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File Managers for Linux
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XWC (X WinCommander) is a simple file management program that reminds one of Windows Explorer of Windows 95. This is a small program that helps you do your filing graphically. It is immensely useful for those who feel handicapped without a point-and-click alternative which looks and feels like Windows Explorer.
Merits:
- Empowers those who prefer to point-and-click rather than punch commands.
- Easy to use - resembles the Win95 Windows Explorer
- Especially useful if your Window Manager doesn't provide a filing utility.
Demerits:
- Pretty much limited capability
- Quite rigid - little configurability
- Doesn't provide a proper tool to set file associations
Learn more about XWC and download it from their website.
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Gentoo File Manager is a powerful and highly configurable file manager which has a highly old-X look and feel. But as a file manager which should have all features, this ones for the power users. Power users will ogle at the menus after menus that allow you to set your preferences and make Gentoo do your bidding. You can customize this FM to the minutest detail. It provides a heirarchical way to set file associations which makes it very flexible, but it gets very detailed there. Its certainly not for those who don't want to spend time mastering it. Unless you plan to learn how to get the best out of this FM and make this your primary filing utility, better stick with X WindowCommander.
Merits:
- Very powerful and highly configurable
- Split-pane interface
- Conviniently placed buttons for most common tasks.
- Easy to install
Demerits
- Complicated deep configuration
- Easy to use, but tough to master (could have done with 2 modes approach for Basic & Advanced users)
- Older look and feel
Learn more about Gentoo and download it from their website.
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The whats and whys:
What is a file manager?
File manager is a graphical utility which helps you organize files and folders on your machine without significant command line knowledge. Example: Windows Explorer, Konqueror, Nautilus - these examples do much more than the little programs mentioned above, so don't expect the above programs to do everything that the hefty powerful ones do. Why write about such programs?
Don't we already have much powerful and feature rich programs which we use for filing?
First of all, running programs such as Nautilus / Konqueror in conjunction with desktop environments like GNOME / KDE to access a computer may not make sense to everybody. It may not be possible for older computers to run GNOME or KDE acceptably well enough - there are a lot more of those around than you think and many people/organizations don't need or cannot afford powerful computers. Then there are those users would like to make use of all their machine's horsepower for running their targetted programs instead of wasting it over look-good feel-good desktop environments. In what situations can FMs be useful?
File managers are most useful in situations where the Window Manager you use does not provide you with a desktop environment similar to what GNOME / KDE does. Apart from that, you can use these programs if you don't like the way your default file manager behaves. You may also become interested in these FMs just because you may like the way they look and feel - nostalgia of having left your good old system (say, Win 95/98) for a better one.
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