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This page is devoted to the Orthodox File Managers (OFMs) that are also known as "Commanders". They are remote descendants of  Norton Commander written by John Socha and first released in 1986.

Members of this family of file managers with the most prominent example of FAR on Windows and Mc in Unix use simple yet very powerful command line windows managers with file management capabilities that use three windows: two symmetrical windows with listings of files in two possibly separate directories called panels and one "terminal style" windows that initially is minimized to one (bottom) line.   Modern OFM interface is a "screen" inspired generalization of Norton Commander (NC) interface and preserved "look and  feel" of the original program with its ability to shrink and manipulate visibility of left and right panel windows as well as expand command window (preferably gradually but at least to half-screen and full-screen).

Paradoxically leading Windows implementation (FAR) has richer interface with shell then Unix version (partially because of design flaws in Midnight commander where shell interface is implemented as a hack). There are also many GUI version that implement mainly file handling capabilities but not "visual shell" capabilities. the most prominent version is Total commander which in 2007 became fifteen years old implementation.  As advanced usage of OFM requires knowledge of shell, they became the tool of choice for system administrators, especially in xUSSR region, Eastern Europe, Germany and Scandinavian countries. Those regions were place of birth on most impressive OFM implementations such as Far, Total Commander, deco, Volkov Commander, Dos Navigator, Servant Salamander and many others.

I introduced the term "Orthodox File Managers" in 1996 with the first edition of my online book and now it seems to be more or less standard term for this category of file managers.  Sometime this type of managers is called 2-pane or two panel managers but this is a superficial term as it does not reflects the importance of command line in the interface, the key distinguishing feature of this type of managers as well as the level of integration with the underling shell (via extension menu, user menu and, especially in the access to the terminal window in Unix screen style).  It also hides close analogies of OFMs with such programs as XEDIT, vi and screen. All those programs has nothing to do with two panel concept despite the fact that they are pretty close to each other in key ideas and attract similar type of power users -- first of all system administrators.

There are numerous advantages of  Orthodox File Manager (OFM) paradigm, which refines the functionality of  the original Norton Commander for DOS and incorporates more then 20 years of development by many talented programmers including John Socha, Vsevolod Volkov, Eugene Roshal (of RAR fame). Two main advantages are portability (implementations exist for any major OS including Windows CE and most smart phones) and the availability of public standards.

All OFMs have a Spartan interface with the main window which is divided into three sub-windows. Two of them are called "panels" that are identical in structure (but can have different sizes and/or be hidden), and are positioned side by side at the top of the screen. The third  screen-wide window contains an instance of the shell and usually is minimized to one line but can be expanded either gradually (like in FAR) and/or is large increments (half screen and full screen in classic Norton Commander implementation). You should view this command like a window as a separate shell session or, if you wish, a telnet session to localhost. In case panels are hidden (with hotkey Ctrl-O ) it should provide full functionality of the OS shell window including history of commands, command completion and other niceties.

In essence OFMs is a command line windows manager (similar to screen) with functions of two upper windows (panels) largely fixed. But the important feature of OFMs is that panels are implicitly  connected  to the operations performed in command window in several ways:

• One of the panels always contain the current directory and automatically reflects changes in it.

• It is possible to copy certain elements of the left or right panel to the command like using special key combination and special macro variables. Typical examples are the current path, path to the left panel, path to the right panel, the list of names of selected files.

• There are also set of operation for exchange of information between panels (always from active to passive)

• Panel also can contain editor window of viewer for a particular file. 

• Panels are shrinkable and can expose hidden behind them terminal window, while normally only the last line of this window (command line) is visible. The latter permits viewing the results of execution the shell command entered on the command line (e.g. via Ctrl-O shortcut in Norton Commander);

• The ability of user to extend functionality of the manager via so called User menu or Start menu and extensions menu. The ability to create their own file associations and scripts that are invoked for certain file types ( it was Norton Commander who introduced the concept of file associations that is now used in all file managers).

Surprisingly, attempts to enhance this simple, Spartan interface largely failed.  There were attempts to create the OFM manager with four panels. There were attempts to use tree view as the right panel (similar to Windows Explorer) and most OFM has the ability to replace left panel with tree view. But I personally and many advanced users that I know never learned to use this productively and prefer classic symmetrical panel view with two directories.  Strangely enough this two symmetrical panel with two directories remain the most productive for a very wide spectrum of real life file operations. When I need tree view for quick navigation I usually use separate view available vie Alt-F10 (find folder).   Probably there are some structures in brain that provide higher productivity with the symmetrical two panels  interface vs. various often more sophisticated asymmetrical variants.  Moreover after you achieve proficiency with it, it's rather difficult to switch to any other: all of them look inferior even if in reality they are more expressive  for some operations (like the Windows File Explorer asymmetric interface with tree on the left side or XTree interface provides very good capabilities of coping/moving files from left panel to the arbitrary place in the directory tree). There is some kind of  implicit "lock in": after several years of usage you start thinking about file movements and directories restructurings in terms of OFM operations.

Another advantage of OFM is that this is the only type of file manager that is standardized and the skills are transferable from command like to GUI and back as well as from one platform to another (for example Windows to Unix  -- this is an excellent way to dampen shock of the Unix command line for Windows users who want also use or even migrate to Unix).

OFMs are not for dummies. You need to know the shell of the OS you are using in order to fully benefit from its capabilities. That's why they are extremely popular among administrators, especially in Eastern Europe and xUSSR area. 

The author argues that this simple classic interface offers the most efficient way to perform complex file operations, and both users and software developers deserve some help in the form of the standard and some kind of commentary about "the state of the art" of this type of file managers. That's why I spend considerable time writing my online book The Orthodox File Manager(OFM) Paradigm that introduced two level of standards (OFM1999 - minimal OFM requirements  and Dr Nikolai Bezroukov. The Orthodox File Manager(OFM) Paradigm. Ch. 9 The OFM2004  provide both commentary and overview of major implementations. This is a volunteer effort and some parts are outdated.  Still this is the only ebook on the subject and as such it can help system administrators more consciously choose the implementation they need and polish the methods of work with OFM.

In this ebook I tried to distill several possible reasons for this surprisingly high productivity of OFM users, the productivity that despite of the age of the interface (more then 20 years) and its Spartan character remains unmatched. Please read at least Ch.1 of the OFM book, the chapter that introduces the concept. 

