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by LucidLynx·5y ago·view on hn ↗
> - Tell me what it is

"THE PRO TERMINAL FOR iOS & iPadOS", from the front page.

> - Tell me why it exists

" You bought the latest Pro device, loved it, and then you wondered...

…Can I use it to replace my laptop?

Yes, you can

Blink was built as the tool we wanted to use all day. We were tired of User Interfaces being on our way, and of connections that couldn’t even last for 5 minutes... ", from the front page too.

> - Stop with the ad copy and buzzwords until the first 2 points have been addressed

They have been.

1 comments
> "THE PRO TERMINAL FOR iOS & iPadOS", from the front page.

Then what's Mosh? Why bring it up?

> " You bought the latest Pro device, loved it, and then you wondered... > …Can I use it to replace my laptop?

No, I didn't but I know it's supposed to be appealing. The original comment about it was more appealing than that line. Still.

> Yes, you can

Can I? Because I can "code all day from the beach"? (which doesn't sound fun, actually)

It's facetious, it's anodyne while striving to be zippy, and worst of all, it's meaningless. I've seen half-arsed Github READMEs that are more informative. Do I really have to pull out alternatives to show the difference? Okay then.

There is ZeroTier[1], which I'm going to guess is a Mosh equivalent as I have zero (ha) desire to find out any more about Mosh. This is their initial blurb:

> Connect team members from anywhere in the world on any device. > ZeroTier creates secure networks between on-premise, cloud, desktop, and mobile devices.

Now that answers my questions and the rest of the page goes into more detail.

Now for a shell - let's take Fish[2] because I've heard about it but never bothered with it. This will be fun…

> fish is a smart and user-friendly command line shell for Linux, macOS, and the rest of the family.

It then goes into features which is an indirect answer to the why so I'll give them half marks there.

Oops, my mistake, it's a terminal we need. Since I use iTerm[3] nowadays:

> What is iTerm2?

> iTerm2 is a replacement for Terminal and the successor to iTerm. It works on Macs with macOS 10.14 or newer. iTerm2 brings the terminal into the modern age with features you never knew you always wanted.

> Why Do I Want It?

> Check out the impressive features and screenshots. If you spend a lot of time in a terminal, then you'll appreciate all the little things that add up to a lot. It is free software and you can find the source code on Github.

It's like they read my mind, or they actually followed a very simple recipe that I had hoped most people were aware of. I think this can be improved but it's still miles better than the copy Blink is using.

I'd suggest employing this bloke[4], or taking some of the advice given out by fellow HNers there.

[1] https://www.zerotier.com/

[2] https://fishshell.com/

[3] https://iterm2.com/

[4] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26842191