Alternative to Google Desktop

marczellm

Probably I'm TR again, but I've been using Google Desktop to this day for the single purpose of being able to hit Ctrl Ctrl to quickly pop up a Google search box.

It is faster than opening my browser, and much faster than opening my browser and waiting for my tabs to load.

The method that Google Desktop has been using to launch the browser (after I type the search and hit Enter) broke with Fall Creators Update. Can you recommend me an alternative method to quickly launch Google searches from the desktop?

The Start menu can only search with Bing.
I am concerned about the privacy of using the Start menu for web searches.
I am using the Start menu for desktop searches and I don't want to mix the two.

bb36e

There should be a way to rig up a bootleg version using AutoHotKey/AutoIT, but I don't remember if AHK/AIT has a way of showing GUIs

AlexMedia

@bb36e AutoIT can definitely render a GUI.

GUI Reference

HardwareGeek

@marczellm said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

It is faster than opening my browser

Why would you ever not have your browser already open?

(I know, memory hog. So buy yourself some more RAM already.)

ben_lubar

@marczellm get a Chromebook and press the button on the keyboard (where Caps Lock usually is).

pie_flavor

AutoHotkey can do this:

#SingleInstance Force
SendMode Input

#+g::
InputBox, Query, Google Search, Search Term
if !ErrorLevel {
    StringReplace, Query, Query, %A_Space%, `%20, All
    StringReplace, Query, Query, #, `%23, All
    Run, "www.google.com/search?q=%Query%"
}
Return

Edit: No, this is not Perl. How do I tell NodeBB that I want to use a specific language? Regular ```ahk syntax doesn't seem to work.

Gąska

@ben_lubar said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@marczellm get a Chromebook and press the button on the keyboard (where Caps Lock usually is).

Does it mean Chromebook has no Caps Lock? If so, it's almost enough reason for me to buy it.

Tsaukpaetra

@gąska said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@ben_lubar said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@marczellm get a Chromebook and press the button on the keyboard (where Caps Lock usually is).

Does it mean Chromebook has no Caps Lock? If so, it's almost enough reason for me to buy it.

IIRC you activate caps lock by using Shift+ 

Zecc

@ben_lubar said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@marczellm get a Chromebook and press the button on the keyboard (where Caps Lock usually is).

Buy a tablet for the sole purpose of running web searches. Keep it close by.

dkf

@pie_flavor said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

Regular ```ahk syntax doesn't seem to work.

It only works for a very small subset of languages; our deployment of the relevant plugins/renderer is rather minimal…

marczellm

@pie_flavor thanks! now that there is an AHK solution, I can declare it NIH and write my own in Python

pie_flavor

@zecc said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@ben_lubar said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@marczellm get a Chromebook and press the button on the keyboard (where Caps Lock usually is).

Buy a tablet for the sole purpose of running web searches. Keep it close by.

Use BlueStacks for the sole purpose of running Puffin Browser.

marczellm

@pie_flavor said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

Use BlueStacks for the sole purpose of running Puffin Browser.

on a related note, do you know of a non-crappy Android emulator for casual users? (not for development and with easy Play Store integration)

BlueStacks is a subscription model: do not want
BlueStacks free tier requires you to play and rate some crappy games?
AmiDuOS by American Megatrends is a one time purchase which I could live with, but it breaks on latest Windows 10 and it breaks on the accent in my username
the others are free but not open source and keep their business model secret on their website, also Reddit has allegations about them being connected to shady Chinese adware makers or being un-uninstallable

pie_flavor

@marczellm said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

BlueStacks is a subscription model: do not want
BlueStacks free tier requires you to play and rate some crappy games?

I haven't used it years. Has it really fallen that far down the shithole? Jesus. I remember it being a bit fiddly but perfectly free software free of ads. I suppose that there's the one that ships with IDEA/Android Studio.

hungrier

@marczellm said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

BlueStacks is a subscription model: do not want
BlueStacks free tier requires you to play and rate some crappy games?

