So, which file manager is the best across many OSes? Click more and cast your vote!
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I always liked OS/2's presentation manager.
Ho hum.
when you haven't used some of the programs mentioned, such as the Amiga Directory Opus. From among the ones I know (Windows Explorer and all that run run under Linux), Windows Explorer is the most useful one. Although there'll be other experiences, on all the machines _I_ work with, Windows Explorer pops up almost instantly, whereas its Linux pendants take their fair share of loading time. That simple circumstance makes it much less comfortable to work with a file manager under Linux. By the time you've clicked your way through to a directory, you could've just popped up an xterm and done the whole task. Again, this is my _personal_ experience. Anybody who can objectively comment on the difference between MacOS's Finder and Windows Explorer?
...i need a "light" filemanager.
for this reason i chose ROX and i'm quite happy with it.
Shouldn't this poll make a distinction between the MacOS 9 spatial Finder and the MacOS X non-spatial Finder as John Siracusa does at great length in this Ars article: http://arstechnica.com/paedia/f/finder/finder-1.html
Also, what about other important options like the RiscOS file manager which has the most integrated application Save dialog, or the famous NeXT File Viewer, the precursor of the MacOS X three panel view?
> when you haven't used some of the programs mentioned, such as the Amiga Directory Opus
It is now ported to Windows, no need to have an Amiga for it:
http://www.gpsoft.com.au/
> Anybody who can objectively comment on the difference between MacOS's Finder and Windows Explorer?
I use both daily. I like some of their features and I dislike some others. It would take a whole page to explain though...
>Shouldn't this poll make a distinction between the MacOS 9 spatial Finder and the MacOS X
No, because we will be filled up with choices and polls shouldn't take a whole vertical page. Other choices are also "teamed up", like the Norton Commander and clones, and Xtree and clones and BeOS Tracker and derivatives.
> what about other important options like the RiscOS file manager, or the famous NeXT File Viewer, the precursor of the MacOS X three panel view?
No one uses these anymore, and people wouldn't know about them, so the voting results would not be ideal. Eveb for the DirOpus, which is way more popular than the ones you mentioned we had a comment about saying "what's that?". And also, see above, too many choices are not good. These options you mention here are all good for the "Other" option.
So please don't ask for other options, I have it thought out and layed out the way I believe it is the best for all.
>...i need a "light" filemanager.
>for this reason i chose ROX and i'm quite happy with it.
ROX Rocks ;-)
If anyone wants .debs for it, i can point them in the right direction.
Total Commander is the best of all file managers for windows i have ever used.
www.ghisler.com
On Windows: Total Commander
On Linux: Konqueror
I personally like mc (Midnight Commander). However most the time is just plain CLI...
I've never seen a faster Filer
http://rox.sourceforge.net/rox_filer.html
Aiya... Should I have voted that one... Can I revote?
Shouldnt a file manager be a file manager not a web browser, media centre, dishwasher, shirt ironer? Konq being a case in point. Love it if it was a file manager only, nautilus has this covered.
I agree. I don't like the file manager to be as inconsistent, menu-bloated and too confusing as Konqueror is. Konqueror would be great if it would only do no more than it really should and if someone would clean up its menu interface.
>shirt ironer
I hate ironing. I would actually support Konqueror if it could do that for me. 
I used to use DirOpus all the time on the Amiga, v4 in particular (never did get v5 set up to my liking...) But these days I use Windows and hence the Explorer shell (and to the guy that was comparing load speeds, WinExp loads instantly, cause its already loaded... which does give it an advantage 
)
If I had to vote, I'd say the Windows version of DirOpus, which I've been playing about with a bit... Mind you, I don't have it configured to my liking either yet...
To tell the truth, I got stuck on MS File Manager years ago, and I still use it today. 'twas my first graphical file manager (that and it's DOS counterpart dosshell) I know it's outdated and rather restrictive, but there's a few decent expansions for it. And it brings back nice memories of when I was first playing with & learning about computers.
...gets far too often in the way. Also its configuration options for file metadata is absymal (eg. good luck sorting movies on length, or music on album name.) I love konq the web browser but it is behind each and every file manager in the poll that I have used.
Yet, it is leading. I don't think one can explain this on basis of different expectations.
By no stretch of the imagination could any shell/command interpreter be a file manager. Ls+cp+mv+rm+ln... etc. is your file manager.
XFM Would have to be the best that I have used, certainly out of the linux distributions- much better than konqueror or nautilus.
The best feature is integrated networking:
1. Browse windows and NFS shares easily
2. Right click on a folder and enable sharing via samba etc at the click of a button
3. Auto extraction of archived files
4. Auto ripping into ogg or mp3 format.
5. Easy symbolic linking.
6. Easily change appearance- tree, details, number of panes etc.
7. Very similar in appearance to windows explorer which makes it intuitive for non-linux users.
8. Auto mounting of zip/cdrom/usb hard drives etc under removable devices.
Read about XFM here: http://www.consultingtimes.com/articles/xandros/filemanager/fileman...
"Shouldnt a file manager be a file manager not a web browser, media centre, dishwasher, shirt ironer? Konq being a case in point. Love it if it was a file manager only, nautilus has this covered."
It is a shell, like a Windows shell. As long as you use it for file managing only, it's just a filemanager. HTML engine, and other components are embedded only when you use them. So, if you don't look a web page with konquerer it's no web browser at all. Everything is loaded on demand. So it's just what you want it to be.
I use zsh everyday, I don't know why.. I just find, go to place, copy, move, rename and anything in the zsh. I find it's much quick and easier than the GUI file mananger. When, I use GUI file manager, I keep search/surf for a folder/file for a while and wasted my time.
It's the first one in Linux I actually used. Konq was fun, and I always used its built in CD ripper, but I never used it for file management. Too slow, too complicated. I actually use Nautilus sometimes for file management.
I used Explorer too, but that's because there was no alternative.
Konqueror of course. You can't find a more feature rich file-manager. Don't want to bother with opening a browser? Just type in the web address... And I didn't mention the various services. (Audio CD browsing with dnd ripping and encoding, samba network browsing, etc..) Konqueror is what integration and consistency is about: browsing the web, your filesystem, ftps, your local network, etc. from the same interface.
For GUI i prefer emelFM and for the CLI i am fond of mc (midnight commander, when properly configured.
>browsing the web, your filesystem, ftps, your local network, etc. from the same interface.
MacOSX Finder does the same, but in a way less crammed and bloated interface than Konqueror's. Konqueror is powerful, but its menu layout is beyond terrible.
Always forgetting about the NeXT people, eh?
Typical, their software always excels above the rest 
For the XTree & its clones friends, this web site has all the information you might need about this great and oldie file manager: http://www.xtreefanpage.org/
I don't really like any file manager on any computer or OS. But my favourite was Sid on the Amiga, because of its simplicity and power. Oh, and being able to click "size" and it listing the size of all the folders in a directory. Perhaps the unix ones do that?
