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#26 2013-08-08 13:46:46

Jristz
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From: America/Santiago
Registered: 2011-06-11
Posts: 1,022

Re: What do people use file managers for?

When one have +1000 (really) images, a filemanager whit thumbnailer is really useful

and... is part of xfce4 in my case


Well, I suppose that this is somekind of signature, no?

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#27 2013-08-08 15:20:40

bohoomil
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Registered: 2010-09-04
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Re: What do people use file managers for?

Jristz wrote:

When one have +1000 (really) images, a filemanager whit thumbnailer is really useful

sxiv (installed size = 100,00 KiB) can do just the same. That's only one of the many reasons to love this piece of software for. smile


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#28 2013-08-08 21:22:06

cfr
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From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: What do people use file managers for?

I've been using gwenview just because it comes with KDE and starts incredibly quickly.


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#29 2013-08-09 14:03:28

SolarBoyMatt
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Registered: 2012-01-07
Posts: 263

Re: What do people use file managers for?

bohoomil wrote:
Jristz wrote:

When one have +1000 (really) images, a filemanager whit thumbnailer is really useful

sxiv (installed size = 100,00 KiB) can do just the same. That's only one of the many reasons to love this piece of software for. smile

Wow! I can pretty much replace feh and pcmanfm with this, since I also mostly use file managers for image viewing these days.

Ranger also comes in handy for watching videos. Being able to navigate through all of my video subdirectories with just the arrow keys/hjkl is quite nice.

Last edited by SolarBoyMatt (2013-08-09 14:10:23)

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#30 2013-08-09 15:34:54

ANOKNUSA
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Registered: 2010-10-22
Posts: 2,141

Re: What do people use file managers for?

I mostly use basic coreutils commands for moving single files or directories around, or renaming them.  For some cases, though, Ranger's convenience has so far won out over any minimalist purity for me:

- The Miller columns view in Ranger is nice for visualizing directory structure (the "tree" command is great for this, but can be limited in some cases)
- Bulk file renaming using Vim; renaming several dozen files in multiple directories in less than a minute comes in handy.
- Copying large numbers of files simultaneously from server to local machine using sshfs

I've also been using Midnight Commander for FTP transfers, but can't stand it.  Just my personal opinion, but the odd-ball keyboard shortcuts break my flow when I'm dealing with several files at once.  I'll probably be shopping for a different FTP solution shortly, likely just one of the 15 gajillion CLI clients.

@ Cloudef and WonderWoofy:  I've never seen the moreutils package before; thanks for mentioning it.  Installing now... smile

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#31 2013-08-09 20:44:57

milomouse
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Registered: 2009-03-24
Posts: 940
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Re: What do people use file managers for?

As others, I use "coreutils" for about everything file related, and in large directories or temporarily mounted devices I will just use `ranger' to open these files without writing junk to my shell history.  I don't use ranger for anything else.  I rename in Z-Shell while read loops using it's extended brace globbing, etc.  For viewing images I use `sxiv' for thumbnail support and opening images in general.  I can only see using a graphical file manager when running 'Windows' at work or on someone else's computer since they don't have something as useful as sxiv, etc.  If they have a 'Mac' I will still use terminal and its basic "core" utilities.

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#32 2013-08-09 22:12:14

jasonwryan
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From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
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Re: What do people use file managers for?

Man, I love these boards.

Reading this thread finally tipped me over into trying sxiv. Now I have replaced feh with sxiv and imlibsetroot and written a small script to set my wallpaper from sxiv and update .xinitrc. I now no longer need a graphical file manager as my only use case has just evaporated. Brilliant.

Thanks to all the posters who plugged sxiv, as a long time fan of bert's urxvt-perls, I should have known that it would be a little gem (boom-tish!)...


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#33 2013-08-10 02:49:55

rufus
Banned
From: san francisco
Registered: 2013-04-20
Posts: 153

Re: What do people use file managers for?

obviously file managers are used for convenience a right click here a left click there and boom youve got
   k3b burning your particular file. or a simple click or two gives you a md5 or SHA1 for a file it gives you a graphical
perspective of your data and it gives you quick access to upper and lower folders in a hierarchy. Convenience.
  Ill stick to Nomacs for laying my pics out to see in a glance. But Ill race anyone to do many (probably) a hundred things
with graphical file managers verses command line. Command line gives you exacting power ....file managers give you
  Cornvenience......


end ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     'the machine is not the end to the means., we are. In history, in board rooms and politic the greatest  decision and effort
        evolves from passion, lust for life, and a common sense of humanity. Never forget what you are and why'.         -me

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#34 2013-08-10 03:33:58

cfr
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From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: What do people use file managers for?

If you find the command line inconvenient, you obviously don't have enough aliases wink!


