Tech Smartly

In my search for speedy usage of my computer, I’ve stumbled on several different programs. I’ve found 2 different programs, called Enso launcher and Launchy. Both of these two programs are different, are a designed based on different principles. Enso has come out with a beta of its launcher, which I find to be much better, and fixes several of the problems that I had. However, it is still incomplete. Where you would expect something to happen, instead it gives you a message box explaining how the feature will be implemented later on. This makes it rather difficult to compare the two, since Enso launcher is rather lacking in abilities. For example, you can’t copy and paste, although if you know what you’re doing it’s not that much of a problem. Despite this, Enso launcher is still usable as it is, as it is still used every day by me. Launchy, on the other hand, is complete and is not in a beta of any form. For the intents and purposes of this article, I will be comparing the beta of version 2.0, which I think is much better, if lacking in some features.

Enso

Enso launcher is product made by Humanized. Humanized bases all their products on having a “humanized” interface. Everything they do is done to make everything as efficient and humanized as possible. I think their philosophy is best explained on their about page. Enso itself is a very neat product. It’s visually appealing, and uses a nice pallet of colors. It’s very slick, and I can see a lot of thought was put into this aspect. It uses the caps lock key to toggle input, which you must hold down. It can be a bit hard at times to do this, especially if you’re a touch typist, but it works well enough. You can change it to other predefined keys. However, you will not be able to use the defined key for its normal use, it’s sole purpose is for the Enso launcher. You are told to try it, that even though it’s new, you’ll get used to it. I’ve been using this for a two weeks, and it’s still a bit awkward, but I can use it to a degree that is sufficient enough for me to use it without much thinking. It’s different, that’s for sure, and whether or not it’s better seems more like what you’re comfortable with, rather than hard data. This is my personal opinion, as I’m sure a study could show that one is better than the other, but I don’t think that will happen any time soon.

The way you use Enso launcher, is that you press and hold caps lock to type a command. The most common commands are:

open: open an executable

go: Change to another open window

learn as open: Highlight something, use this command, and put in whatever you want the program to learn. For example, highlighting “www.techsmartly.com”, using the command, and typing in techsmartly will make the program learn that the command “open techsmartly” will open this website. If you still don’t quite understand it, think of it as binding a key in the console if you’re a gamer.

open with: Like the open command, but you say which program you want to open the file with.

These are the most frequently used commands for the average user. There’s also a tutorial video that explains everything much more in depth if you install it, so don’t worry if you don’t understand.

The main reason I prefer the beta 2.0 version over version 1, is that it learns what you use. This is a feature that was sorely lacking in the first version. This is why, despite missing many useful features, I much prefer version 2.0. Also, the way commands are typed in is different. in the original, you typed “open Firefox”, and it would open it. Now, you type “o”, let go of caps lock, and a little box shows up. Then you can type “fi” and enter, and then Firefox opens up. Despite being more complicated on paper, it is much easier to actually do. It requires fewer keystrokes. It’s only a bit difficult to learn if you’re used to the old stay. It’s quite intuitive, since after all it is the philosophy behind all Humanized products.

Like every program, it has its downfalls. First of all, no copy and paste. It’s still not implemented, so you’re going to have to type everything out. Luckily there’s that learning algorithm to help you. Another problem is that you can’t scroll further down the list of suggestions other than what is already listed. Lastly, you can’t type anything that’s incredibly long. Most importantly though, is that it seems to crash quite a bit. I’ve had it crash several times, but luckily it starts again. It also opens up a web page where you can explain what you were doing when it crashed, and it sends info about what was happening. You’re able to see all the info that’s being sent, so there are no worries there(hopefully).  These are several glaring problems that I’ve had with this program. It is not enough to render it unusable, and it is still a beta. There is also no linux version, for all your linux fans and users out there. However, a Linux version is in the pipe works, although I’m unsure if it’s for the first enso launcher or the the second version of the enso launcher.

It’s a great little app, and I use it quite a bit.

Launchy

Launchy is, just like Enso, a launcher. Like Enso launcher, it’s main goal is to speed up your computer usage. However, less focus is put on the interface itself. The end purpose is the same, but everything else is different. Launchy has a lot more options than Enso. You simply type the name of what you want, and it finds it for you. You do not have all the commands given in Enso launcher, meaning it is only what it is, a launcher. However, it doesn’t only have to launch what i has already indexed. Unlike Enso launcher, you can tell Launchy to index a certain folder, so that everything inside can be launched as long as you know the name. You can write the name of a song, and it will open it. However, you need to know the actual filename, not the anme of the song.

You can’t go to another window in Launchy. Enso is very powerful if you know how to use it. Launchy is also powerful if you know how to use it. However, they are powerful in different areas. Enso can also have more commands if you know how to code. Launchy has a lot more customization, as well as the ability to index everything. It is also quite simple of you like to use default everything (putting all your videos in my videos, music in my music, etc). If you like to tweak and customize to your liking, you can also do that. With enso, you can’t do so. You can’t make it index anything else, and the amount of options is quite flimsy. You can change the skin in launcher, but you can’t do so with enso. Fortunately, Enso does most things “just right”. It has that feelings that disillusioned mac users think about OSX. Of course, following in traditional Mac footsteps, if you don’t like the way it does things, tough (bring on the hate mail!).

A small footnote in today’s ever increasing processing power; launchy has a smaller memory footprint. Enso takes up about 33 megabytes of ram, while Launchy takes up only 12. This is while it’s idle. For those that have very little computer resources, like some of my friends, launchy may be the best choice if there is some indecision between the two.

Which one?

