with a digispark that simulates a mouse that moves a tiny bit once in a while. You could even place the mouse on a moving surface or something. I think in the office locking a PC is very important but in a WFH situation much less so. Especially in my case where I live alone.

There's environments where you get in trouble for unauthorized USB devices. Of course, you can just have them emulate an allowed VID/PID pair and get away with it, but it will lead to a rules clarification.
Post reply on HN