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Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

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

#621

Post by rsync »

wvh wrote: post #565

rsync+ssh: Still more reliable than other sync software or exotic filesystems. Inkscape: When you have to do graphics and diagrams for slides and posters, you don't have all that much choice on Linux, so I'm happy a quality vector graphics program exists. It might be a bit more cumbersome than commercial software dedicated to schemas and technical drawings, but at least you can rely on it to get the job done, with on…

"rsync+ssh: Still more reliable than other sync software or exotic filesystems."

Remember that rsync.net has a "HN Readers" discount. Just email us.

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

#622

Post by rsync »

rmsaksida wrote: post #446

There have been lots of Windows and Mac OS replies to this thread, so here's a few Linux ones for a change: i3wm. I've experimented with many tiling window managers over the years but none of them got me to switch. i3, however, is something else. It's extremely simple, intuitive and easy to configure, and it might give you a small productivity boost depending on your workflow. For me this is tiling WMs done right. Su…

"youtube-dl. Give it an URL, it will download media from it, no questions asked. It's hard to find software that does the right thing as often as youtube-dl does."

I will second that. youtube-dl is like magic. It's too good to be true.

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

#623

Post by protomyth »

therealmarv wrote: post #420
protomyth wrote: post #284

Visio before Microsoft[1] It was super simple and something OmniGraffle never really got right. In fact, it was so easy and nice (particularly boolean shape operations and object properties), it made using OmniGraffle painful. Of all the Microsoft software, that was the one I wished had been ported to the Mac. 1) to be fair, haven't used it after the buyout since I went full time OS X

Look at yed or this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/2x5f3a/what_are_you_...

Looks nice but doesn't seem to have any boolean operations on shapes.

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

#624

Post by the_watcher »

blakeyrat wrote: post #310
repeek wrote: post #208

1Password on Mac - phenomenal UX, all around joy to use Not as pleased with the Windows version, but it's serviceable

Starting from the top, I think you're the first person to mention user experience. Man, this topic has done nothing but remind me how far I am outside the "software development mainstream". Vim? Git? Are there seriously that many developers who enjoy using such unusable software?

> Git?

It's relative to other VCS systems in this case.

> Vim?

As a primary editor, I get the dislike and confusion from non-power users, but for a command line editor, it's just so much better than anything else.

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

#625

Post by SwellJoe »

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #506
SwellJoe wrote: post #271

git is so reliable that I forget that reliability used to be a problem in version control (I've had to reconstruct CVS and Subversion repositories that got corrupted via various bugs and quirks of the system). It's also pretty fast. SQLite is an automatic, and easy, answer. It almost goes without saying at this point, I guess. vim is everywhere. I like knowing I can always run it no matter where I am or what server/V…

>Inbox I've had a heap of issues with not receiving notifications for emails that were miscategorised.. or just never popped up on my phone... I check gmail on my desktop every few days just to see if I missed something.

Now, y'all have me paranoid that I'm missing mail. I don't think I have been...buy maybe so.

And, now that you mention it, GMail is faster, and I can chew through mail at a much, much faster pace. But, the smarts built into Inbox means I can safely ignore a lot more mail (about half ends up in Promos and Finance and Social categories; all ignorable until I'm looking for something specific or expecting something), which is maybe a worthwhile tradeoff. I don't have to go as fast if I only have half as much mail to think about.

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

#627

Post by blakeyrat »

bryondowd wrote: post #460
blakeyrat wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starting from the top, I think you're the first person to mention user experience. Man, this topic has done nothing but remind me how far I am outside the "software development mainstream". Vim? Git? Are there seriously that many developers who enjoy using such unusable software?

I never got my head around using Vim rather than an IDE, but I can say I genuinely enjoy git. It's very easy to get a lot of value out of it without needing to learn the esoteric details by just keeping to a simple workflow planned out by someone who understands it better. Of course, it was the first version tracking system I'd worked with, so I have nothing to compare it to. It just made me incredibly happy after wo…

I guess different strokes.

For me, Git is the worst software I've been compelled to use since Lotus Notes. I think it's terrible. I would never use it if I didn't absolutely have to as a condition of employment.

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

#628

Post by ignorantguy »

aerovistae wrote: post #328
audleman wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or for folks like me: I just want to play my video files no fuss, no muss. Something other major media players seem to have more trouble with than they should. But not VLC! 100% of the time it works every time!

Doesn't matter what filetype it is...it just runs them all, instantly, like magic. I have never missed Windows Media Player for even a moment.

You are right. I found vlc in 2006 and never looked back.

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

#629

Post by nanny »

OJFord wrote: post #138
nanny wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fairly certain that i3 comes with a percentage battery indicator by default. The default config is pretty good (except it uses `jkl;` instead of `hjkl`, but that's a simple fix).

I think that's part of a different package, i3-status or something, which is not strictly required but recommended in docs etc. Possibly it's also installed by default if you just choose 'i3', depending on your package manager.

You're right, turns out Arch's i3 package is a group of packagse: i3-wm, i3-status, and i3lock (screen locker).

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

#630

Post by tostitos1979 »

xemdetia wrote: post #237
tostitos1979 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Player is pretty nice no doubt. I also really like Vagrant + Virtualbox. Just works. And I can't believe Virtualbox is from the loins of Oracle.

VirtualBox came to Oracle from the Sun acquisition who acquired InnoTek. I really have always preferred VirtualBox over VMWare player, if you are playing the game of many VM's open VMWare player just is not so fun (I usually am running 2+ virtualbox all the time on my main system, not counting secondary systems). It really is the software I am turning to constantly, ever since I was looking for something easier to us…

We should convince the VirtualBox devs to do an AMA or a conference tech talk. Not only is it deep tech, I get the feeling it is a small number of really strong devs running the show (and possibly being ignored by the beast). Their networking options are also fairly awesome IMHO. I guess I'm a VirtualBox fanboy :)
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