Both are great launchers. Both are free, so can try both and see what you like. I personally prefer Enso launcher, but some people may prefer Launchy. It depends on how you wish to use it, as well as a myriad of other factors. Although I would recommend people to try enso if asked, the real answer would be to try both, that way you can’t be wrong. I’ve since stopped launchy from starting up automatically, and I use only Enso Launcher now, but there’s no risk in trying both, or maybe others as well. Remember, the keyboard is almost always faster than the mouse.

For those that don’t use windows

Unfortunately, Launchy and Enso launcher are not out for another other than windows. For linux, you can choose between Katapult, and gnome do. For Mac, you have Quicksilver.

No more work, expect new posts soon!

This is a short introduction to Linux, because there just simply aren’t enough people who know about it

Linux is an operating system that originated from a man called Linus Torvald. He based Linux off of UNIX, the same operating system that OSX is based on, except it’s not as bad as OSX. It started in 1991. A commercial operating system called MINIX, based on UNIX, was being sold. Linus wanted to create a similar operating system, but one that was free. This led him to create the Linux kernel, together with everything from the GNU project. He released GNU/Linux on 17 December 1991. Oddly enough, Linus was working on Linux when he was in a university as well. However, he did not drop out. Now what about Linux would be so great as to merit such a long and boring intro? There are too many reasons, so I will just give a very brief summary.

It is the most secure OS on the market. It has almost no viruses. In fact, there probably is no need for an anti virus. Since people find problems, fix them, and submit the solution, exploits are quickly fixed. Don’t ever use an anti virus on Linux. It simply isn’t worth it. Even when Linux gets more popular, and more people (attempt to) create viruses, Trojans, or worms, there are more people that will also fix all of those exploits. This makes the developers have to do less work, and makes Linux more secure.

Linux also turns out to be one of the most reliable operating systems around. There are some servers that have been up for more than 5 years, and have never been shut down due to crashes. Linux runs programs in a different way, where they aren’t tied to the system. The system is 1 layer, and applications are another. When the application crashes, or something goes wrong, it is much easier to get out of such a situation. I’ve had windows fail to load when a file became corrupt due to turning off the power when my games froze, or some other application. It is possible to recover from almost every situation without leaning over to touch that power button.

Different distributions are what make Linux so much better. Don’t like how red hat handles certain things? Then you might want to check out Slackware. Oh, it doesn’t have a good package management system? Maybe try Ubuntu, or Kubuntu, or maybe Fedora, or even Opensuse. You want something that feels more like windows? Trying to get someone to switch to Linux? Try Linespire, or Freespire! But maybe Mandriva suits your tastes more, especially since it has such an easy way of installing. Now what if you’re stuck with windows? Use DSL, a distribution of Linux that is only 49.5 mB. It is possible to run Linux inside of windows using only a pen drive.

Lastly, Linux is completely free. No money has to be exchanged. You don’t need to buy a separate copy for every computer. Even software can all be free. For Photoshop you have gimp. For Microsoft office there is OpenOffice. A lot of money could be saved if we didn’t spend so much on commercial products when there are just as good products that you can get for free. I never believed in the saying “you get what you pay for”.

Linux is used everywhere. It’s just too hard to pretend it doesn’t exist. Phones are using it. Big businesses, as well as small ones. Computer used for work, gaming, or surfing. More and more schools are using it. It’s not a fad, an inferior OS, or just a little piece of dirt on the sidelines. It’s something much better than windows. That resource hogging Aero that was in Vista was in Linux long before. In fact, Linux can do better things than Aero. In short, Linux is in general, a better operating system.

I’ve managed to make a second youtube poop of mine working, and I’ve also gotten the first one working. Here are both of my youtube poops. The second one is quite short, but that’s because I got rid of the boring parts:

First youtube poop

Second youtube poop

Hope you enjoy it…if you like that sort of thing. If you’re wondering when I’ll stop posting about youtube poops and stop being weird, don’t worry, there are normal articles in the pipe line. I am however a little busy, and have been for the past week.

I’ve been meaning to post this earlier, with a video of my first youtube poop that I made in adobe premier pro. I’ve been having problems exporting thought, so I decided to go ahead and publish this without my own video.

Now you may be wondering what I’m talking about right now. Actually, I don’t quite know myself exactly what makes a youtube poop (ytp) a youtube poop. What I do know, is that they can be quite funny for those who like that style of humor. What it is, is a remix of sorts, originally done to CD-i  videos. I think the best way to know what a youtube poop is, is to watch one yourself.

My favorite ytp’s are:

These are some of my favorite’s and I think they demonstrate what it is quite well. Not everyone likes youtube poops thought, however they’re now one of my favorite forms of entertainment. There are also different styles and things that you can do with ytp’s. There are more experimental forms, which can involve things like blowing your ears out with lots of distorted and crazy sound.

Youtube poop’s aren’t only limited to CD-i. The original ones are, but pretty much everything can be turned into a youtube poop. Along the more popular ones are the Super Mario Bros. show, which is more than 15 years old, as well as shows from Sonic the Hedgehog. My preference for youtube poops is anything funny, but I always like to watch poops of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I’ve seen some pretty funny poops based off that show.

Youtube poops are not for everyone. You may just dismiss it as some crazy thing that some people like to watch and like, similar like Hillary Clinton supporters(yes I did just go there). It’s one of the funnier things that I have seen, and it’s relatively unknown. If you wish to start watching poops, and need a foothold for where to start, I would recommend two of my favorite poopers.

Youtube user MTB710

Youtube user Krobo Productions

Happy watching, and hopefully I’ll be able to get my youtube poop encoded properly!