What's your favorite file manager?

Non release banter
fulalas
DEV Team
DEV Team
Posts: 2050
Joined: 26 Oct 2016, 15:34
Distribution: Porteus
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#1 by fulalas » 25 Sep 2017, 04:07

I'm looking for some alternatives to PcManFM-Qt (LXQt), since it's not as fast/light as it used to be in PcManFM era (LXDE), especially when listing files/folders and copying big folders. What I've tested so far:

1- Thunar (Xfce);
2- Dolphin (KDE);
3- Caja (Mate);
4- Nautilus (Gnome);
5- Nemo (Cinnamon)
6- PcManFM (LXDE);
7- PcManFM-Qt (LXQt);
8- Pantheon;
9- SpaceFM;

The best usability so far is PcManFM-Qt, and the lightest/fastest is probably SpaceFM.

User avatar
ncmprhnsbl
DEV Team
DEV Team
Posts: 3924
Joined: 20 Mar 2012, 03:42
Distribution: v5.0-64bit
Location: australia
Contact:

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#2 by ncmprhnsbl » 25 Sep 2017, 05:39

What's your favorite file manager?
SpaceFM

here's a list of qt5 filemanagers i found: https://www.pcsuggest.com/best-qt-based ... for-linux/
couple there not on your list..
if qt5 isn't essential.. here's a list from arch wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Li ... #Graphical
gtk2 of note: Rox, Sunflower, emelfm2, gentoo..
Forum Rules : https://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=44

User avatar
wread
Module Guard
Module Guard
Posts: 1255
Joined: 09 Jan 2011, 18:48
Distribution: Porteus v5.0-kde-64 bits
Location: Santo Domingo
Contact:

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#3 by wread » 25 Sep 2017, 11:46

@all
The no dependency of other groups is a way to success, i.e. MSWindows, as worst as it can be, is a world success :)

Every new edition of a toolkit means upgrading to keep the system "up to date", because of others...i.e. qt :fool: , but it is not true that the follow-upgrades are better than the former editions. They keep us busy making b???sh?? :evil:

And upgrading is good, when we discover a better way to do our job :happy62: Maybe we should try a Porteus edition based on FLTK??

But that is off topic; now, my favorite file managers are -in this order- 1) midnight commander and 2) Dolphin. I explain: mc with arrows navigation gives me a faster search than any mouse navigation. And ...If a file will not delete, do it with mc!

Regards!
Porteus is proud of the FASTEST KDE ever made.....(take akonadi, nepomuk and soprano out and you will have a decent OS).
The Porteus Community never sleeps!

fulalas
DEV Team
DEV Team
Posts: 2050
Joined: 26 Oct 2016, 15:34
Distribution: Porteus
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#4 by fulalas » 25 Sep 2017, 20:28

@ncmprhnsbl, thanks for the links. I tried to compile the NewBreeze, but no success :( This QtFM is really simple, the way I like it, but it needs that one week to polish somethings (like listing files in a separated thread). But the way it works now is way faster than PCManFM-Qt.
n0ctilucient wrote:
25 Sep 2017, 10:33
Xfe ... most importantly it does NOT have a Gtk/Qt dependency (no bloat).
After that it is the fastest and lightest of all GUI file managers.
I think I've given a try before, but I must admit that I can't remember what I though about it. I'll try again :)
wread wrote:Every new edition of a toolkit means upgrading to keep the system "up to date", because of others...i.e. qt :fool: , but it is not true that the follow-upgrades are better than the former editions. They keep us busy making b???sh?? :evil:
I can't agree more! I have this exact feeling about the update paranoia, especially because new versions are usually worse (bigger, slower, heavier and sometimes with more bugs). That's why I used Windows XP for more than 15 years :)
wread wrote:Maybe we should try a Porteus edition based on FLTK??
Where can I find it?

User avatar
wread
Module Guard
Module Guard
Posts: 1255
Joined: 09 Jan 2011, 18:48
Distribution: Porteus v5.0-kde-64 bits
Location: Santo Domingo
Contact:

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#5 by wread » 26 Sep 2017, 00:46

@fulalas
First of all, you should try the FLTK. I downloaded and built from source this last version, installed it in optional and began to research it. I activated it but found no desktop.

Then extracted it to see how this package is made. In /usr/doc/fltk-1.3.4-2/examples I found a series of tests examples to verify the power of the toolkit. As I advanced compiling the test examples, I liked it more...