I only used it a little bit to try out some shitty apps that I didn't want to put on my phone but it seemed pretty unrestricted and didn't ask me to rate anything. It did however spam my desktop with shortcuts for each of the apps I installed on it.

TimeBandit

@marczellm said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

on a related note, do you know of a non-crappy Android emulator for casual users? (not for development and with easy Play Store integration)

No Play Store integration, but you can run Android apps with the help of Chrome:

How to Run Android Apps Inside Chrome on Any Desktop Operating System

Works well for the apps I tried, and doesn't add a huge overhead like an Android emulator does.

Magus

I feel like it'd make sense to just launch chrome from windows search, and then do your search there.

After about a week, , c, Enter should launch chrome anyway. That's only one more press than your double ctrl.

hungrier

@magus If the solution is to open a new browser window, why not just go all the way and pin the browser to the taskbar and launch it with +1?

marczellm

@magus said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

I feel like it'd make sense to just launch chrome from windows search, and then do your search there.

After about a week, , c, Enter should launch chrome anyway. That's only one more press than your double ctrl.

@hungrier said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@magus If the solution is to open a new browser window, why not just go all the way and pin the browser to the taskbar and launch it with +1?

I use Firefox
I do have it pinned
I have slower computers too! The Google Desktop workflow is

Press hotkey
Search box opens
Enter search term, press Enter
Wait a little
Results appear

The Firefox workflow would be

Press hotkey
Wait a little
Browser opens
Enter search term, press Enter
Wait a little
Results appear

So twice as much waiting.

The Python solution is already done, but there is a bug in the keyboard package that confuses held keys for repeated keys. But for any other shortcut it works. Whaddaya think?

import keyboard
import tkinter as tk
import webbrowser

class Wnd:
   def __init__(self):
       self.root = tk.Tk()
       root = self.root
       self.entry = tk.Entry(root, width=30, font='Helvetica 26')
       entry = self.entry        
       entry.pack(padx=2, pady=2)

       root.wm_overrideredirect(True)
       root.update_idletasks()
       w = root.winfo_width()
       h = root.winfo_height()
       w0 = root.winfo_screenwidth()
       h0 = root.winfo_screenheight()
       root.geometry('%dx%d+%d+%d' % (w, h, (w0-w)/2, (h0-h)/2))
       root.bind('<Return>', self.search)
       root.bind('<Escape>', self.quit)
       entry.focus_force()
       root.mainloop()

   def search(self, ev):
       text = self.entry.get()
       webbrowser.open('https://google.com/search?q=' + text)
       self.quit(None)

   def quit(self, ev):
       self.root.destroy()

while True:
   keyboard.wait('ctrl, ctrl')
   Wnd()

heterodox

@hungrier said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@magus If the solution is to open a new browser window, why not just go all the way and pin the browser to the taskbar and launch it with +1?

WHAT. SO THAT'S THE USE OF PINNING APPS TO THE TASKBAR.

blakeyrat

@heterodox said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

WHAT. SO THAT'S THE USE OF PINNING APPS TO THE TASKBAR.

One of the many. What decade have you been in?

Tsaukpaetra

@blakeyrat said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@heterodox said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

WHAT. SO THAT'S THE USE OF PINNING APPS TO THE TASKBAR.

One of the many. What decade have you been in?

The one where keyboard functionality was forgotten in favor of fist-sized touch controls?

hungrier

@heterodox said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@hungrier said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@magus If the solution is to open a new browser window, why not just go all the way and pin the browser to the taskbar and launch it with +1?

WHAT. SO THAT'S THE USE OF PINNING APPS TO THE TASKBAR.

It also lets you use the taskbar to replace the quick launch toolbar from Windows XP by clicking the pinned icons

heterodox

@hungrier said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

It also lets you use the taskbar to replace the quick launch toolbar from Windows XP by clicking the pinned icons

Yeah, should have said the use that would actually matter to me. I knew that one but never used Quick Launch in XP either.

pie_flavor

@heterodox said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@hungrier said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@magus If the solution is to open a new browser window, why not just go all the way and pin the browser to the taskbar and launch it with +1?