Does SpaceMonger on Windows count? I like that.
>Oh, and being able to click "size" and it listing the size of all the folders in a directory.
BeOS Tracker does that too.
I've always used Windows Explorer since it's the file manager I started with and never missed anything. Not that there aren't any other good things out there, but since I don't have them, I don't miss them. It's also that winexp starts up that fast and easy to start, I always use [win]+[e] and voila, there it is.
Although there are some things I really hate about it, DON'T ever try to open ftp sites through winexp, if the ftp server isn't responding, whole winexp blocks, this is also the case with internet explorer. Also when I try to delete a file windows is probably indexing or something (it has a fileread open on it or something) I can't delete the file. It will take lots of seconds to finally say that it can't delete it, it probably does this because it waits for windows to remove the fileread on it, but still, it takes too long. Not to remember that I sometimes can't remove a file directly from the computer, but deleting it to the trashcan and then emptying the trashcan works immediately.
But besides that, no other comments.
I voted "Other" meaning "MacOS 9 Finder"
OSX's Finder is a completely different beast than OS9's.
You have to love OS9 labels, one of the most productivity-boosting features ever
The "self updating" aliases (move the target, and the alias "knows" where you moved it) are lovely.
The tabs that appear when you drag a window to the side of the screen are pure genius.
I hope OSX catches up with that level of finesse and performance, some day
I have not seen a match for Dopus 4xx. on any other platform.
Dopus 4.xx runs on my Pegasos.
The response time is 0,09 sec to startup Dopus.
But any filemanger is always the best in the eye of the beholder.
FAR Manager http://www.rarsoft.com/ rocks!!!
It has a text-based user interface under windows (like norton commander used to have under DOS). Is ultra-fast and very nicely integrated with win32. And it has one feature that all GUI managers lack: spawned programs actually run in manager's window so you can examine their output (same sa NC/Dos Navigator).
And it has a lot of plugins for everything (registry, network, ftp, scp, services, processes, mail, news, print manager, etc.)
Perfect if you're using it through some telnet server.
Rox filer rocks. On MS-windows I use 2xExplorer, which is a sort of Norton Commander clone.
Sorry to be so harsh, but I think it's crazy to make ONE choice for Mac OS/Mac OS X Finder. These are two absolutely different applications.
As well could you put in "Linux file managers" or "Windows 3.1 file manager/Windows XP Explorer". I really loved the Mac OS 9 Finder and I have never seen anything that comes close.
The Mac OS X Finder tries to be a lot more like the Windows Explorer and I think it's not as good.
RISC OS filer DEFINITELY. What more could you want than folder windows that resize themselves according to the number of files they contain? And smart resizing (it doesn't let you fill the screen with empty folder window if you've only got one icon, for example).
No file manager I used (I used to work under Windows, Linux, Mac, ...) ever was as easy to configure/customize by the user and with the power and simplicity of use as Amiga Dopus was (I mean the 4.x versions more than the 5.x a little to bloated (in my opinion))...
Windows Explorer is the most limited/stupid one I currently have to use (turbo navigator is a nice try to have something more useful under Window), Konqueror is very nice but still lacks in some more simplicity/easy configurability for the user (Yes, linux usually is for more skilled users...)
Maybe it's not very fair to compare Dopus with the other ones, 'cause noone of them can rely on the power of particular features like AREXX scripting, advanced datatyping, universal periferal addressing and assignment, and full contemporary access to all desktop and commandline features, multiple action configurability, and so on, that make this basically very simple and little program so usefull...
The only thing missing is no contestual pop-up menues for the highlighted files (considering the program is more than 10 years old and still the best in many features, this should be forgiven:)
konqueror, nautilus, mc whatever.
as long as I have a CLI to go along with it.
when you have to do *something* to 24,000 files, I DON'T WANT TO DRAG AND DROP ANYTHING!!!!
on the other hand, if i need to copy a small directory from point a, to point b...a gui works fine.
IMO DOpus 4.x, DOpus Magellan and the Windows versions are all quite different from eachother. For file manager specificly I would prefer the DOpus4 approach, but a lot of the features provided by Magellan versions I would like to see implemented in future versions of AmigaOS. (Luckily Hyperion bought a license from GPSoft to realize this!)
On Windows, I use the Explorer, though at work (on NT), I find it hangs the machine sometimes while it searches my second HD which is *incredibly* annoying.
For those who think Linux FM's are naturally slow, try XWC (X-Wing Commander - http://users.netwit.net.au/~pursang/Lofat_Screenshots.html for screenshots) though it isn't developed anymore (shame!). It's a clone of the Windows Explorer, and is very fast (slightly more than Explorer is on Windows), so for those who want a fast Linux file manager, try this one. I found it slightly faster than the Rox filer too.
I tried to Rox filer, but couldn't be bother to learn how to use it, though I am sure it is quite powerful.
I haven't had the chance to use the NeXT FM, but I have seen screenshots - it looks quite interesting. Does anyone know if there is a version for WindowMaker?
The successor of XWC is XFE
http://www.roland65.ovh.org/xfe/xfe/html
http://sourceforge.net/projects/xfe
On the Amiga, it was Directory Opus all the way. For the kind of user I was back then, it was a great tool. It did the basic things well, but also allowed a great deal of user customization.
These days, it's zsh all the way, more or less. I do have a ROX window up on one of my virtual desktops at all time, but it's not exactly my most used app.
Btw, "gentoo" (no, not the distro) is basically a DOpus clone (or atleast heavily inspired by it) for unix systems. I was exhilarated when I found out there was a such a thing available, but after trying it I realized that that kind of tool just doesn't suit my way of working anymore, even though the program itself seemed nice enough. Fans of the original DOpus might want to take a look at it.
Mine is definately Konqueror just because its so darn cute
Sorry te correct url is:
http://www.roland65.ovh.org/xfe/xfe.html
I really like BeOS' Tracker, the way it manages attributes/metadata is great (you can choose wich columns you want to see, sort by any of them, and so on). But I'm missing a tree folder view, I'm used to it since Windows 3.1's File Manager.
And in Zeta we will get SVG icons :-)
Well i must say since I've been using linux 99% of the time this year, I am quite happy just using a console for all my file managment tasks. I did actually install nautalis to browse SMB shares once but other than that console has been fine.
I voted for tracker though, because i did use it under BeOS and it was incredibly usefull, expecially with querys.
From what i have seen of MacOS X's finder I like it. Their tree view seems nice and intuitive and less of a hassle to browse than the explorer way of doing things.
I've never been a big fan of explorer, its always just seemed to get in the way and stop work being done.