But even if you do not want to read it, selects and enjoy any OFM you like! I am using this class of filemanagers since 1987 (NC 2.0) and still learn new things each year, things that help to increase my productivity. Despite interface simplicity latest OFMs are very powerful and flexible programs, that have rather steep learning curve and you will be better off learning incrementally,  starting with simple file operations and gradually moving toward full power that bring customarization and availability of user many, extensions menu and several other features of OFM.

I also have found OFMs to be indispensable productivity tool for webmasters and despite my interest and professional exposure to other Windows and Unix filemanagers I am still convinced that in the hands of professional, productivity-wise, OFMs  have a huge edge. BTW I never managed to fully switched to GUI based OFMs, and still use mc in Unix and FAR in Windows environments although recently I spent considerable time using Total Commander.   That's because command line OFMs should be viewed not only as filemanagers but as a new ingenious graphical interface to shell, interface that makes standard Unix-style typing command on the terminal irrevocably backward. Professional Unix administrator fully versed in OFM usually outperform Unix administrator limited to "pure" commend line by a factor of two in not more.  It's actually a pity to see how those poor people spend valuable time typing innumerous ls commands ;-)

And that brings us to an important point. While invented as a file manager in reality (and especially in Unix enviroenmnt) OFM should be viewed as new generation of shell interface (visual shell) and as such they should be closely integrated with shell. Unfortunately this point was missed by most Unix developers and capabilities of typical Unix implementation in this respect are rather primitive. In a way you should think about Unix OFM implementation as a fork of screen with specially predefined top windows split vertically (I know screen cannot split windows vertically but let's assume that this is just an implementation limitation).  This ides of "OFM as a visual shell for Unix" is the main point that I advocate in my ebook especially in chapter 4 devoted to Unix OFMs. That's why despite their origin in Windows OFMs proved to be extremely natural to Linux/Unix environment. IMHO a Linux/Unix sysadmin with good OFM skills can be probably twice more productive then any super-skilled UNIX guru that use just plain vanilla command line ;-) Actually good knowledge of OFMs is a trademark of best Unix administrators from Eastern Europe.

But while Europe (especially xUSSR region, Eastern Europe and Germany) became the new home of Captain Norton, the initial versions of NC were written by a talented American programmer John Socha. Like with any brilliant idea it did not take long to implement and develop it to a mature condition: all the major work concentrates in just two years 1985-1987. At this time John Socha was the first director of research and development for now defunct small software company: Peter Norton Computing. Peter Norton who wrote the initial version of Norton Utilities, but AFAIK was not involved in writing Norton Commander was one of the pioneer entrepreneurs in PC software development; now he is known mainly due to his role as a photo model on the boxes of Norton Utilities and other Symantec products belonging to a "Norton line" ;-). 

The first version of Norton Commander was released in 1986 and it instantly became the dominant file manager for DOS. In 1987-1991 more then a million copies were sold.  In Eastern Europe Norton commander became a synonym of DOS interface and many users did not even understand that this is an add-on program. 

In 1990 Peter Norton sold his company to Symantec to pursue his interests outside programming. John Socha left the company after the merger and created his own company, which was later acquired by Asymetrix. He continued cooperation with the Norton division of Symantec and wrote for them several good computer books including classic introductory assembler textbook Peter Norton's Assembly Language Book for the IBM PC .

Symantec first displayed some lukewarm support for this cash cow, but with the introduction of Windows killed it (as well as some other brilliant DOS product it acquired -- XtreeGold). Later they understood the mistake they made and in 1997 there was a reincarnation attempt: Norton Commander for Windows 1.0 was reintroduced in the Symantec product line. But talent was already gone and it  was "too little, too late" and after version 2.0 it died again (still as of January 2003 you can buy Norton Commander for Windows 2.0 in Europe, especially in Eastern Europe).  Not that I advice you to do that :-)

I would repeat it again that OFM can increase the productivity of sysadmins several times, especially for performing complex operation on Unix-style hierarchical file systems.  For some  unknown reasons no other file manager can compete with OFM in performing complex copying or moving of files on the directory tree. I several time managed to win a bottle of wine competing against Unix administrators who used only command line, and believe me as typists they were much better them me. The only other tools that I know, that have a similar semi-religious status with its adherents (but in a different area) are Xedit and vi editor (see my  Orthodox Editors for details).  That's why I consider OFMs to be a must (along with orthodox editors) for any advanced user, sysadmin or webmaster (both Windows and Unix).  As I wrote in my book:

One of the most distinctive advantages of OFMs is that the productivity of the power users is really amazing, especially in the command-line environment. To the uninitiated it often looks like a magic -- the speed with which an advanced user can perform complex file operations.  It looks much like playing piano. Advanced user probably have "motor maps" for typical operations that are executed on subconscious level much like a good piano player can instantly recognized specific accords in music notation.

OFMs can be found on all major and minor operating systems including  all flavors of UNIX, OS/2,  all existing versions of DOS, Windows 3.1, 9x,  NT and even PalmOS and Personal PC. Actually OFMs probably represent the most portable family of filemanagers in existence (Xtree is also a very good filemanager available on several platforms, but not that many, Windows Explorer is an average filemanager that was also widely ported to almost any OS in existence because of the influence of Microsoft Windows).

Ten OFM Commandments ;-)

There is a large variety among OFM implementations. Moreover different OFMs are good for different situations and tasks -- there is no and never be the best OFM for all situations and environments. But they all share same distinctive interface framework and the following basic features:

1. Spartan interface: two symmetrical panels that display files in two directories and a minimized telnet-style terminal ( command line ) at the bottom of the screen.  One panel is current (active) and second is passive; they are switchable with the Tab key and identical in functionality. For all "binary" file operations (copy, move, symbolic link, etc) the target by default is the directory of the opposite (passive) panel.  Unique (incompatible with usual Windows assignments) keystrokes assigned to each function. Traditional OFM function key assignments are: F1 - help, F2- user menu, F3 file view, F4 - file edit, F5 - file copy, F6 - file move/tree move, F7 - make a directory,  F8 - file delete, F9 - top menu, F10 - exit.  Often these function key assignments are depicted on the bottom line as buttons clickable by the mouse. Although functional key assignments are traditionally preserved in OFM implementations, they are not a part of OFM paradigm. If remapping of the keys is implemented (for example in a way, similar to vim implementation), than any other combinations (including more Windows like) can be used. Again only semantics of the operations is fixed and should be implemented "as is", although "old finger habits die hard" ;-). This the ability to perform most functions without mouse is especially useful on the laptops and now palmtops as well as  for troubleshooting; mouse serves as a useful supplementary, not primary input device in OFMs.
    
