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Show HN: NotepadJs – A cross-platform love letter to Notepad

(github.com)
145 points itkeman | 10 comments | 22 Jan 25 11:59 UTC | HN request time: 2.05s | source | bottom

As a native Windows user who switched to macOS a few years back, one thing I never got over was the simplicity and usefulness of the old school Notepad app. This app aims to recreate that very same experience, cross-platform and easily installable as a PWA.

I've been using this for personal use for around 2 years and I figured it was time to share it with the world. Criticism, issues and PRs are welcome. Thanks!

1. nottorp ◴[22 Jan 25 21:45 UTC] No.42797863[source]▶
Just to be the devil's advocate, notepad.exe is 200 kb.

How much space and ram does this use?

The MacOS textedit bundle is 2 Mb too.

TextMate's bundle is 38 Mb but even that is probably less than a browser, npm and all the baggage it comes with.

replies(2): >>42798340 #>>42799387 #
2. bangaladore ◴[22 Jan 25 22:47 UTC] No.42798340[source]▶
According to Chrome dev tools, 7.1 kB of network traffic, about 100 kB of total resources.

Actually much better than I expected.

replies(1): >>42798726 #
3. RadiozRadioz ◴[22 Jan 25 23:35 UTC] No.42798726[source]▶
You need to include Chrome.

NotePad runs on Win32 (or whatever it is these days). This runs on Chrome + Win32.

replies(1): >>42799003 #
4. bangaladore ◴[23 Jan 25 00:13 UTC] No.42799003{3}[source]▶
NotePad runs on Windows. You need to include Windows.

The argument doesn't really pass the sniff test frankly. Windows is a general purpose operating system much like Chrome is a general purpose web browser.

Infact nowadays to get this sort of NotePad you'll always have Edge installed in your computer, so you don't even have to download Chrome!

replies(2): >>42801898 #>>42821988 #
5. rikafurude21 ◴[23 Jan 25 01:02 UTC] No.42799387[source]▶
This notepad comes with a whole react framework, so take that as you will.
6. nottorp ◴[23 Jan 25 08:18 UTC] No.42801898{4}[source]▶
Sure, how about the copy of the npm "ecosystem"?

And you conveniently forget that you can choose not to start a browser while running the native notepad.

replies(1): >>42804829 #
7. bangaladore ◴[23 Jan 25 15:17 UTC] No.42804829{5}[source]▶
> Sure, how about the copy of the npm "ecosystem"?

I mentioned how many resources are downloaded. NPM is not required. "Modern" webapps get bundled, NPM is not distributed.

> And you conveniently forget that you can choose not to start a browser while running the native notepad.

When running a PWA, you don't have to start a browser. Does Chromium run in the background, sure, but you just click a icon or search like you always do. And honestly it opens and is ready to use possibly quicker than Notepad itself.

replies(1): >>42808269 #
8. nottorp ◴[23 Jan 25 21:28 UTC] No.42808269{6}[source]▶
Yeah it only uses 1 G ram more than notepad. Who cares about that indeed.
replies(1): >>42808586 #
9. bangaladore ◴[23 Jan 25 22:11 UTC] No.42808586{7}[source]▶
About 500 MB in my testing.

No need to hate on a submission. Some things aren't for everyone, but that doesn't mean its fundamentally flawed.

You are arguing by chucking out claims and seeing what lands. That's not a good faith argument.

10. RadiozRadioz ◴[25 Jan 25 14:58 UTC] No.42821988{4}[source]▶
The division between the OS and user space is a pretty obvious line in the sand.