Dolphin Libraries

[jolugaju]

I have movies on many different folders on different Hard Disk Drives.

Is there a way to show a folder that shows the contents of all these folders?
This concept on MS Windows is called Lybrary of folders where you can add or link all the locations you want to one Lybrary.
I'm sure there's a way to do this with Dolphin but as I'm a newbie on Linux (trying to abandon M$ World) I have no idea how to do this.

Thanks in advance!

[Rog131]

I have movies on many different folders on different Hard Disk Drives.

Is there a way to show a folder that shows the contents of all these folders?

Yes - one way to do it:

You could add things to the Dolphin Places menu
- making a Video Library folder
- adding Video Library to places:



( Dolphin Handbook: Press F1 when the Dolphin window has the focus )

You could link files and folders to another folder:


You could change the folder icons to the more informative:


There is way to use sub folder video thumbnails: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...l=1#post391741 but it really needs developers love .



More

A dedicated app: Alexandra Video Library - https://www.linux-apps.com/p/1131040/

[jolugaju]

This solutions works. BTW: I forgot to say thank you. I failed to use Linux and I moved back to Win 7. Now (8 months later) I'm trying again and this time I will succeed.
To the point ...
If I have understood right, this solution force me to create a link for every single movie I have (on other drives) and again for every new one I get.
I resist to believe Windows Explorer has a better solution for this situation.
Any other ideas?
Thank you very much in advance!!

[vinnywright]

I have movies on many different folders on different Hard Disk Drives.

Is there a way to show a folder that shows the contents of all these folders?
This concept on MS Windows is called Lybrary of folders where you can add or link all the locations you want to one Lybrary.
I'm sure there's a way to do this with Dolphin but as I'm a newbie on Linux (trying to abandon M$ World) I have no idea how to do this.

Thanks in advance!

yes linking them is a very easy solution to this ,,,,,? spreed around confusion of content .

from your post#3 you seem to be under the impression you must link the individual files to one folder ,,,you can , and that would be easy enough as well , but you are correct you would half to link a new one if it was added to the folder it/the rest came from .

so just link all the different folders that you have on different drives to the 1 library folder/directory ,,,,this is very easy as well .

then as you add content to the original folder it will show in it's linked version in the library folder ...the library folder can be named whatever you like ,,,it dose not half to be "library",,,,,but is a good choice like say 1 named Video-Library , 1 named Music-Library , etc , etc , etc

I do my usual /home folders/directories like this I have them (Documents , Videos , Downloads ,etc , etc) on a 1TB storage drive and delete the originals in /home/me then link the ones on the storage drive to /home/me ,,,,,,all my data is seamlessly available to my user on whatever OS I boot to (I have 5 on this box)

VINNY

[jolugaju]

I'm missing something. I still don't know how to do it. It seems my knowledge is still very low.
I'm going to try to explain everything ...

I have this 4 drives \sysuser, \htpc1, \htpc2, \htpc3
I have this 3 folders \htpc1\movies, \htpc2\movies, htpc3\movies

Then, step by step
I create a new folder \sysuser\movies
I create a Place called "My movies" pointing to \sysuser\movies
I create 3 links in this Place pointing to \htpc1\movies, \htpc2\movies, htpc3\movies
Then in "My movies" I see 3 files, the links, not their content.

What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance!

[vinnywright]

I'm missing something. I still don't know how to do it. It seems my knowledge is still very low.
I'm going to try to explain everything ...

I have this 4 drives \sysuser, \htpc1, \htpc2, \htpc3
I have this 3 folders \htpc1\movies, \htpc2\movies, htpc3\movies

Then, step by step
I create a new folder \sysuser\movies
I create a Place called "My movies" pointing to \sysuser\movies
I create 3 links in this Place pointing to \htpc1\movies, \htpc2\movies, htpc3\movies
Then in "My movies" I see 3 files, the links, not their content.

What am I doing wrong?
Thanks in advance!

first off your using windows slashes \ in linux we use / so my home directory is /home/vinny

im sure you did not actually do this as it wouldn't have worked at all

first lets figure out just exactly where your stuff is ,,,,,,,open a konsole and do

sudo parted -l

"l" thats a lower case L ,,,,copy and past the output hear ,,,,,in code tags ,,,the # above the text input Field

VINNY

[jolugaju]

Model: ATA ST1000LM048-2E71 (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1048kB 1000GB 1000GB extended
5 1049kB 500GB 500GB logical ext4
6 500GB 1000GB 500GB logical ext4

Model: ATA WDC WDS240G1G0B- (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 240GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 8193MB 8191MB primary linux-swap(v1) boot
2 8194MB 240GB 232GB extended
5 8194MB 9217MB 1023MB logical ext4
6 9218MB 10,2GB 1023MB logical ext4
7 10,2GB 240GB 230GB logical ext4

I'm trying this in a similar computer with only 2 partitions htpc1, htpc2 (500GB each)
I think sdb6 = /sysuser

[vinnywright]

I'm trying this in a similar computer with only 2 partitions htpc1, htpc2 (500GB each)
I think sdb6 = /sysuser

well then this output is not going to tell me where your data is ,,,,,,,,,but I will try to explain how to do it any way .

first tell me ,,,,,,on the other box is it just linux ext4 partitions as in this example you have posted ?

do all the partitions get mounted at boot ,,,or are you mounting them by clicking their icons in dolphins places panel ?

can you navigate to and see the folders/directories in dolphin with the data you are looking for ?

