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Show HN: Crescendo – macOS App to view real time event data

keyle 7y ago
Neat! Will try it out. Amusing side fact. That demo.gif is 7 times bigger than the application binary.
- addandsubtract 7y ago
  Converted to a webm file[0] and it's less than 700kb (a bit less than the size of the binary). [0] https://giant.gfycat.com/LikelyDescriptiveBrahmancow.webm https://giant.gfycat.com/LikelyDescriptiveBrahmancow.webm
- suprhackersteve 7y ago
  Removed!
saagarjha 7y ago
Cool! EndpointSecurity is pretty nice; I was in the process of writing something like this since it's fairly easy to get started with this kind of monitoring with it.
nutjob2 7y ago
macOS 10.15 only? That's going to limit its appeal. Many people are staying away from that version for the foreseeable future.
- sho 7y ago
  I wouldn't say "many". The only holdouts I know of are pro audio/video users with interoperability concerns; pretty sure they aren't the target market anyway.
  - brailsafe 7y ago
    You're probably right, but as a non audio/video person, I'm trying to stay away until the next version. If the most apologetic Apple cultists I listen to podcasts from are still critical, that's a bad sign imo. So far all I've heard in the real world is the annoying security popups which I also don't want.
    - jasonlfunk 7y ago
      Those annoying pop ups are only annoying because on day one everything has to ask permission. After that, you only see them if you install a new application. I certainly prefer having to give my permission before an application uses my microphone or records my screen.
      - oefrha 7y ago
        I agree with “just day one” in general, but do note that if you develop apps or write AppleScript that require permissions it can get pretty annoying as every build asks for permissions all over again. (Actually I’m not quite sure about native apps built from Xcode, but this was my experience with a Qt app I wrote last month.)
    - alwillis 7y ago
      The early days of Catalina were pretty bad. But after doing a clean install of macOS 10.15.3, everything’s been fine. I expect 10.15.4, currently in beta, to be as stable as any other version of macOS at this point in its lifecycle.
    - IggleSniggle 7y ago
      I've only had one problem with Catalina and ironically it prevents me from using the feature that I updated for: Sidecar. Turns out that Sidecar doesn't work if your mac is connected to a VPN, even if you are connected to your iPad via USB with its wireless turned off.
  - toyg 7y ago
    I’m a holdout - I have a bunch of tools and games that won’t survive the transition. I just cannot be arsed to do the prep work to find alternatives (boot from external drive, see what can be done with Wine/Crossover, or just buy another laptop...).
    - jeffhuys 7y ago
      Or just dual boot? I hold option when starting and select Mojave. Only the system-necessary files are on that partition - all other files (like applications, downloads etc) are being shared between my two installs. That way I can download a game on steam, and if it doesn't work, I play it on Mojave.
      - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
        At that point you might as well just dual boot Windows and have compatibility with all games. The advantage of Mac-compatible games is I don’t have to reboot.
  - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
    My entire company is staying on 10.14 due to general bugginess. (We’re a graphic design agency.)
- pvg 7y ago
  The Endpoint Security Framework which this app relies on is a 10.15+ thing.
  - suprhackersteve 7y ago
    Bingo!
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- eddieroger 7y ago
  Counterpoint - many people aren't. Both my personal and work Macs are on Catalina. My parents' machines are. When people ask me if they should upgrade, I suggest they do. None of those folks are the target market for an app like this, but it's still anecdata to go with yours.
  - aldanor 7y ago
    Counterpoint to the counterpoint: many people have to (stay away) even if they don't want to. For instance, in the audio world, the majority of audio hardware is still unsupported (e.g.: https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033607311-macOS-10-15-Catalina-Compatibility-Info https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033607311-macOS...), daw/plugin devs also insist to hold off for now. You could argue it's a narrow niche, but there's many other similar niches whether the hardware drivers or some software still has to catch up. If any of my friends asks me whether they should upgrade, I suggest they don't, not yet (unless all you're using is safari and a chat app, in which case you probably don't care).
    - ganoushoreilly 7y ago
      While not fully listed as supported, I've finally been able to utilize all of my hardware from them. Almost all of the issues came down to permissions changes in the OS and finally they're all worked out. I would say having a delay of 3 months give or take is usually the best practice.
sgt 7y ago
How is this better than Dtrace? Looks cool though
- saagarjha 7y ago
  It actually works and doesn't require disabling System Integrity Protection.
- suprhackersteve 7y ago
  Dtrace focuses on syscall level information which can flood the user with information. It is fantastic for debugging and getting extreme detail on a single application. The goal of this app is to give the user a higher level of events with some reduction in surface area. Plus you get a fancy UI to filter and search!
oefrha 7y ago
Very cool. One nit: maybe an option to display timestamps in human-readable ISO 8601 format?
heywire 7y ago
OT: Just FYI, it took a good 5-6 seconds after page load before the text appeared on the page. It looks like the 5MB gif is delaying the load of the fonts.
- umaar 7y ago
  In addition to using a video which would be the biggest improvement here, `font-display: swap;` can help with the perceived performance when using custom web fonts. Made a video on how to use Chrome DevTools in applying this technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRrrL0Mg1pM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRrrL0Mg1pM
- suprhackersteve 7y ago
  ha yeah... that is a lot of data to load. I'll either trim it down or remove it. thanks for the feedback.
krtkush 7y ago
Nice! One problem - I'm unable to resize the window and make it smaller.