With a dark past as a DOS (MS/PC/DR) user I would say StupenDos was my prefered filemanager and all this modern GUI stuff doesn't come close :-). Some used nc or Pc-tools but I prefered SD. I also found with early versions of LapLink you had a very capable filemanger.
overall: konq (can't beat it's features)
windows: norton commander
linux: konq
macos: the old macos-classic finder
i think the best one ever is the xandros file manager!
it combines the strenght of linux, integrated zip, ftp, preview-functions with a nice look, a fantastic handeling of network-neighbourhoods and network-sharing via NFS and SMB
Just like Mike Hearn, Nautilus is the first graphical filemanager I actually use.
I think this is because the console is just too damn good and I don't quite see the reason to use a slow filemanager instead if it's ugly and inconvenient. Nautilus is beautiful and has a very relaxing, convenient UI. If I just want to put a screenshot on my FTP server or move a few music files around, then this is as cool as it can get.
I'll admit that Nautilus is not the fastest or most powerful file manager around though. It's no shell replacement and can't even brew tea.
best filemanagers for me..
on AmigaOS: DirectoryOpus
on BeOS: Tracker
on Linux: MidnightCommander
on Windows: Total Commander
DOS: pfm.com
Unix: pfm ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/p-f-m )
i never need more
Rox is the first, and perhaps only fm, which i can say
that filemanagement was easier for me then a shell.
Konqueror is basicly a lowest common denominator nonspecialized complicated interface to things
it ought not to do. And its too slow.
PathFinder an alternative file systen for OSX. Its powerful, simple and elegant.
This poll is an interesting one to me. As others have already mentioned, for the bottom line I use a shell near exclusively, but I'm not a stranger to the GUI tools. In certain respects I find all of Explorer, Konqueror, Nautilus and Endeavour2 to have their uses and to me I've seen each demonstrate advantages which I'll attempt to summarise.
Konqueror is an application I met with initial distaste, but through use it's something that has grown on me. Complaints about integrated everything aren't necessarily out of place - it also reminded me too much of explorer in the 95/98 era and in all the bad respects. Just a few days ago I was web browsing using it with 'file sessions' open in background tabs and it crashed taking them all with it. That is the major bad side of having the kitchen sink integrated, but if it weren't for that integration I'd not have used Konqueror at that time anyway. So it has good pluses due to its feature set, and I rate it highly, even if it does benefit from non-traditional file manager features.
Nautilus is someting I've not had a problem with. It works like I'd expect a file manager to, and for me that wins points. I find it works nicely by default.
Endeavour2 - It's not very pretty but it's easier and makes more sense to install on systems without Gnome/KDE than the above two. Sometimes that is an issue.
I've left Explorer to last for a reason. It's the only one, where forced I'd rely on. Granted, on its platform you're pretty much forced to, but none of the other file managers (yet) see me do anything heavy in terms of organising files, I only use them when I'm in 'slouch mode'; Windows you use Explorer all the time. Compared to Konqueror specifically but in general all the above on actual file management its features are slim, but it _is_ nevertheless convenient to use, and that's not something I'd not necessarily say for the other managers I've used much of.
So.. a favourite? For me there is not a clear choice. Konqueror/Nautilus don't make sense to use outside of their home environment to me, and of course Explorer that isn't even an option, all issues which weigh against them, and perhaps tip the balance and even up with endeavour. The others on the poll (and in previous comments) I've not used, or not used enough to have an opinion.
The best FM of them all isn't listed :/
emelfm owns other FM's easily. It's easy to configure, fast, leightwight & extremely ugly. I love it
If you don't think so, you don't know about it...
I do internet application programming, and Konqueror is all I could ever dream of:
1. Browse to your local work directory;
2. Hit ctrl-shift-l to split your window;
3. Enter the SSH - adress of your server (fish://user@server.com);
4. Upload your modified files to the server via SSH;
5. Hit ctrl-shift-n to spawn a new tab;
6. Enter the URL of your server to view your changes;
-- optional --
7. Hit ctrl-shift-n again;
8. Insert an audio CD and enter audiocd:/;
9. Browse to the OGG (or mp3, or wave) directory;
10 Select desired files and hit ctrl-c;
11. Go to any directory (ftp, smb, fish, file, whatever) and hit ctrl-v;
12. Look at Konqueror do the ripping, encoding and uploading to whereever you want;
It also allows you to browse .zip, .rar, .tgz, tbz2, tar, .iso etc. archives, audio -/ video - cd's, your handy, edonkey, it supports mrml, telnet, webdav, nntp etc. protocols, is scriptable, is also a help browser for KHelp, man and info pages, and it supports shortcuts like gg: searches with google, php: searches the php command reference, sf: searches sourceforge etc.
Nautilus, windows explorer, konqueror, finder etc... all have their strengths ... but when it comes down to day 2 day use I prefer to use a good old command prompt .. (bash, DOS prompt, etc).. No GUI i've ever seen can compare with the speed of that!
I had to choose between Finder and Konqueror. I choose Konqueror because
1) Very flexible. I can do pretty much anything I can think of.
2) Lots of features I actually use. Finder is rather low on that...
3) Faster file preview than Finder on OS X. And Finder on OS 9 and below, it doesn't have file preview...
Of course, Finder (especially prior to OS X, sorry to say) is very easy and intuitive, in comparison with Konqueror. But if I was looking for ease of use, I would be using a Etch-A-Scetch...
Did I mention it takes about one second to load... ;-)
(KDE 3.1.2, prelinked, 1GB RAM, U160 SCSI HDD's)
Eugenia: "I hate ironing."
Get the excitement back --
www.extremeironing.com
Mc and Konqueror on Linux,
FAR and Explorer on Windows.
Definately have to vote for DirectoryOpus on the amiga (upto v4 where it is a standalone 2-pane filemanger. Not v5 onwards where it became a full desktop replacement "shell").
Simple, lighting fast but deceptively powerful too. One thing I've never understood about Windows Explorer is how looooooong it takes to read and display a large directory of files. Opus is almost instant, and thats operating with a very slow processor (equivalent to 486 @ 50Mhz!) and very old IDE harddrive, (although this speed is in some way due to the filesystem and OS advantages).
Eugenia,
I chose Konqueror, but I probably do atleast (if not more) file management from a CLI. I don't think I'm alone as I ve seen a number of posts commenting on zsh and tcsh (I still primarily use bash). Maybe if you do a similar poll at some point in the future you could make terminal an option.
To tell the truth, I got stuck on MS File Manager years ago, and I still use it today. 'twas my first graphical file manager (that and it's DOS counterpart dosshell) I know it's outdated and rather restrictive, but there's a few decent expansions for it.
Ever find a version that handled long file names? That was the main thing that eventually forced me to move to Win Explorer back in my Windows days.