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#35 2013-08-10 03:41:00

rufus
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From: san francisco
Registered: 2013-04-20
Posts: 153

Re: What do people use file managers for?

or too many @cfr


end ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     'the machine is not the end to the means., we are. In history, in board rooms and politic the greatest  decision and effort
        evolves from passion, lust for life, and a common sense of humanity. Never forget what you are and why'.         -me

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#36 2013-08-10 05:27:54

bohoomil
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Registered: 2010-09-04
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Re: What do people use file managers for?

rufus wrote:

Command line gives you exacting power ....file managers give you Cornvenience......

This is just a popular misunderstanding. I was never able to work efficiently using a GUI file manager, not because they are inefficient as such, but because I never managed to--nor found it a fundamental skill--to learn how to use them efficiently. There's no essence inside a tool that makes it a universal one, the best one for all. It's more about habits we develop in the early days of our personal computing that form and shape our fingers as well as the whole muscle-brain interaction pattern. Later on we say that the way we work is simply 'natural' and 'obvious', while it actually is the background we got used to, one of many, including the way we use a fork and a spoon.

When I started using Intel based PCs, there were no GUIs available. OK, there were some simple front ends you could launch right after command.com was loaded, and they offered folders in place of directories and simple command launchers. However, working with them was tedious and slow, let alone crashes and inflexibility of those early designs. Besides, all the apps I was using back then were also text based, so even when I got my first mouse ever and some trivial painting software bundled with it, it was still a text editor and a database that justified my spending lots of money on a computer. The Motorola 68k based machines came originally with a GUI desktop but most of them were inaccessible to me, so the earliest steps in my IT growing up involved using some sort of text UI and typing commands. Thus the mouseless second nature was born. And it's funny that regardless of the OS I've been using since, I always ended up recreating the earliest interface I learned. Up till now, for ~25 years. smile

The bottom line: the (in)convenience is personal, and there's really no point in trying to prove that one way of doing your job is generally superior to the other. For the very same reason some people feel inconvenient, uneasy and upset in 5 star hotels, even though others would say such individuals must be insane. No, we aren't. We simply differently define 'convenience' and feel just fine with it. wink


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#37 2013-08-10 05:37:20

anonymous_user
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Registered: 2009-08-28
Posts: 3,059

Re: What do people use file managers for?

Very well said bohoomil. Some people started their computing experience with the command-line others a GUI and mouse.

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#38 2013-08-10 06:46:03

rufus
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From: san francisco
Registered: 2013-04-20
Posts: 153

Re: What do people use file managers for?

for the record I never said CLI was inconvenient I use it too constantly........
   reverting back to the OP the question was why? but to forsake CLI for gooey is illadvised and yes lazy
especially with an advanced distro
       as for why? A=cornvenience ........but neither should be forsaken entirely


end ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     'the machine is not the end to the means., we are. In history, in board rooms and politic the greatest  decision and effort
        evolves from passion, lust for life, and a common sense of humanity. Never forget what you are and why'.         -me

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#39 2013-08-10 20:29:48

MrCode
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Registered: 2010-02-06
Posts: 373

Re: What do people use file managers for?

I think one could apply what bohoomil said to more than just the CLI/GUI "divide"…

Long story short: "whatever floats your boat". tongue I only wish more people would take this attitude and not try to foce their way of doing things onto others, but I guess that's just a flaw of human nature… >_>

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#40 2013-08-10 22:31:48

cfr
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From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: What do people use file managers for?

rufus wrote:

or too many @cfr

One of me is too many.

Interesting what bohoomil said because I definitely started in GUI land (Windows) but moved more and more to CLI after I switched to OS X. Not sure if I use the CLI more overall in Linux than in OS X but I do rely less on any sort of GUI file manager. (I still did a lot of stuff in the CLI on OS X but I still used Finder for some things routinely whereas I can't remember the last time I intentionally ran Dolphin.)


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#41 2013-08-10 22:41:14

WonderWoofy
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From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: What do people use file managers for?

I too converted to the CLI in my former OSX days.  Before that, though i could find my way around pretty well, I used a GUI for everything, and on the occasions I was trying to fix something and was intructed to use the terminal, I was just totally oblivious as to waht I was doing and was fully trusting that the instructions I found were the right thing to do.

When first starting to use the command line, I had read that eventually I would find it faster and more convenient, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how that could be.  Now with a small amount of Linux under my belt, I don't even think to use a graphical file manager.  I too am a sxiv user, and with that I raelly have no other uses for file manager anymore.  I must say that with tab completion, I find things to be much much faster (for me) with coreutils.

So I don't think it is necessarily what you have learned in the beginning, so much as what you end up knowing better.

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#42 2013-08-11 00:22:50

bohoomil
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Registered: 2010-09-04
Posts: 2,376
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Re: What do people use file managers for?

WonderWoofy wrote:

So I don't think it is necessarily what you have learned in the beginning, so much as what you end up knowing better.

