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QuickSilver on Linux

· Filed under Miscellaneous

Earlier this month, Gary Vaughan mentioned QuickSilver on his blog. For those of you that don’t know, QuickSilver is a rather neat application launcher (amongst other things) for Mac OS X which allows you to simply launch an application by hitting a key combo, typing in the first few letters, and then pressing return / enter.

QuickSilver in action

Consequently, i cannot remember the last time i explicitly went to my Applications folder to launch an application which wasn’t on my dock. So i guess i’m hooked.

Sadly not all of my computers run Mac OS X, so i don’t have the fortune of being able to use QuickSilver on them. Fortunately, they all run Ubuntu Linux, and you can almost guarantee some nut has made a free open source clone of your favourite app which runs on it.

After a bit of searching, i came across a KDE app called Katapult. It seems to get good write-up’s, so i decided to install it and then try it out.


$ sudo apt-get install katapult
$ katapult &

After starting it up, i got a nice icon which appeared in my system tray. Clicking on it popped up a big “Katapult” icon, which initially confused me a bit. Although after pressing a few keys on my keyboard, i realised it was the input dialog which i could type the name of the application i wanted to launch. For instance, if i typed “ter” and then pressed return / enter, it would launch the gnome terminal – neat!

Katapult in action

After looking at the preferences dialog, it became apparent that the proper way to invoke the Katapult input diaog was by pressing “Alt + Space”. In addition, i could change which “Catalogs” (which is where the commands and so on are stored / processed) should be searched, as well as tweak them. Catalogs which were included by default were:

  • Calculator Catalog (allows you to perform calculations by typing them in)
  • Amarok Catalog (allows you to select songs from your Amarok library)
  • Spell Catalog (allows you to spell check by typing “spell “)
  • Document Catalog (allows you to open documents by typing their name)
  • Bookmark Catalog (allows you to open firefox bookmarks by typing their name)
  • Program Catalog (allows you to open applications by typing their name)

In any case, i am definitely going to install Katapult on any Ubuntu Linux desktop machines i administer in the future. It’s such a convenient time saver!

Posted on July 28, 2007

  • Gaz
    Quicksilver is one of those applications that you don't realise how much you need... until you try to work on a machine that doesn't have it :-)

    For your next assignment: make sure you have the iTunes plugin installed, and instead of Cmd-Tabbing your way to iTunes to pause it and restart it when you get up to make a nice cuppa... pop QS with Cmd-Space (or whatever hot key you use), press PP (for Play-Pause) and hit enter. When you get back to your desk: Cmd Space PP Enter, and iTunes picks up from where you left off. After a few months you'll have hundreds of these little shortcuts in your muscle memory, and driving OS X is even more pleasant than usual :-D

    Incidentally, if you or any of your readers prefer Gnome to KDE, then you can always try out Gnome Launch Box... the Gnome QS close.
  • Gary,

    I thought i recalled seeing a Gnome equivalent for QuickSilver. Thanks for reminding me of it! :)

    As for iTunes, i have grown a liking to using the remote control which came with my macbook to control it. Though of course, performing more advanced actions (i.e. those not on the darn controller) it sounds like a good idea to use QuickSilver.

    Regards, James.
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