Currently, my favourite is BeOS' Tracker. The tight integration with the more advanced features of the BFS, the drilldown menu, the ability to move a file that's still being written to without screwing anything up, the "Select" applet, etc. Simple on the surface, but with a fair bit of power for those willing to dig a little deeper - just the way I like software.
Of the FMs mentioned, and of the ones I've used, I'd have to say that Win Explorer is the one I like the least. No "resize window to fit folder contents" option. No "open the folder I've double-clicked on and close the parent folder" - it's either single window browse or clutter your desktop with folder windows. Oh, and we can't forget the lovely habbit Explorer has in XP - namely, automatically turning off the status bar for you.
Hmmm... I don't agree with the opinion that Konq. is bloated - its just like a common interface (similarly to a shell) to various tasks. I do agree, however, that the menu is a bit bloated. I is very hard to arrive at a good solution for everyone. For instance, I didn't use the Open Terminal Here option for half a year, but now I can't live without it. And as I went through the right click menu in filemanager, I can't think of too many things that should be removed. Basically, there are 3-4 options that can go or be replaced. The the bzip/zip/tar this directory is good (by one click you can create an archive) - but it should be made into one option: create archive. Create data CD with K3b should be added to this. It should not call Ark either, for the good thing about including it in the menu is the simplicity. It would be nice it would call a small menu with the options: tar, bzip, zip, tar+bzip and if unace and unrar is present, with those as well.
The only other menu item that should be made optional (and off by default) is Cervisia. All in all, I could live with the removal of these 4 items, but I'm happy that all of the rest are there. Besides, its not as confusing as you suggests, or rather, its not something that one cannot get used to after a week or so. But should any of the other features be missing when needed later, that would create more inconvenience than the presence of the +4 menu items does now.
Count another for the great work done by the fine folks at Xandros.
I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned. Gentoo (this was before the Linux distribution) is a "clone of DOpus with extra features" Now, I've never used an Amiga, but this is great. It gives you an MC-like view. The best thing is, you get about 20 buttons on the bottom of your window that you can configure to be any command you want--tar, bz2, md5sum, whatever you like. It also loads faster than Explorer on the same hardware.
I don't think there are any. They are all still fairly unusable for the average joe. File managers are one part of computing that seriously needs to progress.
In windows i really like totalcommander (previously known as windowscommander)
In unix environments i really can't live without my cmd-line.
Explorer is nice but buggy, often gives me 32767333 minutes remaing when copying large files, crashes etc.
Konqueror is good, but I have to disable features for speed.
XFTree is simple and workable, but you have to set up all the mime types..
So in conclusion, probably the konqueror.
Yeah -
an oldie, and surpassed largely by DirectoryOpus on the Amiga, but for some reason DiskMaster was always ideal for me.
- Porter
The old school Windows 3.1 file manager worked good enough for me.
Rebel said:
>Simple, lighting fast but deceptively powerful too. One >thing I've never understood about Windows Explorer is how >looooooong it takes to read and display a large directory >of files. Opus is almost instant
until last year I still used Dopus4 on my old Amiga to manage and tidy up the files on my windows machines through a samba net connection. Strangely listing Windows files on Dopus4 through the network was faster than listing them directly on their own machine with explorer if you are some folders deep in the tree... And Dopus has some usefuk sizing features I'm missing under Windows...
Not true that no one uses this anymore. When I'm not using OS X I still find the NeXT interface blows all other x86 alternatives away, and Openstep 4.2 will be on my harddrive as long as I have a pc that will run it. I truly doubt that windows or X will ever offer anything as elegant and pleasing to use as the incredible NeXT graphical environment.
5 minutes scripting can replace hours of DnD!!!
The most effective file manager I've worked with: ZtreeWin (and ZtreeBold for OS/2). Of course, they descend from the venerable XtreeGold for DOS. Example: press B to flatten a subdirectory, Ctrl+T to mark all files in the flattened subdirectory, Ctrl+S to search for a string (a regex, in fact) in the marked files, Ctrl+V to browse the files found, etc...
There are many many more things that are a chore or just impossible to do in other FM or the command line, and are a breeze to do in Ztree.
I find XFtree the filemanager with the XFce desktop the best and nost productive filemanager for me, when I am in KDE I still will use it rather than that chaotic mess Konqueror. Then as for Bloatilus in Gnome enough said.
I find that I quite like EmelFM and Rox but I still prefer to use XFtree as my default filemanager.
In Windows I much prefer PowerDesk to Windows Explorer.
other: gnome-terminal
who the hell actually USES a file manager?! gneesh.
I prefer handling files with ksh (bourne shell). It's so much more powerful when handling large amounts of files.
Also, I find that most of these graphical filemanagers are too bloated & slow to be useable.
But that's just my opinion. It's good to have choice, so anyone can use what he/she likes best.
Total Commander--improved clone of Norton Commander--is my choice on Windows; while,
Krusader--clone of Total Commander--is my choice on Linux. I've been using them all for many years.
Richard.
Little known but extremely capable dual-pane FM. It may be ugly as there is no eye candy but it serves its purpose quite well. The integrated terminal is also a nice feature for those times when a command line makes the most sense.
when i want to excercise my pointer-tool (mouse) i choose rox cause it kick ass! but i'm down wit bash most of the time.
Those two are way ahead of all the others, I like them both but if I have to choose an absolute favorite, sorry guys but Konq wins hands down.
CLI all the way.
The PC version (at http://www.dopus.com), still made by GP Software, is the coolest file manager ever.
It deserves to be in the polls.
Tough choice - both are optimized for speed, but in very different ways. Battle for excellence.
Xtree is pretty pathetic, though. I wonder who the heck voted for that.
/usr/bin/csh
/bin/cp
/bin/rm
/bin/mv
/bin/ls
/bin/ln
/bin/mkdir
/bin/cat
/bin/chmod
/bin/chgrp
/bin/chown
/usr/bin/grep
/usr/bin/find
/usr/bin/xargs
/bin/mkdir
/usr/bin/sed
That's my "File Manager", and I have yet to find a GUI one that can beat it.
Side-by-side panes and integrated ftp client.
ls | xargs "rm -f" =)
What else do you need?
Maybe rm -rf /*
But who cares? =)
Anything that can be done via an X server can be done while sitting at a TTY.
Need I go on?
as a mac/solaris to windows guys (it's a work thing, not my preference) my biggest beef with windows explorer is that there is no way to automatically calculate the total size of a directory without going to properties. at least the mac finder would let me view a list of folders with the calculated sizes.
it's such a pain in the ass if my hard drive starts filling up and I'm just trying to track down the blockage. does anyone know a work around for this problem? (aside from switching operating systems..)
I voted for OS X, which is also meant to be a vote for NeXT. I do think the Xandros file manager deserves attention though, as others have said.
Ah yes, I used DiskMaster for years on my A500. In retrospect, I think it's likely that Directory Opus must have been atleast a little inspired by DM.
