SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

n23orsk · 2012-09-09 09:26:50

@xorgx3
Maybe ... eject is not installed? For pcmanfm this is hard dependency, but for spacefm if optional.

n23orsk · 2012-09-09 09:44:09

@xorgx3
Sorry, man, that was stupid question. Really it failed with
umount: /media/XXX: umount failed: Operation not permitted
eject: unmount of `/media/XXX' failed

n23orsk · 2012-09-09 09:56:37

@xorgx3
In my case, eject works with manual setting 'Mount Command' to appropriate pmount comand, and doesn't with udevil.

xorgx3 · 2012-09-09 11:35:26

Hmm, maybe i will use pmount because it wokring but how set pmount only for cd/dvd? or for all the devices mount? If I set this command as default i can't mount another devices.

n23orsk · 2012-09-09 14:27:59

Maybe you should temporary set if-else condition for Mount Command (Devices, right click - Settings - Mount Command)? I'm not good at this...

xorgx3 · 2012-09-09 17:41:45

I think better I wait for IgnorantGuru

IgnorantGuru · 2012-09-10 13:34:27

xorgx3 wrote:

When I mounted CD/DVD in pcmanfm i was able eject it by command
eject -r /dev/sr0
without unmounting.
Now I am using spacefm and this command not working before I unmounting device manually.
Is any possibility to change this?

Have you tried omitting the -r and simply use:

eject /dev/sr0

I can't reproduce your problem because I always get an error when attempting to use -r, whether it's mounted or not, even if spacefm isn't running:

eject: unable to eject, last error: Input/output error

I can't comment on why eject -r would fail depending on the mount method - sounds like a possible bug in eject. If using udevil, you could unmount it first:

udevil umount /dev/sr0; eject /dev/sr0

Or use devmon for this (installed with udevil), which does both in one step:

devmon --eject /dev/sr0

Also note that right-clicking on the device in spacefm and selecting Remove will unmount and eject also (same as middle-clicking on device).

Last edited by IgnorantGuru (2012-09-10 13:36:34)

xorgx3 · 2012-09-10 16:00:45

Thanks IgnorantGuru, ommiting the -r helps

IgnorantGuru · 2012-09-14 12:22:59

SpaceFM 0.8.0 is available.

jmartl109 · 2012-09-19 15:36:58

Quick request regarding tab completion in the path bar -- it would be nice if "/" would be added to the end of the completed directory. This would make entering long path names more convenient, and make it consistent with bash. For example, now in order to navigate to /usr/share/themes I type /u<tab>/sh<tab>/the<tab> but in bash to get to the same place I type cd /u<tab>sh<tab>th<tab>. Not a huge deal, I know...

fabertawe · 2012-09-19 16:09:00

@IgnorantGuru - it would be really handy if I could drag (or copy) a tab to another pane, not just re-ordering within the same pane. Is this feasible?

Also, I posted a feature request on the tracker a while back regarding being able to dynamically resize image thumbnails in the working pane (or even globally) as I work a lot with photos. There was no comment there so I was wondering if this could be something you'd consider in the future.

Many thanks.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-09-20 10:56:26

jmartl109 wrote:

Quick request regarding tab completion in the path bar -- it would be nice if "/" would be added to the end of the completed directory. This would make entering long path names more convenient, and make it consistent with bash. For example, now in order to navigate to /usr/share/themes I type /u<tab>/sh<tab>/the<tab> but in bash to get to the same place I type cd /u<tab>sh<tab>th<tab>. Not a huge deal, I know...

I'll take a look - thanks. I agree it should work that way.

fabertawe wrote:

@IgnorantGuru - it would be really handy if I could drag (or copy) a tab to another pane, not just re-ordering within the same pane. Is this feasible?

I did look into this briefly - something stopped me, but I don't recall what it was. It's on the list of things to take another look at. Also note the Open|In Panel|Panel N feature when you right-click on a directory, which is similar. You could also add a custom command to open the current directory in a given panel. eg:

spacefm --panel 2 "$fm_pwd"

fabertawe wrote:

Also, I posted a feature request on the tracker a while back regarding being able to dynamically resize image thumbnails in the working pane (or even globally) as I work a lot with photos. There was no comment there so I was wondering if this could be something you'd consider in the future.

I have added a comment there. Thumbnail support isn't high on the list of priorities right now, but it's always good to throw ideas into the suggestion box for later reference - thanks.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-09-21 00:40:01

Most work on SpaceFM's new task queue and pause features is complete and ready for some serious testing. All Task Manager functions, including the new ones, are also now documented in the next manual - Tasks. The key portion to understand how the queue is handled is here.

This functionality is available by installing the next branch (spacefm-git). Thanks for testing!

