Sol: Open-source Alfred/Raycast alternative for macOS • Hacker News Board

Re: Sol: Open-source Alfred/Raycast alternative for macOS

#51

Post by gingerlime » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:38 PM UTC

humbleferret wrote: post #4

Aside from being open source and not mining user data, what benefits does this provide over Alfred/Raycast?

without using Sol, I would say that not mining user data is quite a big benefit.

From the Raycast privacy policy:

> We use Personal Data for the following purposes:

> …

> To analyze how you interact with our Service. Reason: For our legitimate interests or those of a third party, ie to be as efficient as we can in our delivery of the Service to you

(personal opinion: it doesn’t pass the smell test)

Re: Sol: Open-source Alfred/Raycast alternative for macOS

#52

Post by g1ntas » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 1:51 PM UTC

leejoramo wrote: post #50

g1ntas wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess, the MacOS native Spotlight influenced the growth of more indie “launchers”. Especially, Spotlight being quite limited customization wise. I personally lately leaning towards niche launchers like: * https://blipnotes.app for note taking; * https://shortcat.app for “clicking” interface without a mouse; * https://dashlook.app for searching git repositories/pull requests (disclaimer: I am the creator). It just p…

LaunchBar is the original of this style of launcher including using cmd-space, fuzzy search of apps and files, calculator and more actions. LaunchBar originated on NeXT and thus pre-dates Mac OS X. I believe, I started using LaunchBar during the original OS X Beta. It highly influenced QuickSliver, Alfred and Spotlight, Keypirinha, PowerToys Run, etc. You can still download the old versions all the way back to NeXT:…

I heard about LaunchBar, never suspected it was originator of “launcher” apps. Probably because it has quite modern design.

If you are looking for a new alternative, try Raycast. It’s supposedely better than Alfred, though for my taste it had too many features (same could be said about Alfred).

Re: Sol: Open-source Alfred/Raycast alternative for macOS

#53

Post by alsetmusic » Wed, Aug 10, 2022, 2:59 PM UTC

leejoramo wrote: post #50

g1ntas wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess, the MacOS native Spotlight influenced the growth of more indie “launchers”. Especially, Spotlight being quite limited customization wise. I personally lately leaning towards niche launchers like: * https://blipnotes.app for note taking; * https://shortcat.app for “clicking” interface without a mouse; * https://dashlook.app for searching git repositories/pull requests (disclaimer: I am the creator). It just p…

LaunchBar is the original of this style of launcher including using cmd-space, fuzzy search of apps and files, calculator and more actions. LaunchBar originated on NeXT and thus pre-dates Mac OS X. I believe, I started using LaunchBar during the original OS X Beta. It highly influenced QuickSliver, Alfred and Spotlight, Keypirinha, PowerToys Run, etc. You can still download the old versions all the way back to NeXT:…

> You can still download the old versions all the way back to NeXT:

I had no idea Launchbar went back so far! Thanks for this. My respect for that app has been enhanced. I was also on the beta of OS X, but didn’t run into this until many years later.

Re: Sol: Open-source Alfred/Raycast alternative for macOS

#54

Post by EricE » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 12:42 AM UTC

m1keil wrote: post #23

Installed via brew to try it out. Won't lunch. The process is running, but I just can't seem to make it pop up?

Yup - an indication of how to trigger/what it would look like if successfully triggered might actually help with troubleshooting?

Re: Sol: Open-source Alfred/Raycast alternative for macOS

#55

Post by EricE » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 12:43 AM UTC

jackthetab wrote: post #20

Where are the docs? There's nothing (obvious to me) in the repo. The official site is just the README.md. I installed it via brew; there's no man page. Bash can't find it. Spotlight found it and ran it...I guess. What am I missing?

The author thinks he's being clever not providing docs. I hate it when people play games - and yes dev, you have failed.

Re: Sol: Open-source Alfred/Raycast alternative for macOS

#56

Post by trenchgun » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 9:04 AM UTC

oscar_franco13 wrote: post #30

Hey HackerNews, I'm the creator of Sol. Here are some answers to your questions: - Why Sol? I started using Raycast, and it's nice, but found it cumbersome, too many features tackled on top of each other with even more cumbersome navigation. I'm a ruthless simplifier and I wanted a similar yet I-don't-want-to-configure-you tool. I also believe that VC money backed tools face the though reality of unrealistic ROI at s…

"- Why is it called Sun and has a black hole logo?

A black hole is a collapsed sun, do be a stickler. Have fun and enjoy."

So it's not connected to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sun_(symbol)?

Re: Sol: Open-source Alfred/Raycast alternative for macOS

#57

Post by atombender » Thu, Aug 11, 2022, 10:00 AM UTC

rspoerri wrote: post #36

saagarjha wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small "s" sun. Not our Sun.

thats a star, our star is called sun

From https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sun:

    sun noun
    \ ˈsən  \
    1 a: often capitalized : the luminous celestial body around
         which the earth and other planets revolve [...]
      b: a celestial body like the sun : STAR

Or to quote Carl Sagan: "Across the sea of space, the stars are other suns."