2. Seamless integration with the shell making OFMs a synonym to "Visual shell.". Command line windows can be extended either gradually (expanding/shrinking line by line) or at least two steps (half screen/full screen)  providing  native shell window like in telnet. Any command line OFM should provide perfect emulation of telnet terminal capabilities for supported sizes of command line window with the ability to view more data by expanding the window (for example from one line to full size of from half-screen to full screen). In all cases where more then one line window is present the user should be able to view (and possibly scroll) the results of execution of commands entered on the command line like in regular telnet client (in this case telnet to localhost).  This command window capability links OFMs with famous Unix program screen and derivative Spartan text-mode windows managers like Ion (with fully documented configuration and scripting interface on top of the lightweight Lua extension language), Ratpoison,  twin, evilwm,  and several other that I forgot to mention.
    
3. The ability to extend file manager functionality with custom scripts. Both command line and GUI-based OFMs should have the ability to create a set of shell scripts (accessible using F2) and invoke them by assigning each of them special hotkey. Scripts should permit macro variables that reflect the current status of both panels (path to active/passive panel, the current file on active/passive panel, selected files , if any, etc).  This simple, ingenious, and very functional  extensibility with custom shell scripts make OFM very attractive for system administrators. They are useful for regular users. Actually in late 80th, early 90th of the last century in the former USSR region many DOS users never suspected that any other DOS interface exists: this was the standard and only DOS interface they knew. 
    
4. The availability of scripts associated with file extensions via special file extension menu and evoked by pressing Enter on the file with the particular extension on a panel.  This is another way to extend file manager functionality and file extension associations were pioneered by Norton Commander.  Special customizable extension files that permit context-dependent invocation of scripts and programs on a  file click (execute), F3(view) and in F4(edit). Customizable file extension menu should provides automatic passing of various panel-based parameters to shell scripts.
    
5. "History for everything" approach to editable text. All OFMs provide the history of commands. Modern OFMs add to this the history of directories visited, files edited, selections, etc. Some advanced OFMs like Midnight Commander add to this the idea of "file/text completion for everything".
    
6. Integration of application protocols into file manager framework via virtual file systems(VFS). Most popular are  ftp client VFS and archive VFS. Less popular, but still very important are Search VFS and "flat tree" VFS. They are all based on the same concept of a virtual file system:
   1. FTP virtual file system  -- historically important capability which provides that capability of working with ftp session like with the local filesystems. Perfect for complex ftp operations and as powerful as most standalone GUI FTP clients. Now with the availability of FTP virtual filesystems and ssh is less useful.
   2. Archive VFS: Extremely polished VFS-based  interface with archives (gzip, zip, rar, arj) and, in case of Unix OFMs,  installation packages (RPM).   It was historically first VFS implemented in OFMs and dates back to NC3 extensions.
   3. Search VFS: This VFS is usually implemented via "panelize command" and permit viewing on a panel as in virtual directory all the files and directories that were found in a particular search operation.
   4. XTree or "Flat tree" VFS.  Most modern OFMs provide the possibility of viewing all files in a branch of the tree in a "flat" representation (often bound to Ctrl-B). This representation is extremely important for working with files dispersed into several directories as is often the case in most application installations.
       
7. Powerful built-in file viewing and integrated file editing capabilities. Most OFMs have an integrated viewer and best have an integrated editor. The latter has access to information on the panels (current file, path to the active/passive panel, etc). They usually support syntax coloring and regular expressions search (like in MC and FAR). There should also be a possibility of "sequential edit" or viewing of selected files. In this case closing the file invoke editor or viewer on the nest selected file. The editor should have an information line at the top and key shortcuts buttons at the bottom (similar to the panel view help buttons); the code of the letter under the cursor should be visible both in ASCII and hex at the editor information line. The viewer should has ASCII and hex modes of viewing files. It should work both in full screen mode and panel move (for quick view browsing). There should be a possibility of switching from the viewer to the editor and back. Both editor and viewer permit working a panel (left of write), pasting information to from the editor to panel (for example, change directory to selected, paste selected into command line, etc) and getting information from panel (names of selected files, etc) and selected parts of the command execution screen back into the editor. 
    
8. Powerful, Unix grep-style, search capabilities with the ability to view results in browsable panel.  There should be abilities to find an arbitrary file(s) in the filesystem with capabilities equal of better then Unix  grep utility but with more friendly interface. The results of the search should be displayed iether in one of the panels (search VFS implementation) or in a special scrollable (in both directions) panel and at least several operations should be available from this panel:
   • The possibility of  viewing any found file using built-in viewer.
   • The possibility of editing any file with the built-in or external editor (depending on the current settings).
   • The possibility of  converting the  result of the search into a virtual directory displayed like a regular directory on one of the panels  (panelize command). This is essentially another VFS which is called search VFS.
      
9. Rich capabilities of working with directory trees:  In OFMs there are two distinct tree panels:
   • A regular tree panel. Activated by Ctrl-T. In this case tree replaces the passive panel Tree panel should work in three modes:
     • The default mode: The cursor can be moved independently and does not affect the opposite panel. Pressing Enter opens the directory under the cursor in the opposite panel. Copy and Move operations from the opposite panel are targeted to the current directory on the tree. Quick view mode ("dive into the directory mode") should be available via hotkey Ctrl-Q.  No such mode exists.  Navigation is limited to cursor keys and Enter.  Quick search is available but the is no capability to find the next directory with the same prefix.
     • Quick view mode ("dive into the directory mode") Switchable with Ctrl-Q. This mode is similar to the behavior of Windows Explorer movement of the cursor opens the directory under the cursor in the opposite window.  Mostly used for quick traversing of the directory tree in a mode similar to quick view with directories opening as we move the cursor (quick diving into subdirectories). Quick search should be available.
     • Information mode (Ctrl-L). Similar to quick view mode. But in this case the movement of the cursor on the tree panel opens not a listing of files in the directory but the information window should be shown that calculated statistics for the directory (number of the files, total size, number of subfolders, attributes, owners, etc). 
   • The directory search panel. Activated by Alt-F10. Also present in the top Command menu. This panel should instantly provide a quick search window. It should be also accessible from copy/move dialogs  (via F10) and it is often used not only for the "directory completion" and traversing of the tree, but also for the quick selection of the target directory for copy/move operations.
      