Neat! Will try it out. Amusing side fact. That demo.gif is 7 times bigger than the application binary.

addandsubtract 7y ago
Converted to a webm file[0] and it's less than 700kb (a bit less than the size of the binary). [0] https://giant.gfycat.com/LikelyDescriptiveBrahmancow.webm https://giant.gfycat.com/LikelyDescriptiveBrahmancow.webm
suprhackersteve 7y ago
Removed!

Cool! EndpointSecurity is pretty nice; I was in the process of writing something like this since it's fairly easy to get started with this kind of monitoring with it.

nutjob2 7y ago

macOS 10.15 only? That's going to limit its appeal. Many people are staying away from that version for the foreseeable future.

sho 7y ago
I wouldn't say "many". The only holdouts I know of are pro audio/video users with interoperability concerns; pretty sure they aren't the target market anyway.
- brailsafe 7y ago
  You're probably right, but as a non audio/video person, I'm trying to stay away until the next version. If the most apologetic Apple cultists I listen to podcasts from are still critical, that's a bad sign imo. So far all I've heard in the real world is the annoying security popups which I also don't want.
  - jasonlfunk 7y ago
    Those annoying pop ups are only annoying because on day one everything has to ask permission. After that, you only see them if you install a new application. I certainly prefer having to give my permission before an application uses my microphone or records my screen.
    - oefrha 7y ago
      I agree with “just day one” in general, but do note that if you develop apps or write AppleScript that require permissions it can get pretty annoying as every build asks for permissions all over again. (Actually I’m not quite sure about native apps built from Xcode, but this was my experience with a Qt app I wrote last month.)
  - alwillis 7y ago
    The early days of Catalina were pretty bad. But after doing a clean install of macOS 10.15.3, everything’s been fine. I expect 10.15.4, currently in beta, to be as stable as any other version of macOS at this point in its lifecycle.
  - IggleSniggle 7y ago
    I've only had one problem with Catalina and ironically it prevents me from using the feature that I updated for: Sidecar. Turns out that Sidecar doesn't work if your mac is connected to a VPN, even if you are connected to your iPad via USB with its wireless turned off.
- toyg 7y ago
  I’m a holdout - I have a bunch of tools and games that won’t survive the transition. I just cannot be arsed to do the prep work to find alternatives (boot from external drive, see what can be done with Wine/Crossover, or just buy another laptop...).
  - jeffhuys 7y ago
    Or just dual boot? I hold option when starting and select Mojave. Only the system-necessary files are on that partition - all other files (like applications, downloads etc) are being shared between my two installs. That way I can download a game on steam, and if it doesn't work, I play it on Mojave.
    - Wowfunhappy 7y ago
      At that point you might as well just dual boot Windows and have compatibility with all games. The advantage of Mac-compatible games is I don’t have to reboot.
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  My entire company is staying on 10.14 due to general bugginess. (We’re a graphic design agency.)
pvg 7y ago
The Endpoint Security Framework which this app relies on is a 10.15+ thing.
- suprhackersteve 7y ago
  Bingo!
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
eddieroger 7y ago
Counterpoint - many people aren't. Both my personal and work Macs are on Catalina. My parents' machines are. When people ask me if they should upgrade, I suggest they do. None of those folks are the target market for an app like this, but it's still anecdata to go with yours.
- aldanor 7y ago
  Counterpoint to the counterpoint: many people have to (stay away) even if they don't want to. For instance, in the audio world, the majority of audio hardware is still unsupported (e.g.: https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033607311-macOS-10-15-Catalina-Compatibility-Info https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033607311-macOS...), daw/plugin devs also insist to hold off for now. You could argue it's a narrow niche, but there's many other similar niches whether the hardware drivers or some software still has to catch up. If any of my friends asks me whether they should upgrade, I suggest they don't, not yet (unless all you're using is safari and a chat app, in which case you probably don't care).
  - ganoushoreilly 7y ago
    While not fully listed as supported, I've finally been able to utilize all of my hardware from them. Almost all of the issues came down to permissions changes in the OS and finally they're all worked out. I would say having a delay of 3 months give or take is usually the best practice.

sgt 7y ago

How is this better than Dtrace? Looks cool though

saagarjha 7y ago
It actually works and doesn't require disabling System Integrity Protection.
suprhackersteve 7y ago
Dtrace focuses on syscall level information which can flood the user with information. It is fantastic for debugging and getting extreme detail on a single application. The goal of this app is to give the user a higher level of events with some reduction in surface area. Plus you get a fancy UI to filter and search!

oefrha 7y ago

Very cool. One nit: maybe an option to display timestamps in human-readable ISO 8601 format?

heywire 7y ago

OT: Just FYI, it took a good 5-6 seconds after page load before the text appeared on the page. It looks like the 5MB gif is delaying the load of the fonts.

umaar 7y ago
In addition to using a video which would be the biggest improvement here, `font-display: swap;` can help with the perceived performance when using custom web fonts. Made a video on how to use Chrome DevTools in applying this technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRrrL0Mg1pM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRrrL0Mg1pM
suprhackersteve 7y ago
ha yeah... that is a lot of data to load. I'll either trim it down or remove it. thanks for the feedback.

krtkush 7y ago

Nice! One problem - I'm unable to resize the window and make it smaller.