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Standalone Signal Desktop

signal.org

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Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#291

Post by groovy2shoes »

wh313 wrote: post #222
72deluxe wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me old, but how can a messaging app like this use 130MB RAM? I am exasperated that Skype on my machine is using 109MB with only one conversation window open. We seemed to get by with MSN Messenger with far less RAM, and the features were pretty much identical. It boggles the mind how memory-intensive some of the modern apps are. It's insane.

It's because Electron has taken over desktop app development. While it does significantly lower the knowledge barrier to building desktop applications, it does come with a heavy memory overhead.

Electron lowers the knowledge barrier for people who are already knowledgeable in web development. For others, learning Electron can be far more complicated than learning, say, Vala or PyQt or Tk or even one of the plethora of Java toolkits, just as examples.

Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#292

Post by work_account »

unicornporn wrote: post #165

I so wish more people discovered Matrix or https://riot.im . To me it's simpler and works better than Signal while being decentralized and federated. It has excellent clients for all platforms (and these keep measages in sync with each other) and does not require a phone number.

Matrix is terrific. I've "converted" some friends from Signal to Riot and we're not going back. Video/calls and group chats work a lot better, and the riot.im web client is excellent (at least, compared to Signals lack of).

I've also stopped using an IRC client and just use a Matrix bridge. Really happy so far.

Main drawback is that E2E is a bit clunky to set up, and downright confusing for non-technical users.

Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#293

Post by aluhut »

mrmondo wrote: post #215
aluhut wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a single of those happened to me. Are you sure there is nothing wrong with your PC? It uses 130MB RAM here (Win). How much is it on your side?

Howdy, glad to hear it’s less for you, that’s a much more reasonable amount of memory to use but are you sure you’re including all active memory from each of its processes / worker threads?

It's only 3 of them atm: https://i.imgur.com/lgJ8HZl.jpg

Equals ~169MB (I've just sent a picture)

Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#294

Post by martinrame »

StavrosK wrote: post #241
Multicomp wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I don't know about the definition for popular or sane languages but FWIW Lazarus is a free framework for producing truly portable, native applications for Windows/Mac/Linux/Android/iOs from the same code project. Think FOSS child of Delphi from back in the day.

Ah, yes, I've heard good things about Lazarus. The problem with it is that it uses its own language (Delphi, as you say), so it's got its own ecosystem and things. No matter how good the UI toolkit is, it's not worth giving up all the niceties of a language with an extensive ecosystem, for me. It's a pity, because Lazarus does seem fantastic for desktop application development...

Why do you think Lazarus doesn't have or interact with an extensive ecosystem?.

Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#295

Post by aluhut »

72deluxe wrote: post #261
aluhut wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow Skype with 109MB?! Last time I've had it installed it was something close to a gig. But then it became a cluttered monster I rather fear so that's not relevant anymore. Same goes for this. I'm happy to give that RAM to Signal since what I get for it, is more then worth it and I have the RAM left. It took me more time and headaches to get people to use Signal on their phones in the first place than it will ever fo…

This is odd. It indicates a badly written application with disregard for resources. If efficient use of something like RAM is blatantly disregarded, what about more important things like performance-critical sections of code? Would you be happy that it is shoddily written? The same approach on a mobile device would be widely condemned due to the hogging of RAM. I don't see why the same metrics cannot be applied to de…

I see it that way: there is a new program for Signal which enables me to sent messages from my PC. It's the first version out there and it just works. This is much more then I've expected.

I would like if it could use less resources, minimize to tray, etc. etc. etc. but for the moment, this is good and the RAM usage is a far less dramatic issue to me than it seems to be to many here.

I mean, there is far worse out there. I sometimes play Elite Dangerous on my other Win machine. There is a community build tool to track your flight route from the games logs (EDDiscovery) and it delivers an endless amount of features. It rests on a pretty huge database. This thing eats up my ram like it's some free gigabyte cake. I even have to launch the game first or it would take forever. It's horrible. The tool is great though and I will have it running when I need it and it does not hurt my remaining experience. I would love if it could use less resources but I won't stop using it because of it.

Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#296

Post by StavrosK »

martinrame wrote: post #294
StavrosK wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, yes, I've heard good things about Lazarus. The problem with it is that it uses its own language (Delphi, as you say), so it's got its own ecosystem and things. No matter how good the UI toolkit is, it's not worth giving up all the niceties of a language with an extensive ecosystem, for me. It's a pity, because Lazarus does seem fantastic for desktop application development...

Why do you think Lazarus doesn't have or interact with an extensive ecosystem?.

Because I don't hear free pascal as often as Python.

Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#297

Post by laretluval »

Foxboron wrote: post #205
laretluval wrote: post #84

It's still insane and confusing that you need a phone number to use Signal. It's almost as if they want to make it hard to be anonymous.

Signal provides privacy, not anonymity. It's a hard trade off sometimes, but it's easier for wider adoption.

It's hard to imagine how requiring a phone number makes adoption wider.

Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#299

Post by eptcyka »

andrepd wrote: post #266
72deluxe wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me old, but how can a messaging app like this use 130MB RAM? I am exasperated that Skype on my machine is using 109MB with only one conversation window open. We seemed to get by with MSN Messenger with far less RAM, and the features were pretty much identical. It boggles the mind how memory-intensive some of the modern apps are. It's insane.

I get what you're saying and I totally agree with the sentiment, but in this case I can let it slide. It's the only practical way to make a cross platform app for Linux, Windows and Mac. They simply don't have the resources to write and maintain (at least) three desktop apps. I can totally understand that a small company has to make compromises like writing their desktop apps in Electron. That large companies also do…

Telegram has found a way to deliver the same client on both Linux, Windows and MacOS using Qt. One does not need to consume hundred of megabytes of memory to achieve a cross-platform solution.

Re: Standalone Signal Desktop

#300

Post by squarefoot »

StavrosK wrote: post #296
martinrame wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think Lazarus doesn't have or interact with an extensive ecosystem?.

Because I don't hear free pascal as often as Python.

All it needs is a critical mass of users and the right support from some big names; if Go was developed outside Google it probably won't be where it is today. I'm not a fan of Pascal, though I really enjoyed using Delphi at work many moons ago, to me promoting Lazarus is also a way to tell other IDE developers that Delphi and today Lazarus got things right; it's not just about the language.
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