10.  There should be some kind of client-server connectivity between two instances of OFMs (preferably SSL based TCP/IP connection, or unencrypted TCP/IP connection like in MC, or connection via serial cable like in NC3-NC5, or parallel cable like in Total Commander).  Generally one instance OFM can be a server and second can be a slave and all commands and panels should be seamlessly replicated across the link.

Again those are Commandments and like in everyday life not everybody is observing them ;-). Still three key features stands out and are the key components of the OFM religion:

• Symmetrical panels that display two directories: active that displays the current directory ($PWD in Unix) and passive that displays the directory the user navigated to while it was active) and a visible or activated by some keystroke command line (the ability to hide command line, if any, this should a configurable option). Active and passive panels should not be fixed. Tab should change active panel to passive and vice versa.
   
• The presence of command line interface and seamless integration it with shell (with the access to the associated command execution screen). Also some kind of simple interface to custom shell library with one letter hotkeys (usually invoked via F2) is a typical OFM feature. 
   
• The ability to perform any operation with the keyboard.  Mouse functionality is a nice addition and can be more efficient the keyboard for some operations, but still keyboard alternatives should be provided in each and every case.

Paradoxically, but for complex file operations using mouse is not much superior to keyboard-based interface and combined interface is superior of any.  There are several reasons for that:

• The more complex the file operation is, the less suitable it is for "drag-and-drop.  For complex  file operations often it is necessary to generate a command line using hotkeys that insert into it a particular parts of the panel image.
   
• A custom extensions of OFM via shell scripts in user menu and extension menu are the mark of any competent administrator. One letter hotkeys are very convenient for quick invocation of often used scripts (that can use panel context like the current file). They allow quick, often subconscious performance of  routine tasks like copying, compression of archives, decompression, installation of packages (like in piano playing), while mouse is more convenient for less frequently used operations. 
   
• Even simple one file operations are mostly faster with the keyboard than using drag and drop and the time difference increases with the complexity of operation, level of experience and the level of familiarity with the particular task and OFM.  For example, to move the current file to the (only) subdirectory in the current directory one needs just four keystrokes:

      F5; F10; down; Enter
  
  A long time OFM user replicate such keystroke sequences subconsciously using "autopilot". They usually learn many such "precooked" keystroke sequences, sequences that solve frequent tasks and use them  like a piano player uses "accords". That's why the speed of some file operations of an advanced OFM users look fantastic for uninformed observer.
   

• Keyboard proves to be the lowest common denominator of all interfaces, although now with high quality GUI environments this is less the case that the past. Still in some situation it remains  the only available interface (troubleshooting sessions when X server is broken or is not installed for security reasons, bad connectivity/slow lines, hand-held devices, etc.). Remote troubleshooting is especially important consideration. This means you will always have a very convenient working environment in situations when you need it most. And you can use all your skills polished for years  when you really need to do the work fast. That's not the case if you  normal environment is GUI-based and you need quickly to adapt to the plain-vanilla command line.

Please note that OFM usage of the command line interface is different from the typical shell interface and thus our "advantages of the keyboard" discussion is not equal to the classic "GUI vs. Command Line" debate. It's true that each interface has specific advantages and disadvantages:

• Command-line interfaces are better for more complex actions, which you want to repeat (and possibly automate) and/or which you want to affect many objects. They are closer to the shell level: command-line interfaces take more advantage of our capacity for expressing complex thought in language.

• GUIs are better for using direct manipulation, and for using the selected object to narrow down the range of possible actions. GUIs take more advantage of our ability to quickly perceive and interact with images.

OFM (especially in GUI-based incarnation) actually represent a hybrid model: commands entered from the keyboard changes the panels and provide instant visual clues that are a trademark of pure GUI interface. This hybrid model has unique capabilities and somewhat resembles comics.  You may try Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics for more information, as this sequel touches some interesting topics.  Personally, I find comics, when done well, to be of the few examples when a picture is really worth a thousand words, and a couple of words are worth a thousand of pictures. IMHO this is also the case with OFMs ;-).

I would like to stress that OFMs  are an essential (and underutilized ) tool for system administrators, especially UNIX system administrators. Midnight Commander (MC)  now seems to be the leading implementation for open source operating systems for Unix. There is also a portable Unix GUI based (X-based) version of OFM called Northern Captain and an excellent KDE-based Krusader.  But generally for X-windows the optimal implementation should be based on a scripting language and some OFM managers based on  TCL already are available. Scripting language based OFMs are much more powerful and flexible than the traditional complied implementations like MC. Although TCL seems to dominate this field, other scripting languages like Perl, REXX and Python, Jython are (with some reservations) also suitable as both an OFM macro language and implementation language. Recently Java written OFMs make some inroads into the territory. They are more portable then compiled implementations. See for example muCommander.

The author strongly believes that OFMs should become a standard tool for Unix system administrators and WEB masters, but penetration of OFMs in this area is very slow...

For the users with DOS/Windows that also need to use Unix they provide the most painless way to master Unix command line and can save them from a lot of frustration during first several weeks of struggling with a typical command like Unix arcana ;-). Now its less pronounced with the availability of  GUI environments like KDE and Gnome, but still a lot of work is done via telnet.

We can distinguish the following three important classes of OFM:

• Class 1. Traditional compiled implementations FAR, MC, Krusader , Total commander, Northern Captain, etc)

• Class 2. Scripting language based OFMs  (for example TCL-based or REXX-based)

• Class 3. WWW oriented OFMs  (with browser front-end) and Java OFMs. This is a pretty new class of OFMs and the corresponding chapter of the OFM book is still very raw....

Good luck ! A challenge for human-computer interface is to support creativity and that's what distinguishes OFM from other types of file managers.  Please note that OFMs have a rather steep learning curve and don't be discouraged by initial difficulties. Your persistence will pay you nicely... 

Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov

Comparison Table (from Ch.2 of the OFM book)

P.S: In order to save the bandwidth for humans (as opposed to robots ;-), Old News and Recommended Links were converted into separate pages.

