Author Topic: How do you launch stuff? (Read 122039 times)

lanux128 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 19, 2007, 07:35 PM »

Here's my list, in no particular order..
• Farr
• TrueLaunchBar
• LaunchBar Commander
• custom AHK scripts - see this post by brotherS: Living without AutoHotkey - possible?

I also use this custom-made tool by Skrommel called Text2Shortcut to create *.lnk files based on dir /b command on "Program Files" folder and dump all the created links in a single folder to be referenced by Farr..

Grorgy · « **Reply #26 on:** September 19, 2007, 09:19 PM »

I like the gee whiz neato factor, seems to play a large part in purchasing decisions

patteo · « **Reply #27 on:** September 19, 2007, 10:40 PM »

I use a combination of

FARR
https://www.donation...r/findrun/index.html

Slickrun
http://www.bayden.com/SlickRun/

They are both amazing programs and free and light on resources.

They both have the ability to remember the most recent programs you want to run. It takes some getting tweaking to really tap the power and that is something that I have not spent enough time as yet.

Don't be put off by the word beta for Slickrun - it's very stable but of course I encourage you to periodically backup your MagicWords that it uses to launch programs, browser, webpages etc.

Perry Mowbray · « **Reply #28 on:** September 19, 2007, 11:25 PM »

LaunchBar commander is my first choice for "static" things like programmes

I'm trying to get used to FARR, but for the everyday application launching LBC is quicker by far[r] (sorry

)

There's a bit been said about applications that have a key hook, I wonder what the possibility of FARR implementing "universal" ears so that it could use text input from any window not just FARR's??

It certainly would be quicker to just type calc(3*6) somewhere and have another application do the calculation, well that's not too difficult with AHK or AutoIT anyway, but my point is just typing in an application is quicker than going to the toolbar, etc, etc.

Nighted · « **Reply #29 on:** September 20, 2007, 01:24 AM »

SLICKRUN!!!!!!!
-Nighted (September 19, 2007, 02:04 PM)

Stable or Beta ?

"floating" - what about showing us a screenshot ??
-Curt (September 19, 2007, 04:09 PM)

rjbull · « **Reply #30 on:** September 20, 2007, 04:16 AM »

[...] the thing I like most about DirectAccess (and to a lesser degree ActiveWords) is the ability to simply type an abbreviation, word or phrase followed by a trigger and having a file or a program open up (or boilerplate text inserted, etc.). [...] I *should* try running with FARR only. [...]
-Darwin (September 19, 2007, 06:45 PM)

Darwin,

If you do that, won't you still have to use DA or something else for boilerplate text? Or is that now included in FARR?

Perry Mowbray · « **Reply #31 on:** September 20, 2007, 05:00 AM »

Direct Access has a 40% sale today at http://www.bitsdujour.com/

For those unfamiliar with Direct Access you could have a look at their usaage videos.

sri · « **Reply #32 on:** September 20, 2007, 05:41 AM »

Are there any similar better free programs that brings up a menu by simply mousing over a region of the screen?
-sri (September 19, 2007, 01:22 AM)

PowerPro can do that (amongst an astronomical number of other things), depending on how you set it up.
-rjbull (September 19, 2007, 05:48 AM)

Hi,

[16:07] <srikat> In my work, I have to do a lot of copy/paste
[16:07] <srikat> so was wondering if there's an easy way to copy and paste
[16:07] <srikat> like, if I select some content and move my mouse to say left top corner of my screen, it should copy
[16:07] <srikat> right corner top should paste
[16:07] <srikat> is any such program available?

Can PowerPro do this?

Darwin · « **Reply #33 on:** September 20, 2007, 06:38 AM »

If you do that, won't you still have to use DA or something else for boilerplate text? Or is that now included in FARR?

Yes, indeed. However, I don't actually use the feature much, so won't miss it!

edbro · « **Reply #34 on:** September 20, 2007, 07:40 AM »

[16:07] <srikat> In my work, I have to do a lot of copy/paste
[16:07] <srikat> so was wondering if there's an easy way to copy and paste
[16:07] <srikat> like, if I select some content and move my mouse to say left top corner of my screen, it should copy
[16:07] <srikat> right corner top should paste
[16:07] <srikat> is any such program available?