[comic book guy voice]
Best file manager, ever
[/comic book guy voice]
Seriously, though. ROX is by far my favorite file manager, with Konqueror coming in second, followed by Nautilus, then Windows Explorer. I'm not rich, so I don't have Mac, so I can't comment on the Mac file mans, and I never used BeOS too much, so my comments on BeOS Tracker would be horribly under-informed.
But, from what I've used, ROX does it for me!
I've gone for BeOS. Although i've never used it (and currently use os x), i've read so much good about BeOS i'm convinced it rocked!
L.
One program beats them all. PowerDesk. I'm using PowerDesk 4.0 Pro, and it's easily the best file mangaer I've ever used. With zip compression on the fly, graphics converters, a file preview pane, and simple layout, it's the most robust file manager I've ever seen. Thanks Mijenix! I mean Ontrack, er, I mean V-Com. Who owns this company now? It doesn't matter, this utility is second to none.
Click on my name for a link to the google directory listing for file managers. A lot of managers are available.
I think the poll is seriously lacking. I have used several of the file managers mentioned on this board.
I agree that nothing can compare with the power of the CLI, but sometimes I do use a GUI file manager.
I have been using OS X finder for some time now. One thing I like about finder is that I can drag a file from the finder in to the corresponding application on the doc to open it. If I download an Ogg Vorbis file I just drag it to itunes and the song will play (I have a plugin).
I also like using GNU Midnight Commander because of it's speed and conveince. Using GNU MC in a terminal emulator isn't always to friendly on the eyes, so I also use Gentoo the file manager.
Seeing as I don't run windows I don't know too much about the Explorer. IMO Explorer and Windows in general are just too unreliable and lack too many basic features like archiving and zipping software. Winzip is far more annoying than something like tar -xvz. Sure you can use DOS, but that is becoming more and more lacking and detached from the main system. I hate when I type 'clear' in DOS and it says "clear is not a valid system command, recognizable batch file...".
The Mac OS 9 file manager is generally okay, but that system doesn't have a CLI so I don't know how I could even begin to run it.
I do think that the XP interface to explorer and Mac OS X finder are more intuitive for the average user to pick up, but honestly I really don't see why these people aren't taught how to use a CLI. They are just a capable as we are.
One last thing. I used to work at my college's computer help desk. I can't even begin to express how frustrating it is to explain GUI functions over the phone, "Click here. What does that say. Okay drag this here." CLI makes this job much more easy.
This is a difficult choice...
I used NC a lot when I had my 386. It was a very handy file manager, especially for copying large directories with multiple floppies as it would remember what files it had already copied. Now that the Linux MC can also copy subdirectories it is really great. It is a fast program, easy-to-use, fast-to-use, intuitive, ....
The BeOS Tracker is also quite a good file manager, just like the Finder (is there any real difference between these?) but here the problem is this: when you browse many folders deep, you have so many windows popped up and you need two clicks to close a window on BeOS and MacOS (activate-close) which makes closing the unneeded ones take quite some time. Tracker is actually better than the Finder as it provides an option for Parent Directory. If you are 7 folders deep and need the folder above, in MacOS 7.5 and 8.5, which I have, you need to browse through all 6 levels again...
Then there is still the Windows Explorer. I would compare it with Konqueror, and then Konqueror wins for three reasons: 1) it does not freeze when logging in to FTP, 2) you can open a folder in a new window with one click, not right-click - browse - close sidebar, and 3) it can preview images.
Actually, the RiscOS file manager (filer) is quite good too, I think. About as good as the Tracker, as in essence it provides all functionality the Tracker provides too. Well, a bit better, the Filer can change file types, while the Tracker and Finder cannot as far as I know.
The command line can be handy in some cases, sometimes even better than NC, but for some operations I rather like the Windows Explorer...
So, here is my result: 1) NC (clone), 2) Filer, 3) Konqueror, 4) Tracker, 5) Finder, 6) Windows Explorer. 1-7) bash.
You can set OpenTracker and deratives to browse in one window (clicking on folder will not open new window but change current one).
I voted on Tracker. It's best filemanager i used so far (i used also explorer, windows/total commander, norton commander, gnome file manager (nautilus right?) and konqueror), although it has lacks too.
i suppose shell can be really fast in use once You get used to it and know commands (or even better: write aliases and own functions , but still GUI is more "userfriendly" IMHO.
Windows' Explorer is the worse
vifm for vi lovers at http://vifm.sf.net .
wow... just commited to gentoo's portage tree for any who want to see what they've been missing. incorporates two of my favorite programs, vim and screen.
<grin>
I miss my black slabs and cubes. The filemanager with its split pane metaphor was really nice. I found it enjoyable and productive.
From what I here, Konqueror in KDE 3.2 is greatly simplified. For example, the default right click menu, instead of the current, 15 menu items, has 5. KDE 3.2 in general focuses a lot on cleaning up the interface, so it should be a very interesting release.
No not the disto.... the file manager > www.obsession.se/gentoo. And it was out well before the distro .
Nice and simple and functional. Screenshots are at the bottom of the page.
I've used the default file manager that comes DOS, Win 3.11, OS/2, and Win9x/200/XP. The least intuitive was the Windows 3.11 file manager. The rest have done everything I've ever needed and for special situations (such as mass renaming) I was able to find a specific program for that task on the internet.
Rox for *nix, Powerdesk for Win. Got a taste of the NeXT file manager when I used NeXTStep on Win - like most of the NeXT interface, beautiful to look at and very functional.
Heard wonderful stuff about Tracker, but never really got to use BeOS. The "media OS" ran only in glorious black-and-white when I tried it on two different sets of hardware. 
Try this out for about 3 days:
http://www.dopus.com
And then get back to us Directory Opus - is there anything even on Linux that can touch it ?
really, i'm not an expert, but i really do find that the command line with a shell is seriously good... tab-expansion, command history, wildcards, occasionally renaming according to sed s/a/b/ logic... beats any pointy-clicky thing...
and i'm not averse to UIs... i use evolution and galeon over mutt and lyx... but when it comes to chomping files, the command line really shines when you want to just get stuff done (tm)!
I voted for Mac OS X, but it was really a vote for the original NeXT file manager. I find the shelf more useful than the OS X toolbar and the inspector panel was very elegant. BTW, there's a fairly nice clone of the NeXT file manager for Windows: www.winbrowser.com
I always liked the RISC OS file manager too, it's quite like the classic Mac Finder but with extra clever touches. However using it now I find it a little basic, unless I use enhancements like Director. The lack of a tree/column view can make dealing with large numbers of folders and files rather inelegant, I also miss document previews. Having said that I'd still much rather use it than the latest version of Windows Explorer or Konqueror.
