[Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

xiaq · 2011-03-26 13:43:02

I have been a user of GNOME-Do for several years. Now that the development is stagnant, I'm looking for a lightweight alternative. GNOME-Do is extensible, but the plugins have to be written in C# on Mono, which is difficult for me.

Compared to GNOME-Do, traditional "Run" dialogs are lacking two features:

1) Subsequence matching instead of tab-completion: For instance, I can type "Fx" to search for Firefox. The launcher keeps an index of available .desktop files and filters through them as I type. The candidates are also accessible as I type. Also the launcher will adjust the order of candidates dynamically, e.g. if I launch Firefox many times a day, it will show up as soon as I type "f".

2) Launcher plugins for something other than applications, like files and directories, music, and session management commands. For instance, GNOME-Do comes with a GNOME Session plugin, providing actions like "Shutdown", "Restart", so you can type "sut" and most likely "Shutdown" is the only candidate; then you hit Enter to shutdown your computer.

I have tried Kupfer and Synapse, but those two are just like GNOME-Do. They are extensible, but not "scriptable". For example, I use XFCE now, and the GNOME session plugin won't work for me. I know how to shutdown using command line, so what I need is really a small script that adds an action called "Shutdown" and associate it with proper commands. However, with GNOME-Do, you have to write C# for that... which will be tedious.

Any suggestions and/or recommendations?

Last edited by xiaq (2011-03-28 03:40:58)

bharani · 2011-03-26 15:09:43

Use dmenu.
It can be used to run apps, control mpd and used as a file manager.
Writing scripts for dmenu is very simple. There are already many scripts in aur and our forum.

bohoomil · 2011-03-26 15:33:03

launchy

After second thoughts: dmenu even if seems from a different realm, it's probably most versatile. So if you don't care that much about how it looks, give it a go.

Last edited by bohoomil (2011-03-26 15:35:47)

hbekel · 2011-03-26 15:35:24

Bashrun2 is lightweight and extensible via bash scripting, so you can easily extend it if you're comfortable with bash scripting. It's not as sophisticated as gnome-do in terms of completion, it does not try to adjust to your habits, but otoh it's just bash, so you can use aliases, functions, whatever you like. It has a lot of build-in features that you can combine freely to implement new functionality. It's not as general as dmenu, and not as specialized as gnome-do, but rather somewhere in between.

xiaq · 2011-03-26 16:29:14

Thanks everyone for the replies but I think what I'm looking for is a launcher that provides quick access to "desktop stuff"(.desktop files) in a visual way(icons appearing as I type), which seems to rule out bashrun, dmenu and such programs. The matching algorithm(subsequence matching) is also essential. I doubt if what I'm looking for is "philosophically incompatible" with the ideas of lightweightness and easy extensibility so that no one has made such software?

To bohoomil: I have tried Launchy before, but unfortunately it's still not ideal for me. You see I'm greedy

Labello · 2011-03-26 16:37:52

there is none.

hellnest · 2011-03-26 16:38:28

Synapse?

xiaq · 2011-03-26 16:40:15

(Continuing my previous post)
By "desktop stuff" I mean "Disk Utility" instead of "palimpsest", things like that. Many times I don't even know the program that corresponds to a .dekstop file. When I need to dip into details of some configuration I will turn to some command line tool or things like xorg.conf, but when things just work with those desktop tools I'm happy to stay there, not even knowing the exact the name of the program.

To Labello: That's bad but what I have expected...
To hellnest: Thanks but I've tried that

rickdg · 2011-03-26 19:48:30

I searched for an alternative as well when I switched to LXDE. I found Kupfer to be quite similar to gnome-do. It has a bunch of python dependencies but is a lot lighter than gnome-do

EDIT: My bad, glanced over your opening post too quickly, seems you have tried it ;-)

Last edited by rickdg (2011-03-26 19:50:24)

ngoonee · 2011-03-26 23:48:28

kupfer can run scripts as well, you know? Then you just need to write bash....

xiaq · 2011-03-27 14:32:54

I didn't know Kupfer supports shell scripts; Seems Kupfer is ideal in terms of function. But still, what it lacks is a polished UI like that of GNOME-Do... That's why I tried it and dropped it.

Last edited by xiaq (2011-03-27 14:41:23)

ngoonee · 2011-03-27 14:51:48

Asking for 'light' and then expecting a polished UI is a bit of a misnomer to me . Anyway, try kupfer-git, the UI has been redesigned recently.

Dieter@be · 2011-03-27 16:37:49

dmenu_run

xiaq · 2011-03-28 03:38:32

ngoonee wrote:

Asking for 'light' and then expecting a polished UI is a bit of a misnomer to me . Anyway, try kupfer-git, the UI has been redesigned recently.

Kupfer's new look is really nice. Though still lacking in some configurability(see https://bugs.launchpad.net/kupfer/+bug/716935, https://bugs.launchpad.net/kupfer/+bug/716936; in addition I wish the look is themeable), I suppose the rest is what I should hack around myself instead of asking people in the forum.

Thanks to everyone

jakob · 2011-10-07 12:23:22

Dieter@be wrote:

dmenu_run

Thanks so much for this one, I’ve searched for like one hour for a light run dialog, now went to the forums and started "dmenu" while reading this thread, but did not see "dmenu_run". To know I’ve had this program on my system all the time… great!

Last edited by jakob (2011-10-07 12:25:36)

Awebb · 2011-10-07 14:29:53

The only feature I miss in Kupfer is Gnome-DO's pidgin plugin. If I want to talk to somebody on my list, I hit the gnome-do hotkey and start typing the name. This way I can chat with people without even turning on the screen (most people, especially ICQ users, don't have much relevant to say :-D).

maep · 2012-03-13 22:10:32

Excuse this shameless self-plug: I wrote a simple launcher called fehlstart (AUR) which fits OP's desciption almost perfectly. It can't do fancy stuff like read pidgin contacs but you can add custom actions through a config file.

Last edited by maep (2012-03-14 10:43:33)

xiaq · 2012-03-14 06:39:50

maep wrote:

Excuse this shameless self-plug: I wrote a simple launcher called fehlstart (AUR) which fits OP's desciption almost perfectly. It can't do fancy stuff like read pidgin contacs but you can add custom actions through a config file.

Feels really lightweight. However, the hotkey doesn't work for me, and there is no tray icon; so I didn't have a chance to see the UI. You may want to start a thread in "Community Contributions"

Arch Linux

#1 2011-03-26 13:43:02

[Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#2 2011-03-26 15:09:43

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#3 2011-03-26 15:33:03

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#4 2011-03-26 15:35:24

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#5 2011-03-26 16:29:14

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#6 2011-03-26 16:37:52

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#7 2011-03-26 16:38:28

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#8 2011-03-26 16:40:15

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#9 2011-03-26 19:48:30

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#10 2011-03-26 23:48:28

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#11 2011-03-27 14:32:54

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#12 2011-03-27 14:51:48

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#13 2011-03-27 16:37:49

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#14 2011-03-28 03:38:32

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#15 2011-10-07 12:23:22

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#16 2011-10-07 14:29:53

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#17 2012-03-13 22:10:32

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

#18 2012-03-14 06:39:50

Re: [Solved] Lightweight, extensible alternative for GNOME-Do?

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