I included the executables (part) in the folder together with the sources. And there is still an editor that could be included in a file manager -this topic!- You can compile and test it to verify my findings...

@n0ctilucient
I will try neko's build of EDE; but it is Archlinux and I like better the compacter bug-free init of Slackware. (They want to keep us busy updating foo's and debuging bar'ś. FLTK can be found in Slackware too, under extras.

Cheers!
Porteus is proud of the FASTEST KDE ever made.....(take akonadi, nepomuk and soprano out and you will have a decent OS).
The Porteus Community never sleeps!

User avatar
brokenman
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 6105
Joined: 27 Dec 2010, 03:50
Distribution: Porteus v4 all desktops
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#6 by brokenman » 27 Sep 2017, 00:20

It's a great ideal but you are never going to get away from using dependencies. You have to base a file manager on something. I am so annoyed with file managers that I rarely use them. I use a terminal and a web browser and occasionally a file manager to open a folder to see thumbnails.

If I had to choose I would choose something with a stable dependency that isn't updated (read broken) every 3 months.
How do i become super user?
Wear your underpants on the outside and put on a cape.

fulalas
DEV Team
DEV Team
Posts: 2050
Joined: 26 Oct 2016, 15:34
Distribution: Porteus
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#7 by fulalas » 27 Sep 2017, 09:15

@wread and @n0ctilucient, I've just built a EDE xzm module for Porteus 3.2.2 x64. If you want to try it, here's the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/500r49gdk ... .2-x64.zip

I put SpaceFM as an external xzm module, since EDE doesn't come with a file manager and, if you don't like SpaceFM, you can simply remove the xzm module from boot :)

My initial thoughts are:

1- The whole module takes just 10 MB, including: Transmission, Leafpad, ImageViewer, Engrampa, ePDFViewer, LXTask and NetworkManager Applet together with GTK3. So, it's really small :good:
2- After boot takes around 150 MB of RAM, which is very light :good:
3- I didn't have time to play with it, but it seems that NetworkManager Applet can't be acessed through the task bar.
4- It doesn't boot as quick as LXDE/LXQt. However, maybe it's just because the first boot sets all the defaults. I need to test it.
5- It's veeery raw, so I wouldn't call this a DE, but more like a Window Manager with some extras :P

fulalas
DEV Team
DEV Team
Posts: 2050
Joined: 26 Oct 2016, 15:34
Distribution: Porteus
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#8 by fulalas » 27 Sep 2017, 20:36

@n0ctilucient, I didn't use Xfce as an initial base for this EDE module; it was made from scratch. The NetworkManager Applet is showing in the task bar, however nothing happens when you click on it, so I don't know how do manually connect to a wifi network, for example.

I believe that the difference between a WM and a DE is that a WM is simply a program that renders windows, where a DE is running over a WM, with a set of programs used to manager different things, like display settings, mouse settings, font settings, file manager, task bar, etc. Since EDE doesn't have most of these things, I think it's not exactly a DE. But this is just my opinion :)

BTW, you believe that GTK/Qt is bloatware, but there are somethings you should consider:

1- Nowadays is almost impossible to have a full DE without at least one of these frameworks. Take Porteus, for instance. It needs GTK2 (own dialogs) and GTK3 (NetworkManager Applet).
2- If you take RAM consumption and boot time, an old DE like EDE or even OpenBox (with Tint2), the difference is not that big when compared to Xfce/LXDE/LXQt. For example, LXQt takes around 220 MB RAM after boot, where EDE takes around 150 MB. And LXQt boots faster. EDE module takes 10 MB of disk space, while LXQt takes 23 MB -- and this isn't exactly fair, since LXQt comes with an audio player and lots of other manager apps.

Like you, I don't understand/buy bloatware programs. That's why I don't like KDE or Cinnamon, for example. But sometimes you need to pay something for a more comprehensive program. Keep in mind that Porteus is a complete and modern distro that takes less than 300 MB of disk space, while most of distros nowadays take over 1,5 GB! We're winning here by miles :good:

User avatar
brokenman
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 6105
Joined: 27 Dec 2010, 03:50
Distribution: Porteus v4 all desktops
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#9 by brokenman » 29 Sep 2017, 00:15

EDE old? Perhaps... only it's appearence.
@ least it was created in the 21st century.
:buhehe:

It's so true. It's like my motorcycle. Created in the 21st century but has a retro look to it ... but it's fast as hell.
How do i become super user?
Wear your underpants on the outside and put on a cape.