Last edited by IgnorantGuru (2012-09-21 02:02:31)

anonymous_user · 2012-09-24 04:31:06

I don't know if this is a bug, but I noticed that my mouse's back/forward buttons only work properly while the cursor is inside the main file/folder pane. If I move the cursor to the address bar, menu bar, or side panes, then clicking them results in a left-click.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-09-24 13:39:24

anonymous_user wrote:

I don't know if this is a bug, but I noticed that my mouse's back/forward buttons only work properly while the cursor is inside the main file/folder pane. If I move the cursor to the address bar, menu bar, or side panes, then clicking them results in a left-click.

Thanks, I've made a note to look at this - probably should work as you want, with the mouse events for those buttons changing directory regardless of the pane they occur in. Didn't think of this because I don't typically use those buttons, and other button events (eg the scroll wheel) only affect the pane they're in.

stozi · 2012-09-25 13:41:40

I just switched from PCManFM because that seemed to be the quickest and easiest way to get volume management working.

I'm impressed how it seems to be exponentially lighter than PCManFM and works very smoothly. It has way more options than I imagine ever using.

The only problems I have are that it seems to assume that I want my wallpaper stretched only to the edge of tint2, although tint2 is transparent, so it doubles the top of the image behind tint2 rather than going all the way.

Besides that it I find the system of menus very not KISS. I can find what I want, but I don't really want up to 4 levels of menu coming off the right click, There has to be a way to streamline this all these menus a bit.

Impressed though.

IgnorantGuru · 2012-09-25 15:06:45

stozi wrote:

The only problems I have are that it seems to assume that I want my wallpaper stretched only to the edge of tint2, although tint2 is transparent, so it doubles the top of the image behind tint2 rather than going all the way.

Sounds like an issue with how gtk is getting the screen size. You might open a report on this with a screenshot and next time I work on the desktop code I'll take a look. There are some similar reports of screen sizing issues with some setups. (I didn't personally write the code that handles this so I'm not intimately familiar with it off the top of my head.)

Besides that it I find the system of menus very not KISS. I can find what I want, but I don't really want up to 4 levels of menu coming off the right click, There has to be a way to streamline this all these menus a bit.

Thanks for the constructive feedback. I can tell you a little about it from a design perspective but I'm not trying to negate what you're saying, because you bring up a valid perspective.

One, many file managers and other apps focus on designing a UI that is easy to use when users first see it, before they get to know the program, and are geared toward less experienced users. SpaceFM's (somewhat experimental) UI primarily focuses on how the UI performs after you've been using it for awhile. Rather than becoming annoyingly slow and oversimplified for real long-term use, it changes and grows as you're using it. So it's a tool you get to know and customize, and has a bit of a learning curve in some areas (which are usually documented already). So I would be interested to hear from you in a month or two if you continue using it. Newer users tend to be critical of the interface more than users who have used it for awhile (in general). SpaceFM can be hard to review or learn everything quickly, but it does kind of grow on you.

KISS is the goal, but not oversimplying the UI is also important. SpaceFM's design aims to keep the UI as simple as possible while providing a high level of functionality and customization. It's not just a toy, iow, but a real tool with considerable automation power. Like all such tools, investing a bit of time to learn how to use it well can save you much time in the long run. So there's a balance to be achieved between power and simiplicity (which is not easy). It's definitely not simplified to the point of being useless (which does happen in the race to keep things 'simple'). But it's also not overflowing with complex menus. Some users find the balance just right, some find it too complex, and some request many additional options. Keeping the UI clean and KISS is definitely a goal. Crippling it for the sake of a user's first 10 minutes of use is not (although first use is kept in mind too).

The advantage of the context menu approach is that options to control something are right there, instead of having to dig into a preferences dialog and find it in a list. By using menus, it's also easy to set a custom key shortcut for any frequently used option or function. In general, the more esoteric options (things you may not need or not need to change often) are deeper in the menus, while typical file manager functions are higher. This attempts to satisfy new users expecting the usual file manager functions, as well as more experienced users wanting power options.

Also, each panel in spacefm is designed to be more or less a complete file manager in itself. So global options are in the menu bar, but most panel settings are in the panel itself - the context menu for that's panel's file list (or Devices list, etc). I feel the multi-panel design has failed in some ways in terms of good usability, but sometimes the only way to know is to try.

Finally, in some cases menus were used because it's a cheap way to build a prototype. Some of these may evolve into dialogs or be put into a rewritten preferences section as it matures and I see what's working and what's not. This is where feedback is also helpful.

As I designed and implemented SpaceFM, it went through a lot of growth and change even before release. Some aspects of my design just didn't work once i saw it in real action, and I got more ideas. The way many things are done is simply 'what worked' in the end, especially considering the multi-panel design. Some thing you might think would work well, as you try to implement them in multiple panels, it turns out they aren't very functional. Yet even now there are some aspects of the design which work better than other aspects. If I were to write it from scratch I would now do some things differently. Yet there are few aspects of SpaceFM's UI that didn't receive a lot of thought and adjustment to make it all work together.