Old News ;-)

"The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed."
William Gibson

[Oct 2, 2009] Midnight Commander 4.7.0-pre3

Looks like the new team revitalized development of the old, stale codebase...

Major changes since 4.7.0-pre2

Core

• removed own popt stuff (command line options parser). Now used glib parser
• added feature for filenames highlighting in panels
• Copy/Move overwrite query dialog is more friendly for long file names
• at first run find file dialog now contain latest item from history
• charset support enabled by default (--enable-charset option)
• added support of skins
• added support of key bindings

VFS

• fixed recognize of tar.xz archives
• added recognize of lzma archives by extention

Editor

• 'Save as' dialog enhancement: select line break type: Windows/UNIX/Mac (CR LF/LF/CR)
• syntax hightlighting updated: VerilogHDL, Shell script
• Added syntax highlighting for *.repo files of yum
• Added syntax highlighting of pacman's PKGBUILD and .install files

Viewer

• Fixed showing Windows/Mac (CR LF/CR) line terminator (#1595)

Misc

• hotlist: support for environment variables ($HOME, ~username, etc.)
• hotlist: support for completion in path input
• all list widgets: support for fast navigation by number keys (i.e. 1 - first list item, 2 - second)

Fixes

• segfault on incorrect color pair in [Color] section
• incorrect position of panel codeset dialog
• limit of 9 digits for of file size display
• lines drawing in -a stickchars mode (#1497)
• segfault when you try to use non-anonymous FTP
• Ctrl-O handling under GNU Screen in altscreen mode
• support of CP866 (IBM866) locale
• configure.ac: checking for minimal version of glib and exit if version less than 2.6
• segfault by mouse wheel action in history list and menu (#1564)
• Fixed behvior with Meta+PgDn? in editor (#1598)
• Fixed behvior with cursor movement by Ctrl+arrows when cursor besides EOL (#1599)
• Fixed editor autocompleting
• Fixed Copy/Move dialogs steal Kill Word shortcut
• Fixed autoconf issue when configure with --with-gpm-mouse option (#1419)

[Aug 28, 2009] Midnight Commander release 4.7.0-pre2!  by Slava Zanko

[Aug 4, 2009] Midnight Commander release 4.7.0-pre1!  by Slava Zanko

Download from  http://www.midnight-commander.org/. New development team:

This release incorporates many code refactoring changes, user interface improvements, numerous bugfixes and new features.

Changelog

Major changes since 4.6.2:

Changes in the core

    * Native UTF-8 support;
    * Support for filename charset selection in panels;
    * Reworked 'Find File' dialog;
    * New unified search/replace engine with multiple search types: plain, wildcard, regexp and hex;
    * Extended 'Learn Keys' capability;
    * Locale-based codepage autodetection;
    * Initial support for Doxygen generated docs;
    * Build system updates (autoconf);
    * Translation updates;
    * Multiple x86_64 fixes.

Editor

    * Various editor enhancements (mark/move/copy/paste vertical blocks);
    * Multiple syntax file updates;
    * Source code navigation through ctags/etags TAGS files;
    * New option: 'Persistent selection';
    * Delete/Backspace deletes selected block if 'Persistent selection' is off;
    * Ability to shift blocks to the right with Tab key and to the left with Complete key if 'Persistent selection' is off;
    * Show line numbers (optional);
    * Highlighting of tabs and trailing spaces (optional);
    * Added some hotkeys.

Miscellaneous

    * Show free space on current file system;
    * Show size of selected files in mini-status bar.

Bugfixes

    * Editor undo fixes;
    * Upstreamed many fixes from the distributions;
    * Fixed segfaults on fish permission checks;
    * Fixed fish symlinks handling and fancy names escaping;
    * Various mc.ext fixes;
    * Command line completion fixes (mainly escaping);
    * Small fixes in history handling (locale independent .mc/history entries);
    * Code cleanups, various memleaks fixed (many thanks to valgrind).

[Aug 3, 2009] WinSCP Main Window (Commander Interface) by Martin Prikryl.

A very interesting SCP/SFTP client. Since September 2003, WinSCP is also available as a plugin to the FAR file manager.

WinSCP is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. Its main function is safe copying of files between a local and a remote computer.

• Graphical user interface
• Translated into several languages
• Integration with Windows (drag&drop, URL, shortcut icons)
• U3 support
• All common operations with files
• Support for SFTP and SCP protocols over SSH-1 and SSH-2 and plain old FTP protocol
• Batch file scripting and command-line interface
• Directory synchronization in several semi or fully automatic ways
• Integrated text editor
• Support for SSH password, keyboard-interactive, public key and Kerberos (GSS) authentication
• Integrates with Pageant (PuTTY authentication agent) for full support of public key authentication with SSH
• Explorer and Commander interfaces
• Optionally stores session information
• Optionally supports portable operation using a configuration file in place of registry entries, suitable for operation from removable media

 

Table of Contents 

• Screen Components
  • Command Line
• Using the Interface
  • Basic Tasks
  • Selecting Files
  • Keyboard shortcuts

Commander Interface is based on Norton Commander (and similar file managers). A local folder is displayed in the left panel and a remote folder in the right panel. Files are usually transfered between these two folders, though it is possible to transfer files into a different folder. This kind of user interface is also known as Orthodox File Manager.

[Jun 29, 2009] GNOME Commander freshmeat.net

GNOME Commander is a fast and powerful graphical file manager. It has a "two-pane" interface in the tradition of Norton and Midnight Commander. It features drag'n'drop, GNOME MIME types, FTP, SFTP, and WebDAV using the GnomeVFS FTP module, SAMBA access, the ability to extend the context menu with entries to call external applications or scripts on the selected items, quick device access buttons with automatic mounting and unmounting, a fast file viewer for text and images, a history of recently accessed folders, and folder bookmarks.

[Jun 22, 2009] AIX 5L Open Source Packages Main - Midnight Commander

Midnight Commander is a visual shell much like a file manager, only with many more features. It is a text mode application, but it also includes mouse support if you are running GPM. Midnight Commander's best features are its ability to FTP, view tar and zip files, and to poke into RPMs for specific files.

Homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/mc/

Current version: v4.6.1

RPM:

• mc-4.6.1-1.aix5.1.ppc.rpm

Source RPM:

• mc-4.6.1-1.src.rpm

[Jun 25, 2009 ] Necromancer's Dos Navigator 2.31.3836

Necromancer's Dos Navigator is a "Norton Commander" clone. It uses a well known text-mode interface, is highly customizable, and has a lot of features. Its key features are a text editor with syntax highlighting, horizontal/vertical blocks, multiple codepages, undo/redo, bookmarks, powerful searching, and regex; a file viewer with text view, asm/dump/hex edit, raw blocks, header viewer, search, regex, and unlimited filesize; a powerful filepanel with higlighting, VFSs, and filefind with textsearch and regex; a calculator; and more.

Changes: The internal desktop version handling was improved. A C interface library was added for future additions. The FTP VFS was enhanced and now also works in DOS. The "External Quick... Directories" feature was added. The socket interface used in NDN is publicly available on the homepage

[Jun 8, 2009] 6 best orthodox file managers for Linux News TechRadar UK

Depending on when you got started with computers, you've probably used an orthodox file manager. They're zippy, they're often favoured by those who are more comfortable on the command line, and enable you to do more via keyboards than some can do with a mouse.

The interface is made up of two panels, which you can switch between with the Tab key. Norton Commander inspired a whole bunch of orthodox file managers, many of which are still actively developed today.

Anyone who started with Linux in the 90s will have used Midnight Commander. But does it make sense to use it or any of its brethren in the age of multi-core desktops? The answer to that question is a most definite yes.

In the 90s the Linux GUI was a far cry from the present-day Compiz-laced bells and-whistles graphical interfaces and there was no Konqueror and Nautilus. But you didn't use an orthodox file manager just because it was lightweight. You used it because it worked, and with a couple of keystrokes could compress a file, generate an MD5, and copy it across the galaxy.

The modern day OFMs build on that, and can do a lot more. They can still be used with only minimal mouse input, thanks to their extensive keyboard shortcuts. And just because you use them with a keyboard, doesn't mean they all run from the console. And you can easily spot an OFM, since many honour their lineage by including the word 'Commander' somewhere in their name. Ten-hut!

[Apr 6, 2009] lfm -v 2.1

Dec 20, 2008

Lfm and Pyview are written in Python and require curses module. It needs Python v2.3 or higher, it won't work with older versions.

Since version 0.90, lfm needs ncurses >= v5.x to handle terminal resizing.

All modern UNIX flavours (Linux, *BSD, Solaris, etc) should run it without problems. If they appear please notify me.

Note that python curses module should be linked against ncursesw library (instead of ncurses) to get wide characters support. This is the usual case in later versions of Linux distributions, but maybe not the case in older Linux or other UNIX platforms. Thus, expect problems when using multibyte file names (f.e. UTF-8 or latin-1 encoded) if your curses module isn't compiled against ncursesw. Anyway, I hope this issue will disappear with new releases of those platforms, eventually.

Also, take a look at TODO file to see bugs and not-implemented-yet (tm) features.

... ... ...

Last File Manager is a simple but powerful file manager for the UNIX console. Based on curses, it's written in Python.

Some of the features you can find in lfm:

• console-based file manager for UNIX platforms
• 1-pane or 2-pane view
• bookmarks
• history
• vfs for compressed files
• dialogs with entry completion
• fast access to a shell
• direct integration of find/grep, df and other tools
• tabs
• color files by extension [Andrey Skvortsov]
• fast file viewer with text and binary modes
• ...and many others

[Apr 3, 2009] TuxArena 10 File Managers for Linux

Addition: GNOME Commander
GNOME Commander is yet another powerful twin-panel file manager for the GNOME desktop environment, with support for Samba networks and FTP. It also has an option to start it as root (the same as gnome-commander or gksukdesu gnome-commander, not recommended though).
Official website

[Feb 3, 2009] Downloads – Midnight Commander

Bug-fix release 4.6.2 is now available.

mc-4.6.2.tar.gz

Midnight Commander v4.6.2 md5sum: ec92966f4d0c8b50c344fe901859ae2a

[Feb 2, 2009] Midnight Commander wakes from deep sleep - News - The H Open Source News and Features

The Midnight Commander file manager developers have restarted work on the, once quite popular, file manager for the Linux/Unix console. Midnight Commander was inspired by the famous Norton Commander for DOS. In recent years, there had been no development at all, but now a "Bugfix Release" 4.6.2 has been made available. The new release, as the tag suggests, contains no new features.

[Nov 23, 2008] Ubuntu TIP Extending Nautilus, Scripting Your Way To UI Bliss Shantanu's Technophilic Musings

The mechanism is surprisingly similar to used in OFM "user menu"

1. Write your script.
2. Save it in ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts and make it executable (chmod +x <script name>).

Of course, if you don’t know scripting the first step itself is quite daunting, but you can get a lot of pre-cooked scripts on the internet by searching for “nautilus scripts”. e.g. take a look at g-scripts homepage.

To get you started immediately, here is a crude example to open a terminal/console window in any folder/path through right-click menu:

---

Step 1) Write your script (any scripting language: shell, perl, python, etc):

1. #!/bin/bash
2. gnome-terminal --working-directory="$1"

Step 2) Save it in ~/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts, name it as “Terminal” and make it executable.

1. chmod +x Terminal

Step 3) Now, you should see a “Scripts” option in your right-click menu as shown below. Clicking on “Terminal” will open a new terminal window with the present working directory being set to the selected folder.

Note: If you don’t see the “scripts” menu option (or your script name in the extended menu), then just run

1. sudo killall nautilus

 comments

•  
  chemicalscum
  November 23rd, 2008

  For me it only opens the terminal in my Home directory no matter what directory Nautilus is open in.

•  
  Perpetual Rabbit
  November 24th, 2008

  Three tips:
  1) It would be more useful if you listed which environment variables are available from within Nautilus, so that I could use those in my own scripts, like the current working directory, and how to get the Nautilus window to do various things, like refresh itself, open a new instance, make it move to another directory, etc, etc.
  2) A more involved example would be useful.
  3) How to make scripts generally available to all users, i.e. is there some /etc/gnome2/nautilus-scripts directory where you put scripts that you want to appear in everyones

[Aug 15, 2008] EmacsWiki Sunrise Commander

Hello, Emacs Community!