I will stay with you for the next hour before I go to bead to try and help ,,,then I'll be back tomorrow to work on this with you.

VINNY

[jolugaju]

I bought a laptop just to learn how to use GNU Linux before installing it in my big HTPC. I didn't like the other options (Virtual Machines, Dual Boot ...)
The whole laptop runs only GNU Linux with only EXT4 partitions.
All the partitions are mounted at boot. The laptop has a SDD and a HDD.
There's a SDD with the OS and a small partition for data mounted as /sysuser.
There's a HDD (1TB) with 2 partitions (500GB each) for media files (audio, movies, tvseries ...)
Those partitions were mounted during the installation as /htpc1 and /htpc2.
I can navigate to see the directories in Dolphin with the movies. They are in /htpc1/movies, /htpc2/movies.
Those two directories have several movies now.

In the future intallation (HTPC) I'll have 3 HDD (8TB each) with all my media files.

Thank you very very much for your help and patience and time.

[vinnywright]

I bought a laptop just to learn how to use GNU Linux before installing it in my big HTPC. I didn't like the other options (Virtual Machines, Dual Boot ...)
The whole laptop runs only GNU Linux with only EXT4 partitions.
All the partitions are mounted at boot. The laptop has a SDD and a HDD.
There's a SDD with the OS and a small partition for data mounted as /sysuser.
There's a HDD (1TB) with 2 partitions (500GB each) for media files (audio, movies, tvseries ...)
Those partitions were mounted during the installation as /htpc1 and /htpc2.
I can navigate to see the directories in Dolphin with the movies. They are in /htpc1/movies, /htpc2/movies.
Those two directories have several movies now.

In the future intallation (HTPC) I'll have 3 HDD (8TB each) with all my media files.

Thank you very very much for your help and patience and time.

great ,,,are you using this laptop to post from to this forum ,,,?

if you are it will be much easier to help in an exact manner ,,,,,,,you would be able to post the output of konsole commands for us to view the layout of the file system structure and give exact direction.

but anyway all you need to do is decide where you want the several movie directories linked to (I see you said /sysuser/movies) so go to it in dolphin then click the "split" in dolphins tool bar the location window will split in 2 ,,,now go to /htpc1/ in one of the split windows ,,,,,you should see the movies directory drag it to the other window and drop it ,,,,you will get a popup asking if you want to copy , move or link ,,,click link ,,,done .

now repeat for all the things you want linked hear ,,,,,,,,if the directories are named the same you will get a warning that you will overwrite the existing one ,,,,their will be a "suggest new name" button it will add a (1) to the end of the name ,,,,or you can type in a new one ,,,,however you rename it it just renames the link , the link still points to the original directory.

VINNY

.

[jolugaju]

That's the first thing I did and the result is that when I clic in "Movies Library" place I see ... just the 2 links, and that's not what I want.
I want to see their content combined.
The bash text of what I want to see is this:
find /htpc1/movies /htpc2/movies -name "*.mkv"

(Yes, most times I'm using the laptop to post to this forum)

[vinnywright]

That's the first thing I did and the result is that when I clic in "Movies Library" place I see ... just the 2 links, and that's not what I want.
I want to see their content combined.
The bash text of what I want to see is this:
find /htpc1/movies /htpc2/movies -name "*.mkv"

(Yes, most times I'm using the laptop to post to this forum)

A file manager is not going to do that ,,,I don't think ,,,,or know a way my self .

however sence you seem to be trying to set up a home theater system ,,,maybe you should start learning "kodi" it's a home theater media player ,,and it will add all your content to a "library"

and or put all your media in one place ,,,,,,,if the 1TB drive had just 1 partition ?

msdos partition tabel is not the best for "large" drives ,,,look into GPT .

and ,,,,this may be to much for a new to linux person ,,,but maybe not ,,,, look into the BTRFS file system .

VINNY

[jolugaju]

I made 2 partitions to simulate the situation I'll have when I install Linux on the HTPC with 3 HDDs.

