productivity tools

content/post/productivity-tools-multiplatform.md

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+---
+title: Productivity Tools on all platforms
+date: '2018-08-28'
+subtitle: Matching my most frequently used tools on OSX, Linux and Windows
+tags:
+  - Productivity
+  - tools
+published: true
+---
+
+I've grown so accustomed to some of Neal Ford's [The Productive Programmer](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3411606-the-productive-programmer?from_search=true) "power tools" that each time I install a new OS or get a new laptop, I start with my list of cant-live-without tools. I don't usually switch between OSes a lot, but my recent switch of work environment has opened up the possibility to boot Linux again, next to Windows 10 or of course my beloved own laptop with OSX. 
+
+Problem is, none of those tools seem to be 100% cross-platform or work **exactly** the same as I expect them to work. That can be a pain if I work on Ubuntu at work but on OSX at home, or if I need to switch to Windows for a student project. Alternatives almost always exist, so here's a short overview of my tooling usage with their counterparts on each OS. 
+
+Don't forget to take a look at the publication date of this page as especially Unix tools have the bad habit of dying within a few years... I will try to keep this up to date when I adopt another tool. 
+
+### 100% Cross-platform tools
+
+1. IDEA IDEs like CLion, PyCharm and IntelliJ
+2. Opera
+3. Spotify
+4. Any great editor: Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, GVim
+
+The newer version of Opera has built-in adblock support and reduces battery drain for up to an hour compared to (lots of) open tabs with Chrome! My Macbook Air's battery is slowly giving up so that's a major factor for me. Opera's JS eninge uses the same one as Chrome by the way. 
+
+Shortcut usage in IDEs or editors can be confusing if you're used to the CMD or ALT keys of a Mac (or vice versa). 
+
+### Quicklaunching
+
+**OSX**: CMD+Space is all you need. There are tools that enhance the experience but I find them unneeded since El Capitan. 
+
+**Ubuntu**: Unity's "dash" thing does almost what I want: it searches in possible software and files and it's (a bit) customizable. The only problem is mapping it to CMD (or CTRL)+Space. I had to install the **CompizConfig Settings Manager** and go to Desktop -> Ubuntu Unity Plugin -> Launcher to fiddle with the available key options. 
+
+### Multitouch
+
+**OSX**: built-in. Of course...
+
+**Ubuntu**: Again a bit of a pain, even if it comes with a lot of flexibility. Scrolling with both fingers works out of the box, but swiping combined with a browser does not - ALT+LEFT/RIGHT need to be mapped to swiping. [Fusuma](https://github.com/iberianpig/fusuma) is a small Ruby tool that monitors input and executes things based on a config file. It does not work with 2 finger motions meaning I have to do an unnecessary context switch between OSX and Ubuntu... 
+
+### Clipboard histroy
+
+**Windows**: Happy [CLCL](https://www.nakka.com/soft/clcl/index_eng.html) user for years.
+
+**OSX**: Can't remember, will fill in later 
+
+**Ubuntu**: [Diodon](https://launchpad.net/diodon) does exactly what I need after mapping ALT+C to command `/usr/bin/diodon`.
+
+### Terminals
+
+**Windows**: Install [Cmder](http://cmder.net) and never look back. The cygwin toolchain can also be installed, I'm not sure if GCC is included with Cmder.
+
+**OSX**: Install [iTerm2](https://www.iterm2.com) and never look back. 
+
+**Ubuntu**: Still evaluating whether the default gnome-terminal is sufficient for me. You have to remap the creation of a new tab to CTRL+T in the settings if you're used to iTerm. [Guake](http://guake-project.org) and [Terminator](https://launchpad.net/terminator) seem like good fits, but the default terminal isn't that far away with CTRL+ALT+T. 
+
+#### Custom commands
+
+That's simply a matter of configuring your `.bashrc` or `.bash_profile` files - given you think the bash shell is good enough. I've used the Z shell for years but for what I do now, Bash is more than enough. I'm not a big fan of installing a lot of power tools for the sake of installing them. 
+
+### Misc OS Things
+
+##### Quick access to development folder
+
+OSX's Finder makes it easy to create shortcuts for directories that have been heavily used, like my `~/development` dir where all repositories live. Luckily, Ubuntu's file manger also has this feature:
+
+<center>
+    <img src="/img/files_linux.png" class="bordered" />  
+</center>
+
+##### Taking screenshots of areas
+
+Emulating OSX's CMD+ALT+4 on Ubuntu works by mapping CTRL+ALT+4 in the Keyboard shortcut manager to `gnome-screenshot -a`. 
+
+For Windows 10, if ALT+Screenshot or Win+Screenshot don't suffice (the problem is uniformity with other OSes here!), the snipping tool will work but doesn't have a shortcut bind to it. In the windows menu, rightclick on snipping tool after searching for it and set a shortcut key in tab "Shortcut". CTRL+Screenshot then creates a new screenshot for an area. 
+
+##### Auto-expand directories when hovering files
+
+Very annoying but it seems that Gnome has this option disabled by default and you have to re-enable it with `gsettings set org.gnome.nautilus.preferences open-folder-on-dnd-hover true` in a CLI.
+
+##### Window movement shortcuts
+
+This can get very far, I have used Fvwm once and spent weeks on perfecting my shortcut configuration for windows and window management. Luckily that time of fiddling about is over and I must say that the Win+Left/Right key combination in Windows (and Ubuntu) works quite well. Win+Up does nothing in Ubuntu though, so get ready to fiddle again if you want them to work exactly like in Windows... 
+
+For OSX, [Spectacle](https://www.spectacleapp.com) is a requirement.