Well said, indeed. My story is nothing but a tiny scrap of a much bigger picture, so it allows for any correction that tries to stay away from fundamentalisms (including IT ones) in order to provide a more reliable description of the real. wink


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#43 2013-08-11 00:43:16

bleach
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Registered: 2013-07-26
Posts: 264

Re: What do people use file managers for?

a filemanager is a compilation of tools with gui. those with a visual imput mind find gui's much easier. those with output mind find the tools themselve much more flexable. its like a game that focuses on graphic with a rush out the door policy, and then the depth possible and playability. its nice to have a balance of the two for optimal usability. I find ranger to fill this role for me.

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#44 2013-08-11 02:05:56

cfr
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From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: What do people use file managers for?

WonderWoofy wrote:

I too converted to the CLI in my former OSX days.  Before that, though i could find my way around pretty well, I used a GUI for everything, and on the occasions I was trying to fix something and was intructed to use the terminal, I was just totally oblivious as to waht I was doing and was fully trusting that the instructions I found were the right thing to do.

I didn't exactly convert to CLI while using OS X. I converted to OS X so I would have access to CLI. I wanted to learn it but I didn't have time to spend e.g. 3 months getting proficient before I could do any work. I figured OS X would let me keep working in the GUI and I could learn more unix on the side.  Though in many ways, doing this on OS X was rather more painful than it would have been on Linux. When I first compiled software, I never, ever expected ./configure; make; make install to work because none of the tools knew anything about OS X. In fact, almost nothing compiled even with the tricks I learnt and if it did compile, it failed the tests. And if it passed those, it failed to actually work.

When first starting to use the command line, I had read that eventually I would find it faster and more convenient, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how that could be.

I started using it because I had to. I had free access to email and the net from home via a dial-in modem pool which offered (unreliable, slow) CLI-only access. I was using Windows 95 but what I was dialling into was Unix. Still love (al)pine though I don't honestly miss lynx or the insane methods of downloading/uploading files. (Generally, I went on campus to download stuff onto floppy.) I found there was this whole world and I just used to wander around in it to see what was there.


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#45 2013-08-11 05:20:29

x33a
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Registered: 2009-08-15
Posts: 4,587

Re: What do people use file managers for?

A question for the ones who converted to sxiv from feh. What exactly are the benefits of sxiv?

PS: I am a feh user since a long time.

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#46 2013-08-11 05:38:37

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: What do people use file managers for?

I just like the ability to look at thumbnails of a directory of pictures.

Edit: See the second ~1/2 of firecat53's post here

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2013-08-11 05:39:57)

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#47 2013-08-11 05:39:42

rufus
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From: san francisco
Registered: 2013-04-20
Posts: 153

Re: What do people use file managers for?

yeah I have moreutils now and like it thanX to whomever
   I started out when everything was a bleak landscape of green and black real terminals, ugh!
     and there were dreams of a more "human" approach to computing...
graphics are cool but for coreutils and really all system maintenance CLI w/o thinking any more about it
   in the very early days Judd Vinet posted about Arch being CLI based and dominated for serious important system maintenance
      but computing need not be so sobering all the time
         otherwise we might have nightmares of 0's and 1's chasing us aroung the infinite loop of hell..........


end ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     'the machine is not the end to the means., we are. In history, in board rooms and politic the greatest  decision and effort
        evolves from passion, lust for life, and a common sense of humanity. Never forget what you are and why'.         -me

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#48 2013-08-11 05:48:23

jasonwryan
Anarchist
From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: What do people use file managers for?

x33a wrote:

A question for the ones who converted to sxiv from feh. What exactly are the benefits of sxiv?

PS: I am a feh user since a long time.

Less dependencies; suckless approach; scriptable; developed by an Archer.

SOLD to the green beaver!


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#49 2013-08-11 14:11:16

x33a
Forum Fellow
Registered: 2009-08-15
Posts: 4,587

Re: What do people use file managers for?

WonderWoofy wrote:

I just like the ability to look at thumbnails of a directory of pictures.

Edit: See the second ~1/2 of firecat53's post here

If I am not mistaken, you can view thumbnails with feh too.

jasonwryan wrote:

Less dependencies; suckless approach; scriptable; developed by an Archer.

SOLD to the green beaver!

I was skeptical about the dependencies bit, as the pacman -Si output wasn't too different than feh. In fact, feh lists lesser number of dependencies.

After a pactree output comparison, feh has almost the double number of dependencies than sxiv!

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#50 2013-08-12 18:19:19

zcal
Member
Registered: 2010-01-13
Posts: 57

Re: What do people use file managers for?

x33a wrote:

A question for the ones who converted to sxiv from feh. What exactly are the benefits of sxiv?

PS: I am a feh user since a long time.

I recently went back to feh after using sxiv for a year.  It can do one thing that I've never been able to do eloquently with sxiv: feh --bg-fill.  Other than that, it's a really nice program.

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