Which file browser?

[petersohn]

I personally prefer commander-style file browsers to explorer-style ones, they are much easier to navigate. So I use Krusader. It still doesn't beat Total Commander, but eh, it's a different operating system.

What I don't get is that why are there 2 very similar file browsers in KDE (Dolphin and Konqueror). Okay, Dolphin may be easier to use because of the sidebars, but I just don't like it under 1024x768. So if I want to browse pictures with previews, I use Konqueror (and only for that, the web browser is Firefox ).

[lykwydchykyn]

Re: Which file browser?

Dolphin is slated to "replace" Konqueror to some extent, and it's fairly new. Thus the redundancy.

Konqueror is a "do it all" tool (file browser, file viewer, web browser, etc) while Dolphin is supposed to be focussed on file browsing only.

I like konqeror. I'm just too set in my ways for Dolphin.

[svpctech]

Re: Which file browser?

I like the ideal of dolphin. it think between the tabs and the sidebar it's really easy to use. it has been improved alot in 4.1 but i would say the may draw back is that it's slow It doesn't really handle folders with lots of files very well, especially with the preview function turned on. i find that konqueror is well integrated with the system, and until dolphin becomes more stable, i'm going to have to stay with it.

[XstatyK]

Re: Which file browser?

For me the best "file browser" would have to be Krusader. It does handle that part very well. If you have a certain directory that contains pictures that you want to view you could always "open with" in Krusader if you needed to and choose either dolphin or konqueror or some other application. Only downside I see is no autopreview or view thumbnails option.

[toad]

Re: Which file browser?

Konqueror, no doubt about it. Its ftp and ssh (fish) capabilities have become an absolute necessity for me. Tabs, splitting windows every which way, configurability - for me it is the best tool for the job.

Nautilus is plain terrible - its search function has been so downgraded by its developers that I'd agree with Linus Torvald's comments about gnome developers in general.

Can Krusader or dolphin do ftp and ssh? Methinks not but I stand to be corrected. MC is cool when you don't know how to do things on the command line - sooner or later it always ends up on my system.

But Konqueror is and remains King

[petersohn]

Re: Which file browser?

Ssh? I say sshfs. That works with everything.

[toad]

Re: Which file browser?

sshfs is a file system, not a protocol - I was on about the protocol...

[sabbathpriest]

Re: Which file browser?

I am a non technical Linux user since 2006. I tried a couple of distros before settling with Kubuntu, and my main reason (All the other reasons had weight too, but this one was overriding) was Konqueror. I use it for file-web browsing and doc viewing. I would be orphaned if the KDE developers decide to REPLACE Konqueror with Dolphin.

[andybleaden]

Re: Which file browser?

Tried the dolphin thing with gutsy when that came out...lasted about a week before I got rid of it. That by the way is the beauty of Ubuntu to me.

I used konqueror before and ever since. I am sure that if that goes by the way side I could always try dolphin again..I am a little more confident in changing stuff now

[pulpfile]

Re: Which file browser?

I have Krusader, Konqueror, and Dolphin...which seems rather redundant. But I think they all take up a small amount of disk space, so it's no big deal.

Krusader is fast and has the most features, and doesn't require a mouse to use it. It also has konsole bound to an F-key, so you can just navigate to the folder you want, hit F2, and konsole will open and put you into that directory.
The only problem (as was mentioned earlier) is there's no image previews, so you have to open image folders in Konqueror or Dolphin.

[toad]

Re: Which file browser?

@ pulpfile

Can krusader do ssh? I mean, can you use it to log into a remote computer and display the local file system on the left and the remote on the right? Can you then drag and drop (or equivalent)?

Same goes for ftp...

Any advice most welcome.

[Snowhog]

Re: Which file browser?

Some are insistant on having separate apps for specific purposes. And for most tasks, this is required. But, when a multi-capable application comes around that can do two things well (note, I didn't say perfectly), as Konqueror does, then that's the application I'll stick with. If I need/want to do more with files, I just use the CLI.

[pulpfile]

Re: Which file browser?

@ pulpfile

Can krusader do ssh? I mean, can you use it to log into a remote computer and display the local file system on the left and the remote on the right? Can you then drag and drop (or equivalent)?

Same goes for ftp...

Any advice most welcome.

Oh, yes! I forgot to mention that. It's one of my favorite features.
It handles FTP, SSH (via FISH), SFTP, and SMB. (Under Tools > New Net Connection). Once you've set it up, you can save it as a bookmark, too.

It's entirely seamless. Not only can you drag and drop from one pane to another, but you can also copy or move files with an F-key. Another F-key allows you to open the file with Krusader's built-in editor (same editor as Kate, but opens faster), and when you save the file it saves it on the remote server. This way, I can manipulate files on my web hosting account without having to tediously save, and then re-upload over and over again. (My host doesn't allow SSH logins, and I'm not savvy enough to do web design through a command line anyway...)

[toad]

Re: Which file browser?

Thanks pulpfile - perfect answer

[petersohn]

Re: Which file browser?

I see that there are some Krusader fans besides me.

I think that for regular users, Konqueror may be a bit more intuitive, but for developers like me, Krusader is much easier to use, especially if I want to operate with many files at the same time. There is one feature unmentioned, which is very useful, and very rare to come across, not even in mc: incremental search.