Are We Sixel Yet

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

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  1. alacritty

    A cross-platform, OpenGL terminal emulator.

    > Kitty [graphics protocol] gets more traction.

    I guess that may br true in some senses, but per Nick Black[1] (of Notcurses fame) the set of Kitty graphics implementations consists of Kitty and Wezterm, that’s it.

    [1] https://github.com/alacritty/alacritty/issues/910#issuecomme...

  2. InfluxDB

    InfluxDB – Built for High-Performance Time Series Workloads. InfluxDB 3 OSS is now GA. Transform, enrich, and act on time series data directly in the database. Automate critical tasks and eliminate the need to move data externally. Download now.

    InfluxDB logo
  3. potatis

    🥔 MOS-6502 and NES emulator in Rust (SDL/WebAssembly/Android/Embedded/Cloud)

    This NES emulator uses Sixels for rendering games over netcat :) https://github.com/henrikpersson/potatis

  4. kitty

    Cross-platform, fast, feature-rich, GPU based terminal

    It's interesting to read the discussion about Sixel support in Kitty [1], where the pros and cons of Sixel are considered in relationship with Kitty. In particular, I find this comment [2] by the maintainer of libsixel particularly intriguing:

    > After I took over the maintainership of libsixel I unfortunately decided it cannot support the security demands of Kitty, it is too insecure internally. I need to write a Rust library or something.

    [1] https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/issues/2511

    [2] https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/issues/2511#issuecomment...

  5. sixel-tmux

    sixel-tmux is a fork of tmux, with just one goal: having the most reliable support of graphics

    See also rant[1] of sixel-tmux author.

    > It's 2021, and we should be able to do litterate programming in the console, with full graphical support.

    Yeah. We are stuck cosplaying computers from the sixties.

    What's even funnier, even if you find a modern terminal emulator that supports features like ligatures, graphics, emoji etc. you still will be blocked by tmux. Sure - not everyone needs tmux. If you never work on remote machines, you can live without it.

    But I work on remote machines all the time. I also use Kakoune text editor that defers window management to external tools (WM or tmux, but to be honest, tmux is much better). Zellij is more of r/unixporn bait than usable tool for now. So I'm stuck with text only interface.

    [1]: https://github.com/csdvrx/sixel-tmux/blob/main/RANTS.md

  6. kakoune-arcan

    Native arcan frontend for kakoune text editor

    I have been trying out a kakoune arcan frontend [1] with the intention to use it over the network along with cat9 [2].

    [1] https://github.com/cipharius/kakoune-arcan

  7. cat9

    A User shell for LASH

  8. Stream

    Stream - Scalable APIs for Chat, Feeds, Moderation, & Video. Stream helps developers build engaging apps that scale to millions with performant and flexible Chat, Feeds, Moderation, and Video APIs and SDKs powered by a global edge network and enterprise-grade infrastructure.

    Stream logo
  9. wezterm

    A GPU-accelerated cross-platform terminal emulator and multiplexer written by @wez and implemented in Rust

  10. lsix

    Like "ls", but for images. Shows thumbnails in terminal using sixel graphics.

  11. notcurses

    blingful character graphics/TUI library. definitely not curses.

  12. mlterm

  13. tmux-copycat

    A plugin that enhances tmux search

    For me personally tmux giver minor improvements (some of them are done by some terminals, some are not), e.g.:

    * Text selection using variuos shortcuts (usually I use it only for URL):

    https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-copycat

    * FZF autocompletion from output, e.g. in case I want to diff some file I see changed in `git status`:

    https://github.com/laktak/extrakto

  14. extrakto

    extrakto for tmux - quickly select, copy/insert/complete text without a mouse

    For me personally tmux giver minor improvements (some of them are done by some terminals, some are not), e.g.:

    * Text selection using variuos shortcuts (usually I use it only for URL):

    https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tmux-copycat

    * FZF autocompletion from output, e.g. in case I want to diff some file I see changed in `git status`:

    https://github.com/laktak/extrakto

  15. Amethyst

    Automatic tiling window manager for macOS à la xmonad.

    > tmux helps all 3, but not particular good at either.

    iTerm2 on macOS has some nice tmux integration[1]. Basically, you run a tmux session (using tmux -CC), but the actual window management on the client side is handled by iTerm2. This works pretty nicely with the tiling WM (Amethyst[2]) I use on macOS.

    If anybody is aware of Wayland compositors that integrate similarly, please let me know. I'd love to be able to do the same on my linux machines.

    [1]: https://iterm2.com/documentation-tmux-integration.html

    [2]: https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst

  16. iamb

    A Matrix client for Vim addicts

    https://github.com/ulyssa/iamb

    It's still in the early phase of development, but actually fully functional.

  17. SaaSHub

    SaaSHub - Software Alternatives and Reviews. SaaSHub helps you find the best software and product alternatives

    SaaSHub logo
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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