
F.lux - satyampujari
http://justgetflux.com/
======
aroch
I, and I'm sure the rest of HN, loves F.lux...but is there a reason why this
needs to be posted every month or two? There hasn't even been an update (and
the promised OSX update is no where to be seen)

~~~
crazygringo
Honestly, for most things I would agree... but F.lux has made such a
difference in my own sleep, at least, and therefore overall life quality, that
I feel like it's one of the very few thing that deserves to be posted every
month or two (in fact, I can't really think of anything else).

It's funny how, even after years, it's such an amazing tiny piece of
software... that still almost nobody knows about, outside of mostly just the
hacker community.

I mean, it's almost a crime it isn't already a native part of OSX and,
especially, iOS.

~~~
GuiA
Yes- I always point to f.lux as an example of little feature that every single
graphical operating system could benefit from having, and yet that no OS
creator includes as a feature. More than that- I want an entire OS that has
dark on light windows/text/widgets/etc. during the day, and light on dark at
night - this would be configurable, but by default automagically determined by
your geographical location. On OSX, one can hack such a setup using an app
like Nocturne, but it's clunky.

At every new Windows, OSX, iOS, Android release we get new features (some
debatably useful - i.e. notification center in OSX, or integration with the
new social network of the day) - but some key stuff that would make human-
computer interaction noticeably better is just missing.

A few other things that I can't believe are still not standard in a 2014 OS:
better copy and paste (the damn thing has been clunky for 30 years, see Ted
Nelson's rant), better window management, better support for interacting
across multiple nearby computers (Airdrop is a tiny step in that direction),
...

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elorant
Most important. Desktop. Utility. Ever.

I'm surprised of how few people even in our industry know about it. There
hasn't been a single case where I show it to someone and he/she wasn't
impressed. I'm so accustomed to using it that if for some reason it stopped
working I believe my productivity would suffer at least 40%. Especially for
those long winter hours it's a life saving app.

Where's the damn donate button?

~~~
michalu
Sorry to maybe sound silly but why? I've used it, it didn't feel good (my eyes
kind of hurt) so I removed it. I see you're enthusiastic about it, what other
benefits does it have if you don't mind me asking?

~~~
elorant
You have to adjust the settings. I'm using 5900K for day and 4600K for
evening. I like it because it makes the screen more bearable especially during
late evening hours.

~~~
michalu
Thank you

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dennis_vartan
F.lux (or something similar) is one of those things that should come pre-
configured with each operating system. I find it indispensable for coding at
night (and I use Photoshop quite a bit, too.) Shame there isn't a way to do
this on iOS without jailbreaking.

~~~
jamesbritt
I tried it and the color change was ubearable. I'm happy people for whom this
works have the option to install it but I do not want my OS changing my screen
colors for me.

~~~
quadrangle
You did NOT really try it. The color change is adjustable to your preferences.
You just had it set too strong if it was unbearable. You seriously didn't give
it a chance and don't have a clue. I would be skeptical to accept any other
recommendations from you knowing how much you're willing to judge things by
very first impressions and even comment to others about your judgment as
though it is valid.

~~~
jamesbritt
Wow. You know so much about me based on one comment.

That's amusing.

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typpo
Open source/linux version:
[http://jonls.dk/redshift/](http://jonls.dk/redshift/)

(apt-get install redshift)

~~~
JetSpiegel
Works flawlessly, and the configuration file is a single file, which makes it
easy to keep synced between computers.

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pkfrank
I love the confidence of F.lux's domain name. "JustGetFlux.com" \-- it's like:
"why is this even a question?" Judging from most of these comments, I'd say
we're all in agreement.

I definitely make a habit of telling everyone I know, especially when I happen
to be looking at their screen at night.

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Anderkent
My major pain with f.lux is the inability to manually specify when it should
start shifting colours. I work in a brightly lit office until way after the
sunset (esp. in winter), and it makes no sense for my screen to start colour
shifting at 5PM.

My current 'solution' is simply manually starting f.lux when I get home, and
killing it when I go to the office. Tedious!

~~~
benjohnson
Lie!

Tell F.lux it you live on the equator in the settings. If it's triggering too
early, move your fake location west.

~~~
Anderkent
That's one way to do it in winter, if exactly 12 hour days suffice, and don't
move too much. Manually adjusting the longitude every time I fly to the US
would be a pain though.

What I'd really like is to tell it 'turn yourself off at sunrise, turn
yourself on at sunset or 2100, whichever's later'.

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dpcan
I have some questions / issues before I blindly use this software:

1) It's not open source, or is it? I don't see anything about getting the
source. In today's world, utilities like this are open source, or have an open
source alternative. This is something that runs in the background of my
computer all day, every day, so I would like to know what's going on.

2) How does this affect graphic design? Does it make it impossible to get
colors just right?

3) Why does this matter? My lights are on in my office. It's ALWAYS the same
brightness in my office, all the time. Daytime. Nighttime. I don't really
understand what my monitor is adjusting to. Is it JUST that my eyes are
probably more sensitive when I'm tired? If so, that makes sense I suppose, but
how does it know that I'm tired just based on the time that I'm using my
computer?

Anyway, I'm not trying to be negative, these are just the questions I have and
the reasons why I haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet.

~~~
crazygringo
2) Everybody says not to use it for graphic design... but I haven't found any
problems. I think my brain judges colors relative to whatever the "white
point" is, and there is always enough white/gray in my OS interface to judge
photos or artwork alongside. Remember, color perception is fundamentally
relative. When I look at my work the next day, it looks just like I remembered
it. But other people have found the opposite, though -- it may be a personal
thing.

3) It's not about brightness, it's about color temperature. If you have
fluorescent lights in your office that are on at 10pm, you're right, it's not
going to help. It really only makes sense to use F.lux under non-super-bright
warm-ish nighttime lighting, or in a dark room.

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mikemikemike
I'm conflicted... my eyes give me a ton of issues and this is tempting, but I
also do a lot of front end work and visual design. I don't want everything I
design at night to turn out blue because my screen was orange when I made it.
I think for now I'll stick with my computer glasses, they've helped a ton.

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benologist
Does anyone have a solution for using F.lux + Shades?

[http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades](http://www.charcoaldesign.co.uk/shades)

If I run them simultaneously my monitor flashes yellow-and-normal.

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Antwan
Don't install this, it's a trap. Spent 30min to reset the
lightness/contrast/gamma of my 2 desktop screens using these painful OSD
buttons.

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RafiqM
I used to use it but had to disable it because I find myself regularly working
at 2 or 3am and being tired would be a terrible idea...

~~~
Zancarius
I find that the reduced color temperature doesn't make me tired so much as it
seems to interfere less with my ability to get to sleep. Although judging from
previous times this has been posted, there are a few people like you and react
a bit more dramatically to the color shift.

For anyone who's never used it, it's certainly worth trying. This is
particularly true if you have mild insomnia that's likely caused or
exasperated by staring at a screen before bed. It's not a panacea, but used
with other habit changes, it can certainly help!

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tokanizar
I once doubted the usefulness of this application. Now it's one of my must-
have apps. My eyes will sore without it for a while.

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lclemente
Just out of interest, what is your temperature setting for night? I'm at
3600K, decreasing it every few weeks.

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jbrooksuk
I was hoping this was the new version being released on OSX, but alas, it
wasn't.

Oh well. Soon I hope!

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quadrangle
Nobody should EVER use any computer without this. And, Apple is evil… because
their proprietary walled-garden iOS censors out F.lux (among other things).

For those using GNU/Linux, use Redshift instead:
[http://jonls.dk/redshift/](http://jonls.dk/redshift/)