I'm a command liner too, and yesterday I wish I wasn't. I'd carefully managed to keep a spare linux partition on my linux laptop (from a time when it was running linux) and finally I booted into Knoppix yesterday and mounted the Linux laptop. I was going to scp my personal files over to my linux server and then reinstall *something*.
This had my last year's worth of emails on it.
So I'm cleaning up some empty directories and accidentally type "rm -rf evolution" instead of "du -sk evolution". Oops. Darn. Gone.
On ext3, there's no going back.
Let's put it this way: this kind of thing almost never happens if you're using a graphical shell (especially one that kindly sends deleted files/dirs to a "recycle bin").
Argh.
(Yeah, I've been doing computers for 12+ years. I know what I'm doing, but I had a brain freeze for half a second and paid for it dearly).
Maybe define:
alias rm="mv $1 ~/Desktop/Trash"
That's what I have done and it works great - maybe not for large operations or if you work on another disk, but as a normal user I guess it can be quite handy.
rm -rf instead of du -sk is a pretty large mistake. Actually it's a pivotal mistake that a sys admin should never make. Also check what you type
No, the alias for me was alias rm="~/Programming/rm" which was a shell script containing the rest of that line.
And why can I vote twice? It seemed I could not do this, but now that I viewed the page again I could suddenly vote another time (but not a third time). I used that vote to vote for OpenTracker, as if it supports one-window-browsing I think it must be really really great. As good as Konqueror and Finder added together.
The best file manager around is for me Directory Opus 4.x (Amiga
Only). I never found a better manager (even on Windows).
The BeOS Tracker is also quite a good file manager, just like the Finder (is there any real difference between these?) but here the problem is this: when you browse many folders deep, you have so many windows popped up and you need two clicks to close a window on BeOS and MacOS (activate-close) which makes closing the unneeded ones take quite some time.
If you hold down the Option key (windows key on PC keyboards) while double-clicking, Tracker will "clean up behind you" - in other words, that tells it to open the folder you've just double-clicked and close the parent. I've long wished that there was an option to make this the default behaviour - single-window browse is not a proper alternative because it defeats the purpose of a spatial filemanager.
ROX Filer is the best I have ever used. It has great intergration of keyboard navigation, DnD, auto or manual window resize and not least it is very very fast.
Along with its session program and pager applet the full ROX desktop is a real gem!
It was a GUI filemanager that could present itself as either one of two classic monolithic filemanagers (a light version and a heavier one, each roughly similar to the MDI folder interface present in the Win3x Filemanager), or it could be used as a series of folder windows either spawned from a tree view of the drive(s) on your box or from its System Information utility (the one that shows drive graphs) whose actual name I now forget.
It transparently handled ZIP, ARJ, and other archive files, came with its own media player and file viewer, and had a feature called the "Collector" which let one search across one's drives for files that matched a specific set of criteria and put them in the Collector for later use.
The only thing it didn't have that I missed was a 4OS2-like (or ZTreeBold-like) color-coding of filenames, but it optionally showed icons so you could identify file types.
I'm more and more addicted to ROX. It's light, extensible and efficient.
PC Magazine's 1988 vintage DR.COM does the trick for me.
8,500 bytes beats the multi-megabyte monsters any time.
Typed it in myself, many moons ago.
Floyd
Since the Directory Opus 4 source was released as GPL http://www.gpsoft.com.au/AmigaIndex.html has anyone tried porting it to Linux?
well, I use konqueror daily on Linux and am always horrified how slow it is. As soon as you have more than 1000 files in a directory the listview becomes sluggish when you scroll to the end. Loading a large directory can block the whole thing too. QT really needs a decently optimized listview. What they currently have is quite embarassing. I also do not like the selection in konqueror, it handles selection the whole column instead of just the filename which is not quite intuitive.
On Windows I use Directory Opus (yes, for windows) and it is IMHO much better than Total Commander. The rename functionality it has kicks ass. In addition its extremly fast.
On MacOSX, well, I simply use the terminal. The Finder is so dumbbed down that its hardly useable for more than launching apps...
for all of you wanting that NeXT feel...
http://www.gnustep.it/enrico/gworkspace/
been around for quite a while.
That's why Konqueror rocks (and why I voted for it , but first let me address the menus. I very rarely use them because I put everything I use on a daily basis on the tool bar. Just the most often used buttons that I want are there. One of these buttons happens to be terminal emulation. The greatest thing about it is that it puts you in the same directory as the one you're already looking at. Combine this with split windows and you have the perfect file browser. I rarely use it for web browsing unless I'm running it through an ssh session, in which case having all that functionality in one GUI app is awesome.
It was 1992, i had acne and i was using pctools 5.0 deluxe for MSDOS
I voted for windows explorer.
When using bash, 'mv $* ~/Desktop/Trash' works better as a shell script since if you do rm *, $1 would be the first element in the list described by the regular expression *, but $* will put all the elements of that list there, so the rm replacement 'mv $* ~/Desktop/Trash' actually matches the behavior of what rm is supposed to do.
I decided to do this the other day when I deleted a file and had to work for an hour redoing everything I'd done. This was the result of having another script, em, which passes switches to emacs and runs it as a background process.
s/e/r/ # that sucked.
The best file manager around is for me Directory Opus 4.x (Amiga
Only). I never found a better manager (even on Windows).
Have you tried version 6.x for Windows? And if so, was version 4 for Amiga really that much better ?
I tell you what, I had never used ROX Filer before today, and after 10 minutes of playing around with it, I'm sold. I'll not be using anything else.
Super small footprint, very fast, very configurable.
It also provides panel support and desktop icons.
Count me in on the ROX bandwagon
FSV on linux ( a clone of FSN on SGI ).
If I'm going to abandon the speed and power of shell for a GUI browser I want maximum visual information.. nothing beats the fly-by approach of looking at directorys relative sizes.. far easier on the eye than reading a bunch of numbers.
I don't see how anything could ever top Directory Opus on the Amiga.
My personal top 3 file managers.
1. BASH
2. Total Commander
3. Midnight Commander
4. Windows Explorer (could beat mc but hasn't got nice editors)
5. Krusader (a Total Commander wannabe)
No particular reasons why them, I am simply more productive with them. I wrote BASH because often use it as a file manager; I am much better at typing than clicking.
Both konqueror and nautilius sux. Windows Explorer leaves them far behind in both speed and useability.
My vote goes to NeXTSTEP 3.3's Workspace.app. It's totally the Best. File. Manager. EVER.
Does anyone know of any file managers do tabs well (like galeon, mozilla or myie2). I'd love to have the same sort of functionality in a windows filemanager, since I always have loads of explorer windows open. Right now I'm using crappy windows explorer, but I'm always looking for something new.