I’ve been working lately on a new OFM for GNU Emacs. (For those who may not know, OFM stands for “Orthodox File Manager” - it’s the kind of interface made popular by the Norton and Midnight Commanders.)

“Another one?” you may say.

Well, yes. As a long time user of the Midnight Commander on Linux (and, long before that, of Norton Commander and Norton Navigator on DOS), one of the first things I tried after moving to Emacs was running MC in term-mode. It was no joy, so after that I tried using nc.el and mc.el, but both scripts were far away from what I was looking for.

I realized early the power of Dired (learned quite fast several nifty tricks on it), and I think the decision made by the authors of mc.el of basing their file manager on Dired was a wise one. But it lacked support for so many of the usage patterns MC got me accustomed to through all these years… it was a real pity.

So, faithful to the tradition established by mc.el and ec.el, I decided to write the Sunrise Commander.

After several months of growing it up (good programs seem to grow by themselves) I’ve managed to put together most of the functionality I wanted that was not there before:

• It is implemented as an independent major mode derived from Dired, what allows to have a rich feature set (key bindings, colors, functions, killing automatically unused buffers, etc.) without interfering with normal Dired stuff.
• Transparent navigation inside compressed files/archives: zip, tar, tgz, rar, jar, war, ear, sar, … (using AVFS)
• Virtual directories with the results of “locate”, “find”, “grep” commands (or whatever other command that produces a list of files/directories) that can be used as regular panes with copying, removing, renaming, following…
• List of most recently visited files, also fully functional as a virtual directory. (using recentf)
• An independent history ring for each of the panes that can be navigated forwards and backwards and also displayed in its own pane as a virtual directory.
• Sorting directory contents by name, date, size, extension.
• Comparing directories by file names, sizes and thoroughly (using MD5 sums).
• Comparing files using diff (for fast checking) or ediff (for more details and merging).
• Synchronized navigation for comparing and merging whole directory trees.
• Terminal integration: integrates well with any external shell that works in term-mode or with the emacs shell (eshell).
  • Terminal navigation: allows to use the active pane from the terminal window without actually switching to it.
  • Command line macro expansion: replaces automatically e.g. “%f” with the currently selected file, “%m” with all marked files, etc. without leaving the command line (while in line mode).
• More “natural” functions for copying and renaming recursively files and directories. The default dired functions for these operations are somewhat “weird” compared to the ones one finds usually on OFMs.
• Remembering the current locations of the panes, so I can switch contexts for a while, do some other stuff and later come back to the place I was before.
• Making a backup copy of selected or marked files with just one keystroke.
• Many other small functions (swap panes, go to parent dir, follow file, show/hide hidden fields, change display of data, file coloring based on extension etc.) found usually on more mature OFMs.

It is quite portable. I’ve tested it on Linux and Windows 2000 using GNU Emacs versions 22 and 23 (I have also received feedback from a user reporting it works fine on GNU Emacs 22.2 on Mac OS X Leopard), though there’s some homework left one has to do in order to have everything working fine: on Linux you have to install AVFS if you want to navigate inside compressed files (who doesn’t?) and on Windows there is some work configuring ls-lisp and you must also install some diff port if you want to be able to use ediff. Unfortunately I haven’t heard of anything like AVFS for MS Windows, so you’ll have to use archive-mode, tar mode, etc. for your compressed files.

You can get a copy of the Sunrise Commander at:

• http://joseito.republika.pl/sunrise-commander.el.gz

[Aug 14, 2008] Pygoscelis Twinpanel filemanager

Pygoscelis is written purely in Python language using PyGTK and Gnome Python bindings. Features:

• Twin panels
• Tabbed inteface
• Gnome theme MIME awares
• Searching abilities
• Mounted filesystem support
• Archive support
• FTP support (planned)
• Plugin interface (planned)

[Jun 12, 2008] Beesoft Commander 4.0.07.beta by Piotr Pszczolkowski

About: Beesoft Commander is a file manager (like Norton Commander) for Linux. It is based on Qt-GUI.

Changes: This release has a configuration dialog where users can define all colors and backgrounds for file views. The ability to compare two files has been implemented. When they are not the same, the program starts a graphical comparator. By default it starts beediff, but the user can define their own comparator program.

[Jun 11, 2008] X File Explorer 1.19 (Stable) by Roland Baudin

About: X File Explorer (Xfe) is a filemanager for X. It is based on the popular, but discontinued, X Win Commander. Xfe is desktop independent and is written with the C++ Fox Toolkit. It looks similar to Windows Commander or MS-Explorer, and is very fast and simple.

It features file associations, the ability to mount/umount devices, a directory tree for quickly changing directories, the ability to change file attributes, automatic registry saving, the ability to view/create/extract compressed archives, and much more.

Changes: This release fixes a severe bug that occurred when building Xfe on Fedora Linux. The Swedish translation was also updated.

[Feb 29, 2008] Project details for Key Scripter

freshmeat.net

About:
Key Scripter listens to key press/release events from a keyboard device and sends fake key events to an X display. It supports gaming keypads such as the Nostromo SpeedPad and allows the creation and usage of complicated key scripts for games and other applications.

Release focus: Major feature enhancements

Changes:
This release also supports Windows. A Win32 binary has been added to the download packages. To compile the source files on Windows, the latest release of MinGW is required. Additionally, this release fixes a few memory allocation bugs, adds support for wildcard binds, and provides improvements to debug messages. The example configuration file has been extended with extra features.

Author:
Andrei Romanov [contact developer]

[Feb 10, 2008] FreeCommander - freeware file manager

FreeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. The program helps you with daily work in Windows. Here you can find all the necessary functions to manage your data stock. You can take FreeCommander anywhere - just copy the installation directory on a CD, USB-Stick or even a floppy disk - and you can even work with this program on a foreign computer.

