4 ms·

Ask HN: What (realistic) software tool do you need that doesn't exist

BitwiseFool 6y ago
I would love a copy/paste stack utility. The ability to copy multiple selections and then paste them in order. For instance you could press ctrl+c five times in your source and then switch windows to the destination and then presss ctrl+v five times to get everything copied and then pasted in one go. Maybe allow toggling between FIFO and LIFO. I know MS Office has a clipboard utility that keeps a history but as far as I know it doesn't do a stack paste and it doesn't exist outside of the Office suite. I think you'll find this would save a ton of time in office jobs that require a lot of excel work.
- frompdx 6y ago
  I have never considered something like this, but it could be really useful.
- hnrich 6y ago
  It sounds like you may be on a Windows machine so this might not help you but I have been using JumpCut for years. It does what you describe and it's an essential tool for me. https://snark.github.io/jumpcut/ https://snark.github.io/jumpcut/
- jolmg 6y ago
  I think you're looking for clipboard managers. There's quite a few[1] for Linux/X11. They manage clipboard history in addition to other functions. Adding that FIFO/LIFO paste functionality is probably either a configuration matter or a simple edit on the source where you just delete an entry from the history automatically on being pasted. To toggle LIFO/FIFO, it's probably simplest to just reverse the history on a keybinding. Searching for "windows clipboard managers" also gives some results, though I have no clue as to the breadth of their functionality or extensibility. [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Clipboard#Managers https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Clipboard#Managers
kleer001 6y ago
Open Frequent Files (in addition to Open Recent Files). Seems easy enough to me. GUI file browsing details that influence the width of their column. Too often I find long names truncated and have to adjust the width myself when there's obviously lots of white space in other columns. Maybe a bit too OS for your question.
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  If you use Everything on windows you can sort by run count to list the most run files at the top, which is an approximation of what you want.
  - kleer001 6y ago
    I was thinking more integrated into any particular program. Also, I'm on Linux mostly. But yea, that looks cool
happyrock 6y ago
Open-source device management/administration system like JAMF
pickle-wizard 6y ago
I've been looking for an open source alternative to VMware vRealize Automation and Cisco Prime Service Catalog. I use Stackstorm and Terraform for the orchestration on the backend. What I need is a front end to put in from them so users can order my services. I've had a couple of failed attempts at creating one myself. What I keep getting hung up on is that I don't know front end programming. I've tried working on it in the evenings and get frustrated with the front end development. I've thought about founding a company to work on it and hire some contractors to do the front end work, but I'm not really interested in running a company.
simplecto 6y ago
I want universal copy-paste like Apple has between devices. It would be great to have that between my Macbook and my Windows machine that I use for video calls/streaming.

I would love a copy/paste stack utility. The ability to copy multiple selections and then paste them in order. For instance you could press ctrl+c five times in your source and then switch windows to the destination and then presss ctrl+v five times to get everything copied and then pasted in one go. Maybe allow toggling between FIFO and LIFO. I know MS Office has a clipboard utility that keeps a history but as far as I know it doesn't do a stack paste and it doesn't exist outside of the Office suite. I think you'll find this would save a ton of time in office jobs that require a lot of excel work.

frompdx 6y ago
I have never considered something like this, but it could be really useful.
hnrich 6y ago
It sounds like you may be on a Windows machine so this might not help you but I have been using JumpCut for years. It does what you describe and it's an essential tool for me. https://snark.github.io/jumpcut/ https://snark.github.io/jumpcut/
jolmg 6y ago
I think you're looking for clipboard managers. There's quite a few[1] for Linux/X11. They manage clipboard history in addition to other functions. Adding that FIFO/LIFO paste functionality is probably either a configuration matter or a simple edit on the source where you just delete an entry from the history automatically on being pasted. To toggle LIFO/FIFO, it's probably simplest to just reverse the history on a keybinding. Searching for "windows clipboard managers" also gives some results, though I have no clue as to the breadth of their functionality or extensibility. [1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Clipboard#Managers https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Clipboard#Managers

kleer001 6y ago

Open Frequent Files (in addition to Open Recent Files). Seems easy enough to me. GUI file browsing details that influence the width of their column. Too often I find long names truncated and have to adjust the width myself when there's obviously lots of white space in other columns. Maybe a bit too OS for your question.

CyberDildonics 6y ago
If you use Everything on windows you can sort by run count to list the most run files at the top, which is an approximation of what you want.
- kleer001 6y ago
  I was thinking more integrated into any particular program. Also, I'm on Linux mostly. But yea, that looks cool

happyrock 6y ago

Open-source device management/administration system like JAMF

pickle-wizard 6y ago

I've been looking for an open source alternative to VMware vRealize Automation and Cisco Prime Service Catalog. I use Stackstorm and Terraform for the orchestration on the backend. What I need is a front end to put in from them so users can order my services. I've had a couple of failed attempts at creating one myself. What I keep getting hung up on is that I don't know front end programming. I've tried working on it in the evenings and get frustrated with the front end development. I've thought about founding a company to work on it and hire some contractors to do the front end work, but I'm not really interested in running a company.

simplecto 6y ago

I want universal copy-paste like Apple has between devices. It would be great to have that between my Macbook and my Windows machine that I use for video calls/streaming.