fulalas
DEV Team
DEV Team
Posts: 2050
Joined: 26 Oct 2016, 15:34
Distribution: Porteus
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#10 by fulalas » 29 Sep 2017, 00:49

Hahaha! Right, but the last EDE commit is from 2014, while Xfce, LXQt and Gnome are being constantly updated. This is probably why EDE looks older :)

fulalas
DEV Team
DEV Team
Posts: 2050
Joined: 26 Oct 2016, 15:34
Distribution: Porteus
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#11 by fulalas » 29 Sep 2017, 05:53

@n0ctilucient, the commits made after 2014 are basically 'Applying patches from Michael to fix openbsd...'. See for yourself: https://sourceforge.net/p/ede/code/HEAD/tree/ede/trunk/

Last official release is from June 2014, so the project is basically dead. Sorry, but this is how technology works. If EDE was perfect, I wouldn't say anything, But it is not. In fact, EDE is miles away from being solid/polished. Of course, it doesn't mean we can't use it or even adore it :)

fulalas
DEV Team
DEV Team
Posts: 2050
Joined: 26 Oct 2016, 15:34
Distribution: Porteus
Location: Brazil

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#12 by fulalas » 29 Sep 2017, 21:18

@n0ctilucient, you're funny :)

User avatar
wread
Module Guard
Module Guard
Posts: 1255
Joined: 09 Jan 2011, 18:48
Distribution: Porteus v5.0-kde-64 bits
Location: Santo Domingo
Contact:

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#13 by wread » 06 Oct 2017, 15:19

@n0ctilucient, @fulalas

At the beginning of the Porteus Era there was KDE only for 64 bits....by fanthom, not 32-bits. The reason: KDE was (is ?) too bloated for a 32 bit system, making it very slow.

Then I tried it and made a first version of it. It was indeed super slow. Fanthom almost laughed at me! Then he gave me some tips to make it quicker and smaller :celebrate3:

As first step, I took out all the aconadi, nepomuk, soprano, wallet, etc.(=garbage) and it was already somewhat better. Then I made a home-brew edition of kdelibs, taking out the frameworks of the packages I had eliminated; and finally I made a short version of qt4 that included only the necessary files to run the desktop (I still use it, kde-qt4 is named; I use for vidalia of tor, that is not still ported to qt5).

After that KDE could run decently in 32 bits and was adopted by Porteus :hi:

I think I will try and make again a kde-qt5 and see what happens...at any rate, I don't develop in qt neither in qml: I hate learning for the qt company only...I rather learn wide-used vanilla languages..

Yes, I recently tested EDE and FVWM: it is a long, long way to go without qt/gtk dear friends :cry:
....and to stay on topic, I compiled and tested file manager xfe; it is good; requires toolkit fox 1.6 instead of qt or gtx!

Regards!
Porteus is proud of the FASTEST KDE ever made.....(take akonadi, nepomuk and soprano out and you will have a decent OS).
The Porteus Community never sleeps!

User avatar
wread
Module Guard
Module Guard
Posts: 1255
Joined: 09 Jan 2011, 18:48
Distribution: Porteus v5.0-kde-64 bits
Location: Santo Domingo
Contact:

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#14 by wread » 08 Oct 2017, 02:11

@n0ctilucient

Trying to compile pekwm led me to a bug in my system - maybe many Porteus systems have it!- I had multiple versions of libpng (12, 14, 15 and 16) and the linker took a different version than the compiler. The solution was to eliminate totally the versions of 001-core, where libpng has little or nothing to do, and keep the version 16 contained in 002-xorg.

After the correction of 001-core (I also eliminated for me an useless package -cgmanager-) Then I could compile and link pekwm. I had already xfe and fox, so I could test both pekwm and xfe. I have it in an extra usb :happy62:

Indeed, dear friend, this little DE seems promising! I will keep an eye on it :roll:
Porteus is proud of the FASTEST KDE ever made.....(take akonadi, nepomuk and soprano out and you will have a decent OS).
The Porteus Community never sleeps!

Payoon
Black ninja
Black ninja
Posts: 88
Joined: 01 Mar 2013, 19:16
Distribution: Porteus 3.2 32 bit XFCE
Location: Duisburg, Germany

What's your favorite file manager?

Post#15 by Payoon » 08 Oct 2017, 15:06

I use spacefm for years now. When compiling it with

Code: Select all

--disable-video-thumbnails
it is quite small and snappy. Also very useful when copying a lot from A to B. Can also be installed with an installer script into the changes module. My clear favorite.

Regards Payoon

Post Reply