Main features in FreeCommander:

• Dual-panel technology - horizontal and vertical
• Tabbed interface
• Optional tree view for each panel
• Built in file viewer to view files in hex, binary, text or image format
• File viewer inside archives too
• Built in archive handling: ZIP (read, write), CAB (read, write), RAR (read)
• Nested archive handling
• Easy access to system folders, control panel, desktop and start menu
• Copy, move, delete, rename files and folders
• Wipe files
• Create and verify MD5 checksums
• File splitting
• File properties and context menu
• Calculation of folder size
• Folder comparison / synchronization
• Modification of file date and attributes
• Folder / program favorites
• File searching (inside archive too)
• File filters for display
• User defined columns for detailed view
• DOS command line
• Multiple language  support

[Feb 09, 2008]  wxCommander

• Create zip and iso files
• Upload files to the Internet using FTP
• Fast file management using the keyboard
• Built-in viewers for many file formats
• Built-in text editor
• No installation required (self-extracting zip provided for convenience)
• No uninstallation required (just delete the folder)
   
• Free for non-professional home use

freshmeat.net Project details for Ultimate Commander by László Monda

Written in C#

Ultimate Commander strives to be an incredibly powerful orthodox file manager developed with a special focus on usability, extensibility, portability, and power users.

[Feb 08, 2008] sharpfile - Google Code

Written in C#

As of right now, this is an alpha-quality file manager.

Current features include: drag and drop, right-click context menu, rename, automatically refreshing file view, ability to calculate directory size, tab file view, dual or mdi parent choice, filter file view on-the-fly, file icons (including svn icons), multi-threaded drive and file retrieval.

Features in the works: plug-in architecture for different file retrieval (for example, ftp/ssh) or different ways to show the file information (for example, audio files might show different information), thumbnail preview pane, show information about copy/move operations with ability to cancel, specification of columns for file information, Vista-compatibility.

Club Dr-DOS Wiki Main - File Managers

Doszip Commander (GPL, open source)

Project page: sf.net/projects/doszip/

By Hjort Nidudsson . A new Norton Commander clone … test it :-) It is very small and fast. Written mostly in 1996…1997 . Development has recently (2007) stopped, but as last fix the author updated it to support LFN ! Has built-in support for unZIPping - no PKUNZIP or similar needed, but supports only PKZIP 2.xx format incl. decryption. No ZIP creation, no support for other archive types.

It is the only one written in Borland C (use version 3.1, DOS 16-bit real mode).

[Jan 20, 2008] muCommander a cross-platform file manager

11/28/2007

muCommander 0.8.1 is out with a bunch of enhancements and bug fixes.
Get it now>>

New features:
- New bookmark:// filesystem, mapped onto the alt+B shortcut by default.

Improvements:
- Non-automatic sizing of columns is now working properly and preserved in the configuration.
- Columns order, sort and visibility are now preserved in the configuration.
- Editors and viewers are now centered on the current window rather than set to the upper-left corner of the screen.
- Shell encoding is now auto-detected by default, unless a specific encoding is set in the preferences.
- Simplified and extended the theme editor, with new 'selection outline' and 'alternate background' values. A new 'Striped' theme has been added to show these effects off.
- Added keyboard shortcuts for the items in the drive popup button.
- Windows: drives in the drive popup button now show extended names.
- Bzip2 read-access speed substantially improved.
- Improved icon representation of symbolic links.
- 'Delete' dialog now shows the list of file to be deleted (contributed by Alejandro Scandroli).
- New 'Find' functionality added to the text viewer and editor (contributed by Mariusz Jakubowski).
- command keyword substitution now applies to marked files as well as the current selection.
- Quit confirmation dialog now shows the number of open windows and asks for confirmation when the last window is closed.

Continue

Recommended Links

---

In case of broken links please try to use Google search. If you find the page please notify us about new location

Top links

• windows_file_managers - eSnips Search Nice collection of screenshots, links and descriptions. Highly recommended.

• CategoryOrthodox file managers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Orthodox file manager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Open Directory - Computers Software File Management File Managers Windows Orthodox

• Open Directory - Computers Software File Management File Managers

• Krusader - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Just a blogspot Krusader and Konqueror - twin versus one-panel filemanagers
• FILE MANAGEMENT FOR DOS   by Rich Green  -- short descriptions of several DOS file managers including (OFMs are listed in italics). [Feb 9, 2000] The part of Free Software For DOS page. The following file managers are described:
  • DOS Controller (DC-SK)- Fast file manager for DOS, Norton Commander clone.
  • FW- (File Wizard) Feature-packed file manager with WIN9x support. File Wizard - freeware file manager for DOSWin9x
  • DOS Navigator- Excellent multi-window file manager- now freeware.
  • NDN- DOS Navigator file manager offshoot with Win9x LFN support, other enhancements.
    3c. DOS Navigator Open Source (DN OSP)- DOS Navigator file manager offshoot with Win9x
    LFN support, other enhancements.
  • UFO- Norton Commander style file manager; Win9x support.
  • HFM - Powerful file manager for DOS, with many features.
  • Directory Freedom- Comprehensive dir. utility/ file manager; Small, fast, configurable.
  • Connect - ("IBM Handshaker") Integrated shell with impressive NC style file manager.
  • File Maven- File manager with PC-to-PC file transfer capabilities.
  • Terminate Commander- Good file manager tuned for use with comm programs.
  • Pinco's Commander- Dual pane file manager with fast XMS copy, RAR archive support.
  • Tutordo- Good file manager/shell with mouse support.
  • PC Valet- Small file manager with built-in file viewer, hex editor, and more.
  • PMS (2)- Small program launcher/ file manager with built-in editor.
  • Tree86 Lite- Directory tree and file management utility.
  • DirMatch -  dual pane directory comparer that lists the contents of two directories side by side.

• Commander Homepage --  collection of OFM links (mainly DOS/Win9x) by
  "Robert Oorff" <orndorff@richmond.infi.net>. A very nice page; contains information that complements this page [Link updated Jan. 13, 2000]

  I am going to try to include a link to every "Commander" available. However, I primarily use Windows 95/98 and only somewhat beyond the "novice" stage in Linux, so the selection listed here may be somewhat biased. A Commander program has to have the two panel interface and the standard F key assignments: F3 - View, F4 - Edit, F5 - Copy, F6 - Rename/Move, F7 - Make Directory, and F8 - Delete. Also, support for whatever compressed archive is standard for the OS, ZIP for DOS/Windows, tar.gz for Unix, etc. The ever present command line is also a super handy feature.
   

• nud Computers-Software-File Management-File Managers  -- might be an older version of dmoz project file management page. Also at Computers-Software-File Management-File Managers

• Linux Online - Category System - File Managers
• An interesting collection of reviews of several file managers in Battle of the File Managers - the quest for the perfect file managers starts HERE!  [Feb 7, 2000]Suggested by Nguyen Nam Duy