4 ms·

I'm hourly user of Midnight Commander on linux, bash.exe, cygwin, mingw, whenever it comes. And staunch FAR Commander supporter for Windows. I sometimes call m

by malkia 9y ago

I'm hourly user of Midnight Commander on linux, bash.exe, cygwin, mingw, whenever it comes. And staunch FAR Commander supporter for Windows. I sometimes call mc from FAR and back and forth (okay, very rarely :)) Long time ago there was PC Tools, and a program called.. yes "File Manager" for DOS - both were single-column, yet very powerful - browsing megabytes of text files effortless on 286 :) back then, there was a tool that allowed direct directory manipulation - renaming, copying, but nothing like the tool demonstrated. Thank you!

mariusmg 9y ago
DosNavigator was "the shit" back in the day
- kpil 9y ago
  Was that earlier than Norton Commander?
- yoz-y 9y ago
  I remember using M602 (a Czech clone of Norton Commander), it was great.
CharlesDodgson 9y ago
Not to be a negative nelly, more just curiosity, but why would you use a different file manager in windows?
- keganunderwood 9y ago
  One reason might be performance on low powered devices.
- phit_ 9y ago
  Having tabs is a big reason for a lot of people that use a different file manager in Windows, at least for the people I talked to about this.
- hnlmorg 9y ago
  The same reasons one might use an alternative file manager on any other OS: because their workflow suits it better.
- malkia 9y ago
  Because you have the command-line + browser at the same time. You can quickly copy, view, move files. Change quickly to folders remembered in history. Go in archives, copy, view from there to outside. Sort by various things. Execute directly files. For example, if I need to run one exe, not in my PATH over some file, I have them both in left and right window. I go to the left, type "Ctrl+F" - e.g. get me the full name (in this case executable), then go to the other window, type "Ctrl+F" again - get me the file to become first argument on the executable and run. Ctrl+O (in midnight commander too), switches to almost fullscreen command-line - so in a way it's always better than just a command-line. Search in Files, compare dirs, and many other features (there are tons of plugins). Also checking SMB shares, FTP, System Processes (though I prefer SysInternals ProcExp.exe there) I use the Windows Explorer (the file manager) only for very few things - certain context menu items, some forms of preview. It's always there by typing "explorer ." from the current folder.

by malkia 9y ago

mariusmg 9y ago

DosNavigator was "the shit" back in the day

kpil 9y ago
Was that earlier than Norton Commander?
yoz-y 9y ago
I remember using M602 (a Czech clone of Norton Commander), it was great.

CharlesDodgson 9y ago

Not to be a negative nelly, more just curiosity, but why would you use a different file manager in windows?

keganunderwood 9y ago
One reason might be performance on low powered devices.
phit_ 9y ago
Having tabs is a big reason for a lot of people that use a different file manager in Windows, at least for the people I talked to about this.
hnlmorg 9y ago
The same reasons one might use an alternative file manager on any other OS: because their workflow suits it better.
malkia 9y ago
Because you have the command-line + browser at the same time. You can quickly copy, view, move files. Change quickly to folders remembered in history. Go in archives, copy, view from there to outside. Sort by various things. Execute directly files. For example, if I need to run one exe, not in my PATH over some file, I have them both in left and right window. I go to the left, type "Ctrl+F" - e.g. get me the full name (in this case executable), then go to the other window, type "Ctrl+F" again - get me the file to become first argument on the executable and run. Ctrl+O (in midnight commander too), switches to almost fullscreen command-line - so in a way it's always better than just a command-line. Search in Files, compare dirs, and many other features (there are tons of plugins). Also checking SMB shares, FTP, System Processes (though I prefer SysInternals ProcExp.exe there) I use the Windows Explorer (the file manager) only for very few things - certain context menu items, some forms of preview. It's always there by typing "explorer ." from the current folder.