Asklemmy @lemmy.ml Emerald_Earth @lemmy.world 1 yr. ago

What very old/unmaintained software do you still use today, and why?

I still use Font Renamer to manage my font collection. It works great but hasn't received an update since 2008. Even the website looks straight out of the Windows XP era.

52 comments

I use windirstat all the time, although it's slow as shit I like the way it works.
- Me too! It just works.
  
  WizTree FTW https://www.diskanalyzer.com/
I was gonna say something like ping, but there's still a surprising amount of development going on for such a simple tool (40th anniversary, yay!): https://github.com/iputils/iputils/blob/master/ping/ping.c

So... retro games it is. Currently playing through Broken Sword (1996).
- Dang thats....a lot more than I expected for ping
I used Winamp all the way up until last year at which point I finally sold my gaming PC and switched over to Mac + PlayStation. Out of everything on my PC I probably miss Winamp the most!
- That really whips the llama's ass.
- Isn’t it maintained again?
  
  Officially yes.
  
  There's also WACUP
Picasa from Google is still the best photo library management tool I've ever come across.
- God I miss Picasa.
- It was, after google bought it it was only a matter of time…
I still use DVD Decrypter, mostly to rip old TV Series I have where I want the files split up by episode when ripping.
https://elastomania.com/

Elasto Mania (Elma). Awesome dirt bike game.
MP3Gain, the latest stable version was released in 2005 and I've been using it since then. It adjusts the volume level of MP3s using ReplayGain so that you don't have to change the volume between tracks. There may be newer software out there that does the same thing, but MP3Gain is free/open source and it works fine for my needs. I still maintain a library of MP3s, partly because my car is too old to do Carplay/Android Auto, but it can play MP3s from a USB drive.
I like to post to my WordPress blog from my desktop, so I use Open Live Writer. It's allow me the option to write without being connected to the Internet. I doubt it still in development.
- Oh wow thats cool. I remember Windows Live Writer from way back.
RPG Maker XP was released in 2004, nearly 20 years ago, and yet the entire Pokemon fan game community uses it exclusively. Pokemon Essentials, by far the best framework for creating fan games, is written for it, and is still maintained to this day. It's such a large complicated project, with a huge ecosystem of plugins and resources, that it's impractical to migrate to the newer RPG Maker software that has been released since.
- Pokémon Reborn has been one of the best Pokémon fangames I've enjoyed. Never thought I'd see the day it was completed, but it was last year. It supports wondertrade, online battles, trading and more, and has custom terrain effects.
WoW Classic. Hardly maintained and bug rich. Circa 2004(?)
Permanently Deleted
- Buckets is a good alternative for anyone who can't find a key for YNAB classic: https://www.budgetwithbuckets.com/
  
  Permanently Deleted
- I know someone who uses the new YNAB and loves it. They talk about their budget all the time :D
- I got lucky and was able to buy YNAB on Steam nearly 10 years ago for as much as they're charging now for a single month of their subscription. Manually exporting/importing transactions can be a little tedious sometimes but in comparison there's no way I could justify that high of a subscription cost
  
  Permanently Deleted
Scanner 2 http://www.steffengerlach.de/freeware/

Easy way to visualize and clean up disk space

"This tool uses a sunburst chart to display the usage of your hard disk or other media. The chart shows all major files and folders from all directory levels at once."
- I’ll have to check that out. I’ve been using Space Sniffer. I like how it updates in realtime.
Permanently Deleted
- I don't use a text browser but I do use elinks to make sure my website works properly in it.
Does WinRAR count?
- WinRAR is under active development. Also, 7-Zip.
Nikon Capture NX2 for editing raw nikon files. Can't beat it. I've never really understood light room and importing photos. But the colour control points in NX2 were and are fantastic. There are a number of really good plugins I've bought for it too.
My dad insisted on using CARDFILE.EXE from Windows 3.1 up until he switched to a MacBook in 2010 or so. I still have the data file somewhere.

Gotta admit tho, it was one of the most useful applications that came with a PC back in the late 80s/early 90s. My folks put everything into that thing. They probably had about 350 cards!
- I have an old cardfile file I created during University for all my contacts. I've lost touch with almost everyone I hung around then but it's nice to keep it for the memories.
  
  Well, here's a thing I didn't know about before that might be useful to you – a tool to extract the dated from the *.crd files.
  
  https://github.com/sbechet/crdextractor
Gitahead, haven't found another graphical git solution for Linux
I know it's far from what you asked, but the closest answer to the question is this Minecraft resource pack made for a few versions back.

What can I say, I keep my software up-to-date.
In a previous life I did the occasional custom home theater remote control program job. Like Harmony, but better (I think). Anyway, my personal remote is a 20 year old remote with programming software from the same era.

The connection to the pc to upload the program is a serial Jack. My small form factor pc doesn’t have room for a permanent serial card, so I use a serial to usb adapter that’s 15 or so years old.

I’ve got the drivers for all of this stuff tucked away in multiple backups, alongside .txt files with notes on how to get it all going again, when, like this week, I add new gear and need to tweak the remote.
- I guess Harmony counts for me, since Logitech officially killed the product. The day my Harmony account stops working will be a sad day.
  
  I have been looking for an alternative. Haven't really found one yet.
Cool Edit Pro. Such a great audio editing tool.
- What does it do better than Audacity?
  
  It remains on my computer since 1998 so I don't need to learn any new tools.
  
  Mostly kidding...but to be honest, I have just never had any need to try any other tool...it works perfectly for what I need to do (multi-tracking, sequencing, mixing). There's almost nothing I would want it to do that it doesn't...so I just stick with it.
It's only old by the standards of phone apps, but I use a tricorder app from 2013 that got taken down by paramount for IP infringing. It presents more or less raw data from phone sensors in an LCARS interface.
I use Vim at work every single day and couldn't live without it. It's incredibly powerful. Released in the 70s but is still very much in development.
- It’s absolute madness to use a text editor with only one mode.
  
  Navigating is half the battle!
  
  Unironically this. I'm always itching for Vim keybinds now. I have a plugin for Firefox and DBeaver. I even got Vim keybinds and modals in my terminal lol nothing is safe.
Up until recently I was using FreeCap, which is a SOCKS5 wrapper, to allow me to connect to my home stuff from work (via an SSH tunnel). They didn't allow VPNs but were cool with me doing that. My new job doesn't allow those kind of shenanigans, so I guess it's retired for the time being.
It's probably a bit newer than you mean, but I still use Cantata as my music player. Using mpd as the backend has some nice benefits, and I like the UI. I do build it with a patch to tweak the track art handling, though.
Genesis does what MyRedVest doesn’t!

W E L C O
M E T O T
H E N E X
T L E V E L

You've viewed 52 comments.