I've been using my HTPC for many years with Windows 7.
Windows Explorer has Folders Libraries for more than 8 years and it's really simple to use them.
Besides that I prefer Dolphin since I can configure almost everything.

I've tried many programs like Kodi but I don't really like them.
Maybe I'll try to use something like Alexandra Video Library cause I've heard it's extremely simple.

I didn't realized my partitions were msdos type. I'll definitely use GPT.
I'll look for information about BTRFS.

As I said before thank you all very much for your help.
It's something really important for someone like me who's beginning to use this wonderful OS.

******************************
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ADDED HERE (because I can't add a new post) AS A FINAL NOTE OF THIS THREAD :
The perfect solution I have found is in this link...
https://romanrm.net/mhddfs

[oshunluvr]

I didn't realized my partitions were msdos type. I'll definitely use GPT.
I'll look for information about BTRFS.

Partition type and GPT aren't really related to each other much.

GPT refers to the type of Partition TABLE, a very different than the Partition type.

Short primer:

Partition TABLES can be MBR (Master Boot Record) or GPT (GUID Partition Table). GPT is the preferred partition table type for many reasons, but mainly because you can have 128 primary partitions, which means no more Extended/Logical partitions needed.

Partition TYPES can be any of this list:

[FONT=monospace][COLOR=#000000]0700 Microsoft basic data  0c01 Microsoft reserved    2700 Windows RE           [/COLOR]
3000 ONIE boot             3001 ONIE config           3900 Plan 9               
4100 PowerPC PReP boot     4200 Windows LDM data      4201 Windows LDM metadata
4202 Windows Storage Spac  7501 IBM GPFS              7f00 ChromeOS kernel      
7f01 ChromeOS root         7f02 ChromeOS reserved     8200 Linux swap           
8300 Linux filesystem      8301 Linux reserved        8302 Linux /home          
8303 Linux x86 root (/)    8304 Linux x86-64 root (/  8305 Linux ARM64 root (/)
8306 Linux /srv            8307 Linux ARM32 root (/)  8400 Intel Rapid Start    
8e00 Linux LVM             a500 FreeBSD disklabel     a501 FreeBSD boot         
a502 FreeBSD swap          a503 FreeBSD UFS           a504 FreeBSD ZFS          
a505 FreeBSD Vinum/RAID    a580 Midnight BSD data     a581 Midnight BSD boot    
a582 Midnight BSD swap     a583 Midnight BSD UFS      a584 Midnight BSD ZFS     
a585 Midnight BSD Vinum    a600 OpenBSD disklabel     a800 Apple UFS            
a901 NetBSD swap           a902 NetBSD FFS            a903 NetBSD LFS           
a904 NetBSD concatenated   a905 NetBSD encrypted      a906 NetBSD RAID          
ab00 Recovery HD           af00 Apple HFS/HFS+        af01 Apple RAID           
af02 Apple RAID offline    af03 Apple label           af04 AppleTV recovery     
af05 Apple Core Storage    bc00 Acronis Secure Zone   be00 Solaris boot         
bf00 Solaris root          bf01 Solaris /usr & Mac Z  bf02 Solaris swap         
bf03 Solaris backup        bf04 Solaris /var          bf05 Solaris /home        
bf06 Solaris alternate se  bf07 Solaris Reserved 1    bf08 Solaris Reserved 2   
bf09 Solaris Reserved 3    bf0a Solaris Reserved 4    bf0b Solaris Reserved 5   
c001 HP-UX data            c002 HP-UX service         ea00 Freedesktop $BOOT    
eb00 Haiku BFS             ed00 Sony system partitio  ed01 Lenovo system partit
ef00 EFI System            ef01 MBR partition scheme  ef02 BIOS boot partition  
f800 Ceph OSD              f801 Ceph dm-crypt OSD     f802 Ceph journal         
f803 Ceph dm-crypt journa  f804 Ceph disk in creatio  f805 Ceph dm-crypt disk i
fb00 VMWare VMFS           fb01 VMWare reserved       fc00 VMWare kcore crash p
fd00 Linux RAID [/FONT]

The one most used with Linux is "8300 Linux filesystem".

Partitions of type 8300 may hold a Linux file system (aka format). The act of "formatting" is actually the installation of a file system.

As Vinny pointed out, btrfs file systems can be joined in various ways and then can be accessed like a single file system. This would allow a single folder to contain all your movies. Their are caveats though, like you would not be able to dictate which movie was stored on which drive, for example. If this is an issue it's something to consider.

As far as your "Dolphin Libraries" issue - Dolphin is a file manager, not a video library tool. Something like this might be more what you are looking for: http://www.tinymediamanager.org

[oshunluvr]

BTW< Since this is Linux, there's always more than one solution to any probelm. You can combine multiple folders into a single mount point using aufs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aufs or maybe OverlayFS is bettter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OverlayFS