On Thu, 4 Sept 2025 at 03:07, Evan Leibovitch via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
On Thu, Sep 4, 2025 at 2:07 AM Ron via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org> wrote:
Anyone using `batcat` or `lolcat` as `cat` alternatives?
Tried it.
Cute, but the novelty wore off quickly to me. Some parts of its rainbow output are harder to read off a black background than others.
I find curious what seems to be a newfound interest in command-line innovation, some of which has found its way to this list. Combined with discussions of fish and hyprland, I wonder if there's simply an exhaustion of GUI development, and reinventing the Unix terminal experience seems quite the new thing. There's even a fairly new vim-"inspired" browser called Vieb.
Is this a trend, or just a coincidence of stuff we seem to be discovering at the same time?
I've installed `batcat`, but I almost never use it. Largely because it's possible (although far more difficult, but I invested the time back when) to get `less` to syntax-highlight your code files. So ... probably just inertia, but I continue to use the older tools. Hmm - as a Debian user (same problem on Ubuntu), I have to admit the `batcat` name kind of stalled me: if it was just `bat` as on other platforms, I might have been able to remember it! A little self-promotion, how to colourize less: https://www.gilesorr.com/blog/pygmentize-less-update.html -- Giles https://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr@gmail.com