Does anyone know of any file managers do tabs well (like galeon, mozilla or myie2). I'd love to have the same sort of functionality in a windows filemanager, since I always have loads of explorer windows open. Right now I'm using crappy windows explorer, but I'm always looking for something new.
Best File Manager is XFM (Xandros File Manager)........
Check this article on Explorer, Nautilus and Konqueror here: http://kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=3910
Feel free to comment and support, the user's requests, IMO many of those things would mak Konqueror better.
Can't imagine why anyone would pay for Total Commander when 2xexplorer is free. http://netez.com/2xExplorer/snapshot.html
Still looking for a linux file manager that suits me. Rox is nice enough I suppose, but I hate the way it keeps resizing, and if you stop the resizing in options it won't save the settings for next time you open it.
Can't imagine why anyone would pay for Total Commander when 2xexplorer is free. http://netez.com/2xExplorer/snapshot.html
Still looking for a linux file manager that suits me. Rox is nice enough I suppose, but I hate the way it keeps resizing, and if you stop the resizing in options it won't save the settings for next time you open it. Also I'm addicted to double panes.
I'll have to try some of these other ones. I should mention for linux that Worker and XNC aren't too bad. And while I don't like the look of MC, it sure is fast and convenient to use sometimes.
If you like polls such as this, you may be interested in the polls at http://www.linuxsurveys.com
Still looking for a linux file manager that suits me. Rox is nice enough I suppose, but I hate the way it keeps resizing, and if you stop the resizing in options it won't save the settings for next time you open it. Also I'm addicted to double panes.
If you disable auto-resize you can still use manual resizing by double clicking on any empty spot in the Filer window.
For a tree type file manager [and SMB browser:) ] check out XFFM the file manager for XFCE4.
Emacs.
It does everything else I need to do, or acts as a frontend for the programs I run, and works almost the same on any machine big enough to fit it in. So, for a corss-platform filemanager, it's emacs with dired.
You can't beat emacs. It's bigger than you are.
I'm so used to it now that it's completely ingrained. The enhancements in eCS 1.1 are great and have certainly improved it even more.
On Windows, I like Windows Explorer, but especially later (>Win98?) versions that have the thumbnail previewing view
Also, as others have alerady said, command lines for doing bulk stuff quickly.
Personnally, I vote for the NeXT file manager... or, if you want something currently available, GWorkspace, a GNUstep file manager wich is the same as the NeXT one.
The Xandros File Manager is excellent. One of the best reasons to try Xandros.
>>> what about other important options like the RiscOS file manager, or the famous NeXT File Viewer, the precursor of the MacOS X three panel view?
>>No one uses these anymore, and people wouldn't know about them, so the voting results would not be ideal.
But yah...everyone still uses the BeOS so people really know what the Be Tracker looks/feels/runs like, making those voting results quite ideal...
All you people praising konqueror must be using a different one than the one I have. The one I have (3.1.1) is awful, and lacks almost all features imaginable. (However, while the kio stuff like ssh, tar, ftp, CDDA, etc. browsing is great, I don't count it as being part of konqueror but part of the KDE base.)
I can't remember all zillion things that sucks with konqueror, but I can start with the ones that have annoyed me within the last hour or so:
- It doesn't show free space in the selected directory! C'mon!!!
- File copy/move can't resume! I mean, c'mon! I've spent 4 hours copying a file across a slow link when the network goes down momentarily when 98% done. I try to resume and it only asks to overwrite/rename/cancel/skip. (Well, at least it doesn't remove partial files when aborting transfers like M$ Explorer does.)
- You can't access the file transfer queue. I'm copying a few gigs of stuff when I realize that I don't want to copy the next to last item I selected. I either have to abort the whole transfer, re-select the other files and restart the transfer, or I have to sit and wait until the unwanted file starts copying and then abort, remove the partial file, re-select the last file and re-start the transfer. I also can't add files to be transferred to that queue. Thus there is no way to copy files between more than two dirs in one go. Stupid, stupid.
- Select two directories full of files, right-click and choose properties and it'll say "2 items - 0 files - 2 directories", and then when you delete those dirs you are happily unaware of your thousands of files being deleted. This probably isn't so very bad once you are aware of this, but I wasn't for a long time and I suspect I've deleted a lot of non-empty dirs that I thought were empty.
- Split a file listing "Left/Right" a few times to get several panes, and then try to drag'n'drop a file from one pane to another. Since the target pane is full of files you can't drop the file anywhere because the whole row (of the "Name" column) of an existing file will be chosen as target. You actually have to scroll horizontally and then drop the file on another column.
- It caches A LOT, and it doesn't update the cache when you re-visit the directory. The actual filesystem is thus seldom what konqueror shows unless you press "Refresh" all the time. In the last few hours it has also removed several files and directories from the file listing cache for no apparent reason. They reappear when pressing F5. (Why can't it start with displaying the cached file listing and do the refresh in the background to ensure it's up-to-date??)
- Selecting dirs with many files really shows the bad underlying design. The file listing isn't updated until the whole directory has been scanned/cached. It isn't even cleared, which gives the impression that the newly selected dir contains exactly the same files as the previously selected dir. It doesn't even give a hint that something is happening! What's even worse is that it doesn't respond to anything while it's scanning the dir. You can't abort it e.g. by trying to select another dir instead. It seems that it doesn't even repaint the window. What's even worse is that it caches the mouse clicks you've done when you tried to change directory while it was so busy, and when it's finished scanning through the dir it responds to those long ago sent mouse clicks! C'mon! Haven't the developers ever seen a book on UI design? (Quite obviously not.)
- The dir tree doesn't stay in sync with the active file listing. E.g. when dragging a file from the file listing and dropping it on another dir in the dir tree the other dir becomes selected while the file listing shows the contents of the first dir.
- The trashcan is a normal directory! This must be among the most stupid design decisions ever made. The trashcan doesn't remember where the file came from. You can't set it to keep only X MB of the last deleted stuff. You can't set it to permanently delete stuff older than N days. You can't even have two files with the same name in it at the same time! (Not even if they originally came from different directories. Not that that should matter.) This is absurd! (Perhaps the trashcan isn't at all part of konqueror...)
- It keeps a lock on something in visited directories. This becomes apparent when you try to unmount something that konqueror has accessed at some point. You have to close the relevant konqueror window for it to release whatever lock it has in the mounted filesystem, so that it can be unmounted.
- The TABs won't shrink after they fill up the whole row, so if you have many TABs you only see a few at a time.
The file managers that I've found to be least annoying is File Master on the Amiga and Gyula's Navigator on Windows. I'm still looking for a usable file manager for linux.
My vote goes to RiscOS... at least, it would, but I'm not sure that it counts, as it would appear that I'm "no-one", just like those other "no-ones" who don't use it anymore (in the sense that I use it every day)...
Konqueror, its fast and it has tons of features and views. it can do things finder cant and it dosent hang when opening "my computer" it looks great too.
