I’ve always wanted a feature rich file manager, but haven’t been able to find one.

Something that is: available on Linux, easily extensible and visually pleasing (icons, thumbnails etc.)

Didn’t I tell you I’m picky?

There’s actually lots of good Windows based tools. Like @XYplorer: https://www.xyplorer.com

I was very happy with even its free version.

When I switched to Linux, around 4 years ago, I tried to get it work with Wine. It ran, but only barely. Weird errors abound.

One of the reasons I loved XYplorer was because it’s default view wasn’t “two-panes with list of files” - something that is oft associated with such file managers.

I just abhor list views.

Perhaps because I grew up using “Windows Explorer” and not “Midnight Commander”

I want to visually skim through my wallpapers directory. I want spatial memory - knowing a file is “somewhere in the bottom left”. List views rob you of that.

I use #KDE now, which has a large suite of applications.

Once such gem is Krusader.

Sadly, It is two-paned and doesn’t have icons view.

But boy does it have lots of configurable keyboard hotkeys - “user actions” as they’re so aptly named.

It has been a month since I switched to Krusader (from Dolphin - the Windows Explorer of KDE) and in that time I’ve filed multiple bugs/features and got decent responses from the devs:

https://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?email1=dufferzafar&emailreporter1=1&emailtype1=substring&f1=reporter&list_id=1536354&o1=equals&product=krusader&query_format=advanced&v1=dufferzafar0%40gmail.com

One of Krusader’s coolest features is its UI for the standard “locate” command - which allows you to find files fast (just like the ‘Everything’ tool for Windows.)

https://www.voidtools.com

To be honest, I actually wish for a mix of Dolphin & Krusader, with features like:

Icon view instead of detailed list Thumbnails for music & video files Remember view settings per folder

etc. etc.

And before you begin to say: “build it yourself - it’s all open source”

I already have that on my todo list, right along with hundreds of other ideas.

“So many codes, so little time.” - Frank Zappa

#fakequote

No talk about powerful file managers can be complete without applauding ranger: https://ranger.github.io

I still remember how ecstatic I was when I found that it works amazingly well over SSH connections.

Have been using it for ~3-4 years now, and it sure has its use-cases.

One of the things I use it for is to quickly explore code repos: git clone && ranger!

Navigation using Vim-like key movements is godsent, So is the preview pane which can show syntax highlighted code.

To top it all off - it’s written in #Python, as all good things should be.

The thing is, it’s core feature is also it’s biggest limitation - it’s inside a frickin’ terminal. Which were mostly made for displaying text.

I don’t want text. I want gorgeous images.

I want to visually skim through my wallpapers directory.

Not a big demand, is it? in 2018?

So yeah,

I constantly juggle between various file managers.

And I lament over the state of Linux software.

And I wish, and I hope…

…for a bright future.

and bright it will be!

@m_herrmann is building fman - “sublime text of file managers” http://fman.io

I’ve been following it from the very beginning & it gets a lot of things right:

Python API - making it pretty extensible Automatic Updates The Open Source Promise

I tried it about six months ago, but was instantaneously put off by the two panes & the “details view”.

Tried it again right now and couldn’t figure out how to get large icons. Spent like a minute with the app and wanted to go back.

It just needs some time to mature, I guess.

The perfect file manager remains unbuilt. Maybe that’s the point - we all want something slightly different.