Blink Shell for iOS
Dev tools
terminal emulator
SHOW HN2016
219points
107comments
#117of 2,264 in 2016
Top 6%of 2016 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
23 positive, 27 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 7 critical, out of 59 comments about the project. Thread score +0.25.
Pricing: 4 for, 3 againstIdea: 6 for, 1 againstExecution: 1 for, 2 againstDesign: 1 for, 0 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Mosh support keeps connections alive on iOS
From 2 comments
Three things: - Mosh & SSH support: In Prompt and any other iOS ssh client, connections break every 3 minutes. With Mosh that isn't a problem. - Full external keyboard support:…
carloscabanero on HNThe biggest thing I can see is mosh support, which is a nice addition if using over cellular. Prompt is great, but unfortunately can never support mosh due to licensing issues.
mackmgg on HN
Caps Lock and Option-as-Meta remapping for external keyboards
From 3 comments
Mosh and caps lock remap are the killer features here over Prompt. I don't care about the former, having never needed it - when I need to shell in from my phone, it's invariably…
throwanem on HNI will be able to remap Caps to Ctrl on my Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard?! Sold! IMHO you should expose this as the #1 feature.
jwr on HNYou can do that on Blink, and it was one of the reasons why I started the project. Option as Meta and Cmd as Ctrl :)
carloscabanero on HN
Fast rendering compared with Prompt
From 2 comments
Bought it even though it apparently has no agent forwarding (also, see my other comment here about 1Password and mouse - yes, mouse! - support). Pretty good, refresh seems faster…
rcarmo on HNInteresting that you use hterm to power this. Does that mean you start a WebView. Or do you somehow have a virtual dom of sorts that renders to Obj-c view (a la react-native)?
amasad on HN
Open source makes it trustworthy and changeable
From 2 comments
It does and it's open source. You can ask for improvements, know why something is the way it is, and change it yourself if you need to. I bought it. I use it on my iPhone and…
0xCMP on HNWhile I'm personally fine with the $20 price tag, it does seem a bit steep for more casual users (ignoring the fact that they can also get it for free if they compile it for…
goerz on HN
Objections
Price of US$20 feels steep for casual users
From 3 comments
The US$19.99 price is a bit steep to buy sight-unseen. That's more of an App Store problem than Blink's fault. Obviously the price is fine if it works better than Prompt.
isomorphic on HN$31?!
mrmondo on HNWhile I'm personally fine with the $20 price tag, it does seem a bit steep for more casual users (ignoring the fact that they can also get it for free if they compile it for…
goerz on HN
No agent forwarding yet
From 2 comments
Also: agent forwarding.
tdfx on HNBought it even though it apparently has no agent forwarding (also, see my other comment here about 1Password and mouse - yes, mouse! - support). Pretty good, refresh seems faster…
rcarmo on HN
Caps Lock remap has delays and toggles the Caps Lock light
From 2 comments
I'm a long-time Prompt user, and I just purchased Blink on the App Store after seeing that mapping Caps Lock to CTRL is supported. It does seem to work, although not really as…
kimolas on HNI think I've figured out why I'm seeing a delay. It must be related to the Caps Lock delay that some keyboards have, wherein the keyboard will prevent Caps Lock from engaging (or…
kimolas on HN
Requests
Ed25519 key support
From 1 comment
Does it support Ed25519 keys? This is one of the things that Panic's Prompt still lack support of, and I really miss it :(
sirn on HN
1Password import of private keys
From 1 comment
Two things I'd like to see: 1) Support for 1Password import of private keys 2) Support for the Citrix X1 Mouse: http://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2016/11/06/1930 (Yes, terminals are…
rcarmo on HN
Config sync via iCloud or Dropbox
From 1 comment
Could you consider adding config sync via iCloud/Dropbox? It's quite a pain to sync host lists across several iOS devices.
maxgashkov on HN
External display support
From 1 comment
Bought it even though it apparently has no agent forwarding (also, see my other comment here about 1Password and mouse - yes, mouse! - support). Pretty good, refresh seems faster…
rcarmo on HN
Questions
How private keys are stored and whether they are exportable
From 1 comment
Does anyone know if I have the option to import and SSH private key and whether or not that data is stored in the secure enclave? If so this would be very valuable for working on…
matt_wulfeck on HN
How it compares to Panic's Prompt
From 1 comment
How does it compare to Panic's Prompt?
rhinoceraptor on HN
Alternatives named
Panic's Prompt
From 2 comments
How does it compare to Panic's Prompt?
rhinoceraptor on HNI used to like and recommend Prompt until I found out that they came out with a new version and offered no upgrade path -- it was a separate app on the store. They never bothered…
seanp2k2 on HN