Looking for a file manager with these features:

peets · 2007-05-14 23:08:00

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a file manager that has the following features (in that order of importance):

- Designed with keyboard users in mind (but full mouse support also)
- Easily configurable
- Supports copying, moving, deleting and the usual operations
- Good search functionnality
- Can see a lot of files at once, does not take up too much room on screen
- Can tie certain file types to applications (ex. open .avi files with video player)
- Nice to look at
- [opt.] Can preview pictures (thumbnails or a preview pane)

Does such a file manager exist? What would you reccomend?

By the way, my current window manager is pekwm.
I am new to linux desktops, so this may change.

Last edited by peets (2007-05-14 23:17:34)

gnud · 2007-05-15 01:06:09

Hi,
firstly, i dont think too many linux file managers have search buildt in. If it is, it's probably just a frontend to some other utility (beagle, slocate, find, whatever).

Thunar (xfce file manager) can be used with the keyboard, if you are OK with TAB and the arrow keys. It has keybinds for your home directory and to open a location, but I dont think it's very configurable.

Personally, i use dolphin, but when you're not using kde..

How about just firing up Midnight Commander in an xterm? (or tuxcmd from community maybe, i dont know how it deals with keyboard).

Echo · 2007-05-15 01:18:34

A tough list to satisfy.

Emelfm2 : Two pane file manager. A lot of key commands, configuration and fast. I think configuration for it is a pain in the butt. No picture preview. This seems to fit your request the most. More plain in the looks department, but, did I mention it's fast.

Gentoo (the file manager) : Cofiguration is very high, but, takes a bit of time to figure out. Not a lot to look at, but, once again super fast. I don't think Gentoo does picture preview although this is not high on my list of preferences. I prefer speed.

I personally use XFE and Gentoo. XFE will be the least configurable of the three I've mentioned. But, it's default set up is o.k. for my needs. My one gripe with XFE is that it doesn't seem to remember associations between files and programs very well. The option exists but works less than perfect for me.

I mentioned resource friendly FM's to go with your wm.

skottish · 2007-05-15 01:43:41

Konqueror is just about (or maybe is) the most powerful graphical file manager out there, but if you're going to use it, you may as well use KDE. Once you fire it up, you pretty much just launched the DE.

Last edited by skottish (2007-05-15 02:02:14)

peets · 2007-05-15 02:02:11

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll try out MC, Emelfm2, Gentoo, XFE and Thunar.

I use pekwm because it's simple, and all the config is done through editing text files. That way, everything is transparent and easily customisable. If there was a WM with the same mentality (and that worked well) I would be pretty happy. I don't mind performance: I think my computer can handle a DE with all the gizmos. I just don't like KDE because I don't have the time to understand it. And GNOME looks like the hardest DE to accomplish work in (partly because it looks so cute!)

EDIT:
I pacman'ed MC, emelfm2, gentoo and xfce. I looked at each for a minute. MC, gentoo and Thunar are ugly. Thunar looks good under xfce, but not under another WM! emelfm2 looks fun... I will try it more extensively. I couldn't get XFE through pacman (haven't yet looked into AUR) but I'll stay away from Redmond style for now. I tried Rox and didn't like it. Emelfm2 wins for now!

Last edited by peets (2007-05-15 02:27:26)

Snowman · 2007-05-15 03:23:42

xfe is in the community repo. Probably you need to uncomment the community repo in your pacman.conf

byte · 2007-05-15 08:13:49

Worker and Krusader, just to mention more.

shen · 2007-05-15 11:17:22

I personally use EmelFM2 and love it. Fast, highly configurable and IMHO user friendly. Works perfect for WM's since it's not platform dependent. Granted it's not pretty but I prefer function over looks..:)

xerverius · 2007-05-15 11:25:12

Thunar just picks up the Gtk theme, that has nothing to do with Xfce. The key binding (in the menus) are configurable when you enable editable-menu-editors in Gtk (hover the entry in the menu you want to edit and press the keybinding, Ctrl + Delete removes it).

abhidg · 2007-05-15 16:32:16

pcmanfm is also good. It supports picture previews, but its not that keyboard friendly.

slackhack · 2007-05-15 16:47:29

peets wrote:

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a file manager that has the following features (in that order of importance):
- Designed with keyboard users in mind (but full mouse support also)
- Easily configurable
- Supports copying, moving, deleting and the usual operations
- Good search functionnality
- Can see a lot of files at once, does not take up too much room on screen
- Can tie certain file types to applications (ex. open .avi files with video player)
- Nice to look at
- [opt.] Can preview pictures (thumbnails or a preview pane)
Does such a file manager exist? What would you reccomend?
By the way, my current window manager is pekwm.
I am new to linux desktops, so this may change.

not trying to be a wiseguy, but the command line actually does everything you require (except mousing, obviously) better than any gui you are likely to find. give it a try, you might be surprised at how often you start using it by default.

phrakture · 2007-05-15 17:09:26

slackhack wrote:

not trying to be a wiseguy, but the command line actually does everything you require (except mousing, obviously) better than any gui you are likely to find. give it a try, you might be surprised at how often you start using it by default.