Isn't Mac OS X's file system based in XML? Thought it was
DOSShell was the best, effectively but better and on DOS with text and graphics modes, oh, and themes , closely followed by XtreePro and XtreeGold, Nautilus is really rather nice these days, although i do miss GMC sometimes.
I like command prompt in DOS/win; OS/2; and Linux. Also,
-Servant Salamander(nc clone) and
-Explore Cool(gfx preview window, no IE required!), which is a explorer/fileman.exe hybrid
in windows; and Konq in Linux.
Also, Krusader in Linux, or any other text/gui NC clone anywhere, anytime. I also like tree-type filemanagers for some types of dir organization.
Nice thread for the forums, btw
I STILL use a program called "DCOM" in DOS ... It's neat :] It might have been mentioned in past posts... but there's way too many to sort through, so sorry if this is a dupe :]
I also like the fact that you can browse man pages in Konqueror. Just type man:<command name> in address bar (ie: man:cat), and there you go. Furthermore, references to other pages are hyperlinked. For instance, clicking on see also samba in man:smb.conf would bring up the samba man page.
When I see Nautilus being voted more upon than Amiga Dopus then I know: I can't take the poll serious. How could it be ?!
Amiga is a computer mostly known in Europe. Amiga is not known by many. I assume there being much more Linux users than Amiga users. If you ask a Linux user why (s)he likes Nautilus they often say: You can bind scripts.
Uhohhahah. With DirectoryOpus any move of your body can be a script. Amiga applications are the most scriptable applications ever. Amiga applications are the most user-configurable, no, let's call it 'definable' ever.
I used:
Windows-Explorer
Total Commander 16bit and 32bit versions
Nautilus
Konqueror
Gentoo
Gnome MC
MC (this one is missing, that is the second best for me, than comes Konqui)
OS8.x Finder
Directory Opus 4
Directory Opus 5
Directory Opus 6 for Windows
All in all Directory Opus 5 as Desktop replacement is best! I even implemented a MUA with it, using folders as directories and mails like archives.
Second on my list is plain MC, since I love to do it on the terminal.
Third would be Dopus4 and Konqueror. Konqueror being nice for its plugin-model.
Then comes Dopus6 for Windows, which does not really match up to the Amiga versions, mainly since they did not implement WSH scripting into it.
I do not know OS/2, OSX Finder nor BeOS.
.john
Am I the only one who finds the linux distros that emulate the windows gui environment ridiculous? Kind of like all the vegetarian products that try to be meat.
For the record, I am a vegetarian, and I eschew both windows and linux for the greener pastures of OS X and NeXT (R.I.P.).
Do you folks who use Gentoo think it would be easier if the buttons on the bottom had accompanying icons? Do you think it was just laziness on part of the developer not to add button icons?
that brought back memories. I remember that in those days, we geeks were divided into those who used Norton Commander and those who used PCTools. I just couldn't getu used to PCTools, it had a weird interface. I was and apparently, still am, the NC kind of guy. Yesterday I installed FAR commander. This thing super-rocks.
Konqueror 3.1 also can have tabs as a filemanager, just press CTRL+ALT+N.
this one is the only one I use when I'm linuxing
I often switch between gnome and kde. I like Rox and Nautilus, but now I'm using Fluxbox and it's konq all the way (can't wait for 3.2). For slower systems, morphix light has XFce4 with Xffm is pretty fast too :-)
On Windows: Nothing beats Total Commander
On Linux: I bet on Krusader, which will hopefully reach the same level as Total Commander when versaion 2 will be ready
I'm amazed... it hasn't been ruined yet?? This is the first poll I've been able to vote in... ironically, I have to make a write-in: ROX-Filer
I like Diskmaster 2 for Amiga and Enriva Magallen Explorer for Windows.
Total Commander rules for Windows... Midnight Commander for Linux... other then that.. i have no clue...
I will have to agree w/ IFightMIBs, and go w/ the OS/2 PM. That was the first thing that popped into my head when I read the poll. Then it turned out to be the first post...
Hey, 10 years after, I still use Dopus 4 on my pegasos Old but incredibly powerful. Maybe in 10 years, something comparable will be available to the other platforms - what a waste -
"I'm amazed... it hasn't been ruined yet?? This is the first poll I've been able to vote in..."
Thank you. The ballot stuffers have been doing a good job at spacing their votes with just enough time to make it look real. Keep up the good work men!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who still likes the Win 3.xx File Manager. Yes, it had its restrictions, but was fast and straightforward. Windows Explorer was less restricted, but had its own problems. And as much as I like BeOS, I really do not like the BeOS/Mac OS idea of single-paned windows to browse through files. I think it's much better to have a two-paned window with the directory tree on the left and files on the right. Although Windows 95 and on also let you browse in the single-paned style if you really prefer it.
All of the above I have found to be great, although windows users don't really "get" it. The windows users at my school are mostly versed enough in unix commands to get things done easier that way. You need a 1GHz+ machine to run Konq Nautilus or similar with any speed, and most of the machines I work with are 200-400 MHz era.
If you hold down the Option key (windows key on PC keyboards) while double-clicking, Tracker will "clean up behind you" - in other words, that tells it to open the folder you've just double-clicked and close the parent. I've long wished that there was an option to make this the default behaviour - single-window browse is not a proper alternative because it defeats the purpose of a spatial filemanage
Also under AmigaOS this is possible using the CTRL key, both navigating up or down in folder windows (but this is an OS plugin feature and not related with a *real* file manager and a little painful to use, like having to fiddle with Windows Explorer)... But there's a good interaction (may be the best ever) between desktop and shell/cli, (and filemanager) added to the drag 'n drop capabilities together with AppIcons (application icons that process dropped project icons) and the datatyping system...
Have you tried version 6.x for Windows? And if so, was version 4 for Amiga really that much better ?
I tried 5.0 on Amiga and I got back to 4.0 (I still have it on an Amiga that I didn't use for nearky one year), I recently installed the trial of 6.0 on Windows, but it can't be compared to the old 4.0 in functionality (maybe it's windows fault and not Dopus')... I have Dopus4.0 also installed on the WinUAE emulator, still very useful when I have to tidy up my Windows Partitions without having to get mad with Windows' apps...
this one here: http://www.obsession.se/gentoo/ [gentoo] is the best one ive found. Has 2 different windows, very nice.
The version that came with NT (and 2000) is quite happy with long file names, although it is, of course, NT-specific. The nice thing about winfile was/is that it was small, simple, fairly clean, and made specifically for and with windows in mind. Yes, it could have done with a bit more work, but really MS made a mistake in abandoning it IMHO. Too bad they dropped the program manager out of win2k, with a bit of work it could have remained a decent low-spec or emergency shell w/winfile doing the file managing. Ah well.