
Show HN: Keypirinha, a new semantic launcher for keyboard ninjas - polyvertex
http://keypirinha.com
======
Nadya
What advantages does this have over the well-known Launchy [0] which
accomplishes the same tasks but multi-platform? You may want to touch upon any
improvements if you want to win anyone (namely: me) over.

I tried to read through the Configuration section and found nothing about
limiting the scope of the search. For example, if I put .shortcut files into a
certain directory, let's say `K:\Programs` and only want to use Keypirinha to
quickly run those shortcuts. I find Launchy is finicky with updating its
library for this purpose and often requires a bit of
adding/removing/restarting/telling it to rescan before it finally picks up on
additions/removals. I see nothing about limiting Keypirinha's searching scope.

I appreciate that you anticipate users may move the .exe outside of the
install directory. Too many people expect APP_EXE to be within APP_DIR, thank
you for not making that assumption. :)

Also the most important question: can the keybind be left alt + space? Or are
there any keybind limitations that so many programs have that don't allow key
modifiers to be bound with space? (E: Answer is `yes`, mentioned in Config
file)

[0] [http://www.launchy.net/](http://www.launchy.net/)

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polyvertex
I've been a long time and happy user of Launchy. It's a great tool and you
might have noticed the small tribute to it in Keypirinha by using the term
"Catalog" to name its internal database :)

Keypirinha is more modern than Launchy in many ways and integrates better in
recent Windows platforms (for example I've had troubles due to 64-bit
platforms with Launchy; items not found or not launchable, ...). The search
accuracy is very much improved as well. You can have machine and/or user-
specific configuration in a __portable __way. In addition to that, Keypirinha
is more easily extensible, it embeds a Python interpreter to load its plugins
(whereas you had to compile a C++ plugin to do the same job with Launchy; I
wasn 't happy with the unofficial Launchy-Python plugin). That gives the user
the power to modify the existing official plugins (they are open-source), or
to create new plugins that fit her needs (that slowly leads us towards your
"searching scope" question).

Keypirinha is also very young compared to venerable Launchy so its plugins
catalog has yet to be "flourished".

Hope that answers your question regarding Keypirinha vs. Launchy.

Regarding the "searching scope" question, please follow the discussion on
GitHub at:
[https://github.com/Keypirinha/Keypirinha/issues/3](https://github.com/Keypirinha/Keypirinha/issues/3)

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ishu3101
Check out Wox - an open source launcher like Alfred for Windows with plugin
support. [http://www.getwox.com](http://www.getwox.com)

~~~
polyvertex
Wox offers more exotic features, but to be fair is also way less efficient
when it comes to search accuracy, speed, memory footprint and battery
friendliness.

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svenfaw
Website looks clean, loads fast and is very informative, so props for that.
Are you using a static generator (Pelican perhaps)?

~~~
captaindiego
Looking at the source I think he's using Sphinx (Python static generator) with
the RTD theme, or some variation.

~~~
polyvertex
That's right, with the vanilla ReadTheDocs theme (no variation).

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drvortex
Kind of pointless since these days, Win + "typing" does exactly the same
thing.

~~~
michaelmior
You can write plugins for the start menu as well?

~~~
polyvertex
Thanks for pinning one of the points of Keypirinha :)

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baal80spam
Nothing beats Everything.

~~~
polyvertex
Different purpose. Everything rocks at finding files and is complementary to
Keypirinha, which rocks at adapting to your needs. As explained in an other
comment, Keypirinha is way more than about launching apps and documents.

------
AaronLasseigne
...on Windows.

~~~
polyvertex
Sorry I forgot to mention that. More precisely: Windows 64-bit (Vista, 7, 8,
8.1 or 10)