Hah, I was going to say exactly that... "keyboard users in mind? my file manager has some awesome hotkeys - like 'l' then 's' to list files, and 'c' then 'p' to copy, 'm' then 'v' to move, it goes on and on, and it has millions of 'plugins'!"

Mhyrraner · 2007-05-15 19:35:42

i use mc.

it can do most of the things you demand, no built-in image preview though.
Yes, its not goodlooking, but you can at least do some things against this matter ..
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php? … 71#p250771
i do appreciate the fullscreen-mode as well ..

MyR

phrakture · 2007-05-15 20:14:00

Regarding my comment and the "tie filenames to apps" - zsh has this feature... if you just type "foo.avi" it can launch an app based on the file type.

peets · 2007-05-16 00:55:14

phrakture wrote:

slackhack wrote:
not trying to be a wiseguy, but the command line actually does everything you require (except mousing, obviously) better than any gui you are likely to find. give it a try, you might be surprised at how often you start using it by default.
Hah, I was going to say exactly that... "keyboard users in mind? my file manager has some awesome hotkeys - like 'l' then 's' to list files, and 'c' then 'p' to copy, 'm' then 'v' to move, it goes on and on, and it has millions of 'plugins'!"

Yeah. I fell in love with linux because of the command line. But it's not always the best tool.

One advantage of graphical file managers is that they offer 'automatic ls': you always see the contents of your directory.

Also, yesterday I needed to move most files in one directory to another. They had varied names. This would have taken a long time with the command-line: I could have named the files one by one, or moved all of them and then name one by one the files that I want moved back. With a graphical file manager, I can select all files and then 'unselect' the ones I don't want to move with just a few clicks. It's faster and simpler. (Or maybe there's some really fancy CLI tool that I don't know about)

When choosing a tool for a job, first I look for the most ethical one, then the most practical one. In most cases I would say I prefer the command line, but sometimes a graphical interface is better. Computers are really good at both, so using both methods is the way I go.

I absolutely love your humour though, slackhack and phrakture. Keep it up!

grte · 2007-05-16 03:10:02

slackhack wrote:

Also, yesterday I needed to move most files in one directory to another. They had varied names. This would have taken a long time with the command-line: I could have named the files one by one, or moved all of them and then name one by one the files that I want moved back. With a graphical file manager, I can select all files and then 'unselect' the ones I don't want to move with just a few clicks. It's faster and simpler. (Or maybe there's some really fancy CLI tool that I don't know about)

There are, regular expressions.

eyolf · 2007-05-16 09:08:03

For someone with as specific demands as you, about "advanced file management", I'd say that a proper dual-pane ("orthodox") file manager is the only option. Then there is really only one true candidate which fulfills all your demands and then some, and that is...
Total Commander, which unfortunately doesn't come in a Linux version. One can run it in Wine, but it will then lack some features.
A really good alternative is Krusader, which does everything you want (except thumbnail preview), but which is a KDE app. If you want to avoid that, there is emelfm, xnc (XNorthern Captain), tuxcommander, worker, bfcommander and a couple more I'm sure, which all work nicely, but require some time with the config files in order for everything to work well.
I'd say that for quick work, I tend to open mc, but for more extended tasks, I use krusader, which is highly recommended.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-05-14 23:08:00

Looking for a file manager with these features:

#2 2007-05-15 01:06:09

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#3 2007-05-15 01:18:34

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#4 2007-05-15 01:43:41

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#5 2007-05-15 02:02:11

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#6 2007-05-15 03:23:42

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#7 2007-05-15 08:13:49

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#8 2007-05-15 11:17:22

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#9 2007-05-15 11:25:12

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#10 2007-05-15 16:32:16

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#11 2007-05-15 16:47:29

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#12 2007-05-15 17:09:26

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#13 2007-05-15 19:35:42

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#14 2007-05-15 20:14:00

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#15 2007-05-16 00:55:14

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#16 2007-05-16 03:10:02

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

#17 2007-05-16 09:08:03

Re: Looking for a file manager with these features:

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