WHAT. SO THAT'S THE USE OF PINNING APPS TO THE TASKBAR.

No, it's so there's a quick way to launch things without going to the desktop or start menu.

heterodox

@pie_flavor said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

No, it's so there's a quick way to launch things without going to the desktop or start menu.

marczellm

It's done.

Now I only have to wait for them to add Unicode support:

Tkinter Entry to accept Unicode text?

I have a Tkinter Entry widget and a Hungarian keyboard. When I press the ő button on the keyboard, the Entry widget displays õ. ű becomes û. (I haven't had this problem in other applications since

import keyboard
import tkinter as tk
import webbrowser
from threading import Thread
import ctypes


class Wnd:
    def __init__(self, hotkey_state):
        # Initialize members
        self.root = tk.Tk()
        self.hotkey_state = hotkey_state
        root = self.root
        self.entry = tk.Entry(root, width=30, font='Helvetica 26')
        entry = self.entry        
        entry.pack(padx=2, pady=2)

        # Setup layout
        root.wm_overrideredirect(True)
        root.update_idletasks()
        w = root.winfo_width()
        h = root.winfo_height()
        w0 = root.winfo_screenwidth()
        h0 = root.winfo_screenheight()
        root.attributes('-topmost', True)
        root.geometry('%dx%d+%d+%d' % (w, h, (w0-w)/2, (h0-h)/2))

        # Setup handlers
        root.bind('<Return>', self.search)
        root.bind('<Escape>', self.quit)

        # Force window to the foreground
        keyboard.send('alt', do_release=False)
        ctypes.windll.user32.SetForegroundWindow(root.winfo_id())        
        keyboard.send('alt', do_press=False)
        entry.focus_set()

        root.mainloop()
        
    def search(self, ev):
        text = self.entry.get()
        webbrowser.open('https://google.com/search?q=' + text)
        self.quit(None)

    def quit(self, ev):
        self.root.destroy()
        self.hotkey_state.window_visible = False


## This should work but meanwhile a workaround is used
# keyboard.add_hotkey('ctrl, ctrl', Wnd, suppress=True, trigger_on_release=True)

class HotkeyState:
    def __init__(self):
        self.window_visible = False
        self.time = 0

    def keyup(self, ev):
        if 'ctrl' in ev.name:
            if not self.window_visible:
                if ev.time - self.time < 0.5:
                    self.window_visible = True
                    Thread(target=Wnd, args=(self,)).start()
                else:
                    self.time = ev.time
        else:
            self.time = 0

listener = HotkeyState()
keyboard.on_release(listener.keyup)
keyboard.wait()

LB_

@marczellm said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@pie_flavor said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

Use BlueStacks for the sole purpose of running Puffin Browser.

on a related note, do you know of a non-crappy Android emulator for casual users? (not for development and with easy Play Store integration)

BlueStacks is a subscription model: do not want

BlueStacks free tier requires you to play and rate some crappy games?

AmiDuOS by American Megatrends is a one time purchase which I could live with, but it breaks on latest Windows 10 and it breaks on the accent in my username

the others are free but not open source and keep their business model secret on their website, also Reddit has allegations about them being connected to shady Chinese adware makers or being un-uninstallable

Did you try Remix OS Player?
http://www.jide.com/remixos-player

I haven't tried it myself since I only have access to machines with AMD processors.

marczellm

Turns out running a Python process in the background that checks every keypress is bad for game performance.

pie_flavor

@marczellm said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

Turns out running a Python process ~~in the background that checks every keypress~~ is bad for game performance.

FTFY

marczellm

@pie_flavor said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

@marczellm said in Alternative to Google Desktop:

Turns out running a Python process ~~in the background that checks every keypress~~ is bad for game performance.

FTFY

why not

Turns out running a Python process ~~in the background that checks every keypress~~ is bad ~~for game performance~~.

?