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Synapse vs Launchy

37 11

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When comparing Synapse vs Launchy, the Slant community recommends Synapse for most people. In the question“What are the best app launchers for UNIX-like systems?” Synapse is ranked 9th while Launchy is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Synapse is:

Synapse is pretty rock solid. Works as expected and launches applications fast.

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Common Questions

What are the best app launchers for UNIX-like systems?

Pros

Pro
Rock solid

Synapse is pretty rock solid. Works as expected and launches applications fast.

Pro
Can run commands just as a terminal would

Users can run commands such as sudo apt-get update from within Synapse, making for a convenient way to open or run items/commands.

Pro
Zeitgeist powered

Synapse searches the Zeitgeist log, which tends to be a pretty quick way to do searches over other app launchers.

Pro
Includes a Zeal plugin

Includes a Zeal plugin to make searching faster.

Pro
.deb files available for Debian based distros

For those using Debian based distros Launchy is very easy to install as their website has 32 and 64bit .deb files available. For all other diistros Launchy will have to be compiled from source.

Pro
Easily themed with many available on the web

Launchy can be easily themedby placing themes into the Launchy theme folder and then selecting that theme from within the apps settings. There are also many user created themes available which is great for those that want their launcher to match the rest of their OS's theme.

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Cons

Con
Synapse is an abandoned project

The latest release was 7 years ago and the Launchpad page is a ghost town

Con
Unable to search whole system

Due to Zeitgeist being used the search is not as robust as if it were using Tracker. Of course using Tracker has its own downside like battery drain, so currently there is no "best" solution.