File Manager that doesn't suck?

Corw|n of Amber · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 3:29 pm Post subject: File Manager that doesn't suck?

Evidence : cool. How to "open this with..." please? Using a FM just to know the location of the file you'll open with "app /path/to/stuff/ &" in xterm is not my way of using a file manager.
Nautilus: Yes! Good. The problem is, when I launch it it opens up a replacement for the root window, which goes happily over all my other windows. (I'm using Enlightenment and don't want anything else.) And it's quite bloated - not that I mind it, but still...
MC : No. Was fun back when I was running a RH 5.2. Now if somebody ports that to GTK2 I'll be happy forevermore... */me make cute puppy dog look*
Konqueror : doesn't know how to copy large (amounts of) files, and I'm not compiling KDE just to get a file manager anyway.
Wine + Windows Commander : slow, unstable, but I haven't found better to this day.

And for functionnality... Even Windows Explorer had four ways of displaying files! Of which only one was efficient : LIST WITHOUT DETAILS. Seems the thought that anyone actually used that mode and would want it in Linux didn't occur to any file manager dev team.

If I was good enough, I'd long have glued together some pieces of code from Nautilus to use its mime-types/apps associations and Evidence to use its display modes, and written a FM using Rasterman's libraries (pretty pretty pretty E17!

). But I can't.

Does anyone knows about a FM that 1/ displays proper files "lists" (i.e. without "details") 2/ has a consistent interface to add apps to types of files (something else than #vim ~/.program/some/really/really/deep/tree/mime-type/config_file AND more useable than Nautilus' dialog) 3/ does not stop in the middle of a copy operation like Konqueror does and if at all possible 4/ has a UI similar to *commander's (I think nothing else has an UI similar to Evidence's.)?
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Anime_Fan · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 3:53 pm Post subject:

phelan

ozonator · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 3:58 pm Post subject:

You may also want to try rox or gentoo (not related to the Gentoo project), both of which are small and fast, and both of which are in portage -- app-misc/rox and app-misc/gentoo.

ronmon · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 4:26 pm Post subject:

For the most part I manipulate files and directories through the terminal. Maybe I'm weird, but it is easier for me that way.

When I do use a GUI file manager, it is gnome-commander, that phelan linked. I like the dual pane style, it handles mime types nicely and supports plugins (though I haven't played with those yet).

Screenie

Corw|n of Amber · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 4:35 pm Post subject:

Oops. I thought the only way to have Nautilus not open that desktop window was to change the makefile or the source and recompile it! :oops:

I tried rox, didn't like that there is still no proper "list" view, but seems very fast and useable.

Am gonna try gentoo and GNOME commander (but that one seems to have only that irritating "list with details" view). Thank you!

-- edit--

I did try gentoo and gnome-commander. Still no "no details, multiple columns" view.

Really frustrating. Gnome commander is so cool, gentoo is SO g33k, ROX is fast and simple and everything, Nautilus is really user-friendly and easy to use (save for the app/filetype associations), Evidence is wierd and funny and SO efficient and pretty and fast ... and nothing, nothing gives me the view I want. It is hard to program or what? Even MS programmers got it right!
Maybe I'll end up doing it myself after all... by the time I'll know enough to make it, it will be available in every GPL'ed file manager : "Oh, I just thought of a feature we should have included from the start... let's type the code with our feet in five minutes and on acid."
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mirko_3 · l33t Joined: 02 Nov 2003 Posts: 605 Location: Birreria

emelfm is great; really, the only times I would open a file manager is when copying a lot of files from one place to another, and emelfm is great for this!
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Corw|n of Amber · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 5:43 pm Post subject:

Roguelazer · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 5:53 pm Post subject:

I like ROX, nautilus, gentoo and Velocity. But my favourite fm is BASH!
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Andersson · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 6:17 pm Post subject:

zhenlin · Veteran Joined: 09 Nov 2002 Posts: 1361

As the Scary Devil Monastery speakth:

Everything sucks. But to different degrees.

That said, the most minimal would be any shell.

Corw|n of Amber · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:26 am Post subject:

What I'm searching for is not something minimal... I renamed /usr/bin/nautilus to /usr/bin/Nautilus and made a script (/usr/bin/nautilus) to launch it without the desktop, and primarily using it.

Still not half as useable as Windows Commander's multiple-columns-list-without-details... but there.
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Evangelion · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:35 am Post subject:

Krusader
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Corw|n of Amber · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 12:32 pm Post subject:

Does it have multiple columns lists? THAT could make me switch to KDE. (Yes, I'm THAT desperate.)
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Evangelion · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 5:37 pm Post subject:

Corw|n of Amber · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 10:53 pm Post subject:

Evangelion · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 7:35 am Post subject:

jmk · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:59 am Post subject:

Have you had a look at Tux Commander?
I don't think there's an ebuild for it.

ed0n · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 12:38 pm Post subject:

I use:

Nautilus
Gentoo
xffm

starbecks · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2003 Posts: 45

I'll agree with others, bash is my default.

In trying to move away from KDE and Gnome altogether, I've tried gentoo but it never grew on me... neither did rox.

But I recently discovered xfe and I really like it a lot. I'm surprised it does not get more attention. It is light, fast, and has a polished look and feel.

Corw|n of Amber, I think it has the 'views' you are looking for. There is tree view in left pane and 3 views in right pane:
-Full file list
-Brief file list
-Big icons
You can even open another pane if needed.

neenee · Veteran Joined: 20 Jul 2003 Posts: 1786

i think many dislike using it because of its description:
'MS-Explorer like file manager'. many linux users seem
to think it's prohibited to dislike microsoft and anything
remotely associated with it.

starbecks · n00b Joined: 30 Mar 2003 Posts: 45

[opinion]
hhmm..
I always associated that type of herd mentality with the great unwashed masses that use proprietary software. I am under the (mistaken?) impression that open source software users are more intelligent and less prone to prejudice. Don't get me wrong, I have been described by many as "anti-microsoft". But any point of view (be it political, economic, religious, etc) taken too far is irrational and crosses over the line into fanaticism. It is not a personal attack at you, but, I think the (intended and underlying) premise of your observation was laughable. Granted, it is probably a little true. There are some truly teeny minds out there.

"I don't eat bananas because they are described as 'yella', and I ain't yella"
[/opinion]

Besides, the very next words in the tag line directly answer the original post....

mlsfit138 · Guru Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Posts: 406 Location: Washington

Gentoo! I forgot all about Gentoo! I used to love that file manager! It's truly a FILE MANAGER, not just a file mover. Everything you could want to do to a file is right there with convenient buttons (you can do anything you want to a file w/ konqueror, or mc because of the terminal emu at the bottom, but gentoo has all that functionality in convenient buttons)

corwin: It seems that your gripe is that no window manager can display lists of files without details in multiple columns. Konqueror has this functionality! Konqueror has exactly what you are looking for. just select "Multiple column view" from the view menu. Why do you say that konq can't move large amounts of files? i've moved HUGE directory trees including /usr and my entire divx collection using konq. it also has a convenient term emu at the bottom (an option in the "window" menu) if you trust bash more w/ your large files. I'm also pretty sure that you don't need to install the entire kde base to use it. I know i've heard of someone getting around it.

anyway, enjoy!

LordDavon · n00b Joined: 29 Mar 2003 Posts: 34

Here is a hacked ebuild for the 1.1.2 version of Gnome-Commander which has all of the Gnome2 integration fixes. Maybe it will help.