Can PowerPro do this?
-sri (September 20, 2007, 05:41 AM)

Yes, I just tried it and it works. I set Powerpro so that Bump Screen Right sends Ctrl-C.

Darwin · « **Reply #35 on:** September 20, 2007, 07:45 AM »

Dirhael and edbro - thank you/curse you for introducing me to Dash Command! I can't believe how light this is on resources. I'm used to both FARR and DirectAccess (and ActiveWords and AppRocket) sucking up in excess of 30MB of RAM/VM - Dash is currently using only 5MB RAM and 18MB VM. Impressive.

Has anyone here tried AppRocket's successor - SkyLight? I'm about to download and install it now. It's in development and free at the moment. I'll report back.

PS In the course of all this, I must say that FARR 2 is REALLY impressive. Yes, I know, we all knew that all ready, but it needs to be said. Repeatedly. FARR is REALLY impressive. Mouser, this is incredible!

Darwin · « **Reply #36 on:** September 20, 2007, 07:57 AM »

Yuck. Skylight hogs up to 40% of CPU while indexing and RAM shot up to 110MB and (cue drum roll) VM went to 310MB and STAYED THERE even after indexing had completed. This makes AppRocket look svelte by comparison. Indexing didn't take TOO long but I had to exit to release VM. On restart it hogged a bunch of resources (30% CPU/87MB RAM) while it checked folders for new links and then settled down to a constant 2 - 4% CPU, 13MB RAM and 74MB VM. DA, FARR, and Dash Command are MUCH better behaved, at startup, in operation, and at shudown.

Bye bye Skylight! Well, I guess I should use the Send E-mail to the development team link in the help menu before consigning it to electronic oblivion!

Darwin · « **Reply #37 on:** September 20, 2007, 08:01 AM »

Very nice. It froze when I tried to send a comment (Darwin holds his nose as he evicts Skylight from his computer)...

rjbull · « **Reply #38 on:** September 20, 2007, 09:19 AM »

[16:07] <srikat> In my work, I have to do a lot of copy/paste
[16:07] <srikat> so was wondering if there's an easy way to copy and paste
[16:07] <srikat> like, if I select some content and move my mouse to say left top corner of my screen, it should copy
[16:07] <srikat> right corner top should paste
[16:07] <srikat> is any such program available?

Can PowerPro do this?
-sri (September 20, 2007, 05:41 AM)

sri,

From PowerPro's Help file:

The *Clip command is used to work with the clipboard. Powerpro has commands to copy text or a file to the clipboard, to copy the clipboard to a file, and to clear the clipboard.
Furthermore, Powerpro has a clipboard history function: it can track text as you Copy it to the clipboard and can subsequently display a list of such text items on a Clip Menu. If you select an item from this menu, the selected item is recopied to the clipboard and optionally pasted. Click here for more details on clipboard history tracking.

The built-in clipboard commands work with the first line of text on the clipboard only. The clip plugin, described below, can work with the full clipboard.

Darwin · « **Reply #39 on:** September 20, 2007, 09:20 AM »

The other irritant is that ever since I installed Skylight, Dash Command has been broken (the two events may not be related). I've uninstalled both, rebooted and reinstalled Dash... and gone through several uninstall/reboot/reinstall cycles. Nothing helps

I get the following error message every time I try to start it now:

Exception ENotifyIconError in module DashCommand.exe at 000B0B2E.
Failed to set version of notify icon.

I click OK and that is that... Right, off to post in the users forum (though if I was smart I'd stay away - I really don't need another launcher...).

EDIT: Looks like edbro had a very similar problem a couple of months ago...

sri · « **Reply #40 on:** September 20, 2007, 09:22 AM »

rjbull: Thank you for your advice. PowerPro is

Now to copy, I simply mouse over on the left edge of my screen and to paste, on the right edge! Too cool.

rjbull · « **Reply #41 on:** September 20, 2007, 09:26 AM »

LaunchBar commander is my first choice for "static" things like programmes

I'm trying to get used to FARR, but for the everyday application launching LBC is quicker by far[r] (sorry )

There's a bit been said about applications that have a key hook, I wonder what the possibility of FARR implementing "universal" ears so that it could use text input from any window not just FARR's??

