No Start Menu for You

This page summarizes the projects mentioned and recommended in the original post on news.ycombinator.com

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  • Appwrite - The Open Source Firebase alternative introduces iOS support
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  • Rectangle

    Move and resize windows on macOS with keyboard shortcuts and snap areas

    For window management and tiling, I think Rectangle is better than most of the alternatives I've used. And its OSS https://rectangleapp.com/

  • EverythingPowerToys

    Everything search plugin for PowerToys Run

    PowerToys Run does seem to support some plug-ins though. I happily use https://github.com/lin-ycv/EverythingPowerToys to use Everything for bettler local search for example.

  • Appwrite

    Appwrite - The Open Source Firebase alternative introduces iOS support. Appwrite is an open source backend server that helps you build native iOS applications much faster with realtime APIs for authentication, databases, files storage, cloud functions and much more!

  • Amethyst

    Automatic tiling window manager for macOS à la xmonad.

    You could try Amethyst, it is a tiling window manager for Mac, but it's substantially better than without.

    https://ianyh.com/amethyst/

    It also adds shortcuts for things like moving windows between virtual desktops. Why is that not a key binding by default in MacOS?

    Tiling left and right does sort of exist natively, but you have to make an app only desktop and then add the second one. It's really clunky and doesn't feel like it's intended for actual use.

  • portmaster

    🏔 Love Freedom - ❌ Block Mass Surveillance

    You might enjoy Safing's Portmaster Firewall then: https://safing.io/

    It's open source and is quickly surpassing GlassWire's capabilities.

    Disclaimer: I'm Founder/CTO of Safing.

  • i3

    A tiling window manager for X11

    > Dock to a different dock (hot-desking; same brand and size of monitor) and the entire display options need to be re-written - no option to preserve it

    Does anything do this properly? I use i3[0], and wrote some super janky automation to preserve my layouts when I switched from dock to no dock and back. It has the concept of layouts that can be stored/loaded. So I had a script that would dump the layout, I had to manually run it before disconnecting (couldn't figure out how to detect the monitor disconnect and dump the layout before i3 re-arranged everything). And another script that would load the layout when new monitors were connected (this was easy enough).

    I'd be _really_ impressed if something did this correctly without any user hacking.

    [0] https://i3wm.org/

  • spn

    Safing Privacy Network

    There are 3 big parts:

    - The firewall itself with rules, filter lists, and so on - https://safing.io/features/

    - Secure DNS (DoT/DoH resolver) - https://safing.io/features/

    - "SPN": Optional paid VPN alternative similar to Tor, our source of revenue - https://safing.io/spn/

  • dotfiles

    My dotfiles: macOS, OpenBSD, Linux. Setup: git init; git remote add github https://github.com/rollcat/dotfiles; git pull github master (by rollcat)

    > If you do consider switching, one warning about Mac is this: Window management is utter garbage. Maximizing is actively discouraged. Tiling left / right etc? Doesn't exist. Everything must be random size and overlap weirdly. Instead, each new version brings a new quick switch or workspace functionality that I have never seen anyone use.

    Mac has a different window management paradigm. It suits some people, it frustrates others. I've switched from Linux/BSD after 15 years there, and it immediately made so much more sense to me. YMMV.

    It also makes so much more sense if you have a very large screen. I've tried using dwm or Sway with my 43" screen and it's incredibly awkward. You need first-class support for floating windows, or at least smarter tiling.

    But I agree, some things on macOS are not as good (workspaces), or plain dumb/useless (stage manager). For missing functionality, like keyboard-driven tiling, I fix things using Hammerspoon: https://github.com/rollcat/dotfiles/blob/master/.hammerspoon...

  • SonarLint

    Clean code begins in your IDE with SonarLint. Up your coding game and discover issues early. SonarLint is a free plugin that helps you find & fix bugs and security issues from the moment you start writing code. Install from your favorite IDE marketplace today.

  • alt-tab-macos

    Windows alt-tab on macOS

  • linearmouse

    The mouse and trackpad utility for Mac.

  • spectacle

    Spectacle allows you to organize your windows without using a mouse.

    > warning about Mac is this: Window management is utter garbage. Maximizing is actively discouraged. Tiling left / right etc? Doesn't exist.

    I've been using Spectacle (https://github.com/eczarny/spectacle/) which is technically unsupported but seems work fine on an M1 mac and provides all the neat tiling left/right/up-down windows 8 functionality via the keyboard. This is the first thing I install on a new work computer along with Amphetamine.

NOTE: The number of mentions on this list indicates mentions on common posts plus user suggested alternatives. Hence, a higher number means a more popular project.

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