Anyway more than you probably wanted to know.

anonymous_user · 2012-09-25 20:22:47

I noticed at least a few filetypes that begin with lowercase: "folder", "plain text file", and "unknown" (maybe theres more?). Now the case sensitivity of sorting means that "ZIP archive" is listed before "plain text file". I don't know if this inconsistency is intended or not, but just something I'd share.

ozar · 2012-09-26 03:02:28

Good day, IgnorantGuru

I apologize if what I'm about to ask has been posted before and I've missed it with my forum thread and online searching efforts.

When using SpaceFM in single-click mode and you hover over folders and files with the mouse, there is a delay before the file/folder is highlighted. Is there any way to change that delay to a much shorter period or can the highlight effect be disabled while remaining in single-click mode?

This same problem occurred back when I tried PCmanFM, but I don't experience this issue using Dolphin, Nautilus, Thunar, or even Rox-Filer for that matter. I do understand that this is not an issue in double-click mode.

Thank you for any tips on getting past this annoyance.

ninian · 2012-09-26 08:02:19

IgnorantGuru wrote:

Anyway more than you probably wanted to know.

Much appreciated, hearing the philosophy and growing pains associated with SpaceFM.
Shows just how much work goes into developing good software which is responsive to users' feedback.
Onwards and upwards!

Scimmia · 2012-09-26 21:26:52

OK, I'm running SpaceFM on a minimal system booting off a USB flash drive, and I can't figure out why the background behind the menu bar (file, edit, etc) and the status bar at the bottom is dark red. Various GTK2 themes, no change. Happens in JWM and OpenBox.

Suggests? What am I missing?

IgnorantGuru · 2012-09-26 22:41:30

ozar wrote:

When using SpaceFM in single-click mode and you hover over folders and files with the mouse, there is a delay before the file/folder is highlighted. Is there any way to change that delay to a much shorter period or can the highlight effect be disabled while remaining in single-click mode?

No, this is a hard-coded delay at present, but I've noted your request.

scimmia wrote:

OK, I'm running SpaceFM on a minimal system booting off a USB flash drive, and I can't figure out why the background behind the menu bar (file, edit, etc) and the status bar at the bottom is dark red. Various GTK2 themes, no change. Happens in JWM and OpenBox.
Suggests? What am I missing?

Red bars indicate spacefm is running as root. You can disable that indicator in View|Preferences|Interface|Show root user indicator color

Scimmia · 2012-09-26 23:43:26

IgnorantGuru wrote:

Red bars indicate spacefm is running as root. You can disable that indicator in View|Preferences|Interface|Show root user indicator color

I knew it had to be something simple, but I didn't expect it to be that simple. Thanks.

ozar · 2012-09-28 01:28:12

IgnorantGuru wrote:

ozar wrote:
When using SpaceFM in single-click mode and you hover over folders and files with the mouse, there is a delay before the file/folder is highlighted. Is there any way to change that delay to a much shorter period or can the highlight effect be disabled while remaining in single-click mode?
No, this is a hard-coded delay at present, but I've noted your request.

Okay, thanks for the reply, and thank you very much for looking into it, IgnorantGuru!

fabertawe · 2012-09-28 16:29:51

@IgnorantGuru - many thanks for the previous feedback and your ongoing hard work.

Could I make another possible feature request? When dragging a selection to the navigation arrows on the toolbar could this register as a click, i.e. I click-drag a file or files to the "parent" arrow and this then opens the parent directory so I can then drop to move/copy/link the file(s). I realise I'm probably just being lazy but it could be quite useful if it's not too much hassle to implement sometime

Last edited by fabertawe (2012-09-28 16:30:31)

Arch Linux

#376 2012-09-09 09:26:50

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#377 2012-09-09 09:44:09

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#378 2012-09-09 09:56:37

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#379 2012-09-09 11:35:26

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#380 2012-09-09 14:27:59

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#381 2012-09-09 17:41:45

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#382 2012-09-10 13:34:27

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#383 2012-09-10 16:00:45

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#384 2012-09-14 12:22:59

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#385 2012-09-19 15:36:58

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#386 2012-09-19 16:09:00

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#387 2012-09-20 10:56:26

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#388 2012-09-21 00:40:01

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#389 2012-09-24 04:31:06

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#390 2012-09-24 13:39:24

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#391 2012-09-25 13:41:40

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#392 2012-09-25 15:06:45

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#393 2012-09-25 20:22:47

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#394 2012-09-26 03:02:28

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#395 2012-09-26 08:02:19

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#396 2012-09-26 21:26:52

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#397 2012-09-26 22:41:30

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#398 2012-09-26 23:43:26

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#399 2012-09-28 01:28:12

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

#400 2012-09-28 16:29:51

Re: SpaceFM - A Customizable File Manager

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