It certainly would be quicker to just type calc(3*6) somewhere and have another application do the calculation, well that's not too difficult with AHK or AutoIT anyway, but my point is just typing in an application is quicker than going to the toolbar, etc, etc.
-Perry Mowbray (September 19, 2007, 11:25 PM)

Perry Mowbray,

Don't forget that FARR remembers what you've been using, and puts the most recently-used programs first in the list. You can also weight the scores of different programs/links or whatever to change whether they appear high or low in the list of results.

As for calculations - that's Mouser's fc plugin, that ships with FARR 2.0 Alpha!

edbro · « **Reply #42 on:** September 20, 2007, 10:03 AM »

The other irritant is that ever since I installed Skylight, Dash Command has been broken (the two events may not be related). I've uninstalled both, rebooted and reinstalled Dash... and gone through several uninstall/reboot/reinstall cycles. Nothing helps I get the following error message every time I try to start it now:

Exception ENotifyIconError in module DashCommand.exe at 000B0B2E.
Failed to set version of notify icon.

I click OK and that is that... Right, off to post in the users forum (though if I was smart I'd stay away - I really don't need another launcher...).

EDIT: Looks like edbro had a very similar problem a couple of months ago...
-Darwin (September 20, 2007, 09:20 AM)

Are you using version 0.94.2? The notify icon problem has been fixed.

I mostly use FARR now but I do fire up Dash every now and then to check for updates.

tinjaw · « **Reply #43 on:** September 20, 2007, 10:46 AM »

Although I would not put every program on my computer in it, what I would like to try is something that operates like the album cover viewer in iTunes.

[attach=#1][/attach]

I would want to be able to spin through it with my mouse wheel and select the application with a click of the scroll wheel. Does anybody know of something like this for MS Windows? Maybe somebody cloned the Apple desktop interface that does something similar.

Darwin · « **Reply #44 on:** September 20, 2007, 10:54 AM »

Hi edbro - no, that's the annoying thing: I'm using the latest build as downloaded about three hours ago. I've posted on the support forum and hope that the developer replies with a suggested solution soon. From the short time that I was able to use Dash, it seems brilliant. Very quick and very light footprint.

EDIT: latest build is 0.94.2 - I have 0.92.5, so it looks like the trial version hasn't been updated. Crap.

Darwin · « **Reply #45 on:** September 20, 2007, 11:02 AM »

Although I would not put every program on my computer in it, what I would like to try is something that operates like the album cover viewer in iTunes.
(see attachment in previous post)
I would want to be able to spin through it with my mouse wheel and select the application with a click of the scroll wheel. Does anybody know of something like this for MS Windows? Maybe somebody cloned the Apple desktop interface that does something similar.
-tinjaw (September 20, 2007, 10:46 AM)

This is an interesting idea and you'd think would be fairly easy to code - it's like a hybrid between, say, Object Desktop's WindowsFX alt-tab switcher and FARR. They just need a blood test and a licence and they can get married! OK, not that simple...

Laughing Man · « **Reply #46 on:** September 20, 2007, 04:06 PM »

Compiz Fusion has something like that, but for windows (that are already opened) it's called Shift Switcher. Linux only I'm afraid

. I'd kill for something like that in Windows lol.

But I use FARR for Windows and Alt+F2 and type in what I need for Linux. Or the Terminal, since I can give all my programs keywords or shortcuts to use.

edbro · « **Reply #47 on:** September 21, 2007, 11:59 AM »

Dirhael and edbro - thank you/curse you for introducing me to Dash Command! I can't believe how light this is on resources. I'm used to both FARR and DirectAccess (and ActiveWords and AppRocket) sucking up in excess of 30MB of RAM/VM - Dash is currently using only 5MB RAM and 18MB VM. Impressive.
-Darwin (September 20, 2007, 07:45 AM)

It looks like some pretty neat things are coming up for Dash.
- Fuzzy logic matching
- macro like pasting of text
- language translation
- More...

http://www.trydash.c...ecent=1377#post-1377

Darwin · « **Reply #48 on:** September 21, 2007, 12:52 PM »

Cool. Thanks for posting that, edbro. I'll keep my eyes peeled for an update.

JennyB · « **Reply #49 on:** September 21, 2007, 03:54 PM »

for RL things... I tend to use rocket fuel to launch them;
for software... I use bbLean and the hotkey plugins :]
-scancode (September 19, 2007, 12:40 PM)

I love bblean's tear-off menus!