Show HN: WOPR – A markup for rich terminal reports (opens in new tab)

(github.com)

125 pointsyaronn0110y ago37 comments

37 comments

For now I'm categorising this (mentally, I mean) under "awesome, but idky useful".

I'd love to be told I'm wrong though. It's the best thing when you discover how to usefully use awesome but hitherto useless tools :p

yaronn01OP10y ago

one use case is when ssh-ing machines you can see visual reports rather than text and numbers (think cpu metrics or app specific).

anonbanker10y ago

I'd want to combine with pigshell[0]

0. http://pigshell.com/v/0.6.4/

yaronn01OP10y ago

Hi everyone, I am the author. Feel free to ask me anything or come up with suggestions!

akkartik10y ago

Very cool! It got me daydreaming about an alternative to html designed from the ground up to minimize webpage bloat and avoid tracking (1x1 pixel gifs, etc.)

raindev10y ago

Why do you decided to use XML as the basic format?

yaronn01OP10y ago

XML is a standard format for markup (e.g. HTML). When XML is used where it shouldn't (object serialization) it adds complexity. Here it signals that creating a report is as simple (or at least as standard) as creating HTML. What other format you had in mind?

2 more replies

agumonkey10y ago

Greetings, Professor Falken.

mannycalavera4210y ago

Joshua: Shall we play a game?

rglover10y ago

Global Thermonuclear War

mannycalavera4210y ago

Wouldn't you prefer a good game of chess?

1 more reply

yaronn01OP10y ago

Another example is US weather map:

$> a=$(curl -Ls "bit.ly/1OuRPDJ"); curl --data "$a" "tty.zone?cols=${COLUMNS}"

chazu10y ago

Very cool indeed - pair this with 'watch' and you have instant ASCII monitoring tools implemented as http endpoints.

sklogic10y ago

Impressive. I keep using bare xterm since it still supports Tektronix emulation (but, unfortunately, no Regis nor Sixel). This seems like a viable substitution for all three.

LukeShu10y ago

xterm actually does support ReGIS and Sixel graphics! However, it must be compiled with --enable-regis-graphics` (or `--enable-sixel-graphics`); and it's likely that your distro didn't compile it with those flags. If they did, you can get ReGIS support by running xterm in VT340 mode (`-ti vt340`).

sklogic10y ago

Great! Did not know that, thought that only the DEC version could do it.

ratboy66610y ago

Haven't tried this. Just want to know -- what advantage does this give over using gnu plot with sixel output?

I can see the advantage over tek 4010 (this could be dynamic). If this is static (again, haven't tried yet), with multiple pages, why not just use tek 4010?

I also don't understand the admonish to use something other than xterm. What is the issue that was observed?

Ratboy

yaronn01OP10y ago

this uses xterm, so it's more accessible to most users than the other alternatives you mentioned. also note wopr is not just about the graphs (like https://github.com/yaronn/blessed-contrib) but also about having a declarative format, and even consuming it with curl.

gavazzy10y ago

This would be useful for AWS instances where you don't want to install a desktop environment on the server.

atmosx10y ago

Why would you wanna do that (install a desktop env)?!

kbenson10y ago

To support graphical installers and specific service administrators that are used to using a GUI on a server? I knew an Oracle DBA once that always wanted X and and Gnome installed on the the RHEL DB servers, it was what he knew and was comfortable with when installing Oracle.

Kinnard10y ago

This is cool. I've been looking for something like it.

johng10y ago

Very cool!

ivanceras10y ago

I didn't know, you could display something like that in a terminal. And why tty.zone maps to that wopr site?

yaronn01OP10y ago

That's a shortcut for the wopr page

Bud10y ago

Absolutely fantastic name choice; kudos.

jaxb10y ago

reminds me of http://zachholman.com/spark/ (spark-line graphs using unicode graph chars)

astro113810y ago

I wonder if it's manageable to build a converter to SVG with just XSLT?

ape410y ago

Long live the TUI!

bbrock2510y ago

heh, this is pretty awesome. I literally just started hacking with blessed over the weekend. Nice work!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

37 comments

OJFord10y ago

For now I'm categorising this (mentally, I mean) under "awesome, but idky useful".

I'd love to be told I'm wrong though. It's the best thing when you discover how to usefully use awesome but hitherto useless tools :p

yaronn01OP10y ago

one use case is when ssh-ing machines you can see visual reports rather than text and numbers (think cpu metrics or app specific).

anonbanker10y ago

I'd want to combine with pigshell[0]

0. http://pigshell.com/v/0.6.4/

yaronn01OP10y ago

Hi everyone, I am the author. Feel free to ask me anything or come up with suggestions!

akkartik10y ago

Very cool! It got me daydreaming about an alternative to html designed from the ground up to minimize webpage bloat and avoid tracking (1x1 pixel gifs, etc.)

raindev10y ago

Why do you decided to use XML as the basic format?

yaronn01OP10y ago

2 more replies

agumonkey10y ago

Greetings, Professor Falken.

mannycalavera4210y ago

Joshua: Shall we play a game?

rglover10y ago

Global Thermonuclear War

mannycalavera4210y ago

Wouldn't you prefer a good game of chess?

1 more reply

yaronn01OP10y ago

Another example is US weather map:

$> a=$(curl -Ls "bit.ly/1OuRPDJ"); curl --data "$a" "tty.zone?cols=${COLUMNS}"

chazu10y ago

Very cool indeed - pair this with 'watch' and you have instant ASCII monitoring tools implemented as http endpoints.

sklogic10y ago

Impressive. I keep using bare xterm since it still supports Tektronix emulation (but, unfortunately, no Regis nor Sixel). This seems like a viable substitution for all three.

LukeShu10y ago

sklogic10y ago

Great! Did not know that, thought that only the DEC version could do it.

ratboy66610y ago

Haven't tried this. Just want to know -- what advantage does this give over using gnu plot with sixel output?

I can see the advantage over tek 4010 (this could be dynamic). If this is static (again, haven't tried yet), with multiple pages, why not just use tek 4010?

I also don't understand the admonish to use something other than xterm. What is the issue that was observed?

Ratboy

yaronn01OP10y ago

gavazzy10y ago

This would be useful for AWS instances where you don't want to install a desktop environment on the server.

atmosx10y ago

Why would you wanna do that (install a desktop env)?!

kbenson10y ago

Kinnard10y ago

This is cool. I've been looking for something like it.

johng10y ago

Very cool!

ivanceras10y ago

I didn't know, you could display something like that in a terminal. And why tty.zone maps to that wopr site?

yaronn01OP10y ago

That's a shortcut for the wopr page

Bud10y ago

Absolutely fantastic name choice; kudos.

jaxb10y ago

reminds me of http://zachholman.com/spark/ (spark-line graphs using unicode graph chars)

astro113810y ago

I wonder if it's manageable to build a converter to SVG with just XSLT?

ape410y ago

Long live the TUI!

bbrock2510y ago

heh, this is pretty awesome. I literally just started hacking with blessed over the weekend. Nice work!

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse