Software review: Howdy

[LorenDB]

I found Howdy a few weeks ago while browsing GitHub (that's what programmers do instead of Twitter). It is supposed to be a Linux alternative to Windows Hello. I installed it on my laptop yesterday in order to try it out. My impressions so far:

• Easy to use if you are familiar with the terminal. Currently, Howdy is configured only through the terminal (i.e. sudo howdy add to add a new face).
• Awkward to configure. sudo howdy config opens nano with the config file.
• Precise. I've added 5 face models of myself because it apparently doesn't recognize me in different lighting conditions.
• Not perfect. On Plasma 5.18.5, Howdy cannot unlock my laptop from the lock screen.
• Handy. For commands requiring sudo, Howdy can authenticate me in a second. Much better than typing a lengthy password.
• Universally usable. When I still ran Windows on my laptop, I couldn't use Hello, presumably due to the lack of an IR camera. Howdy never complained.

Overall, I'd give Howdy 4 stars. It's not yet perfect, but definitely usable. And I trust that improvements will be made in the future, as Howdy is still being developed. I myself am considering creating a graphical interface for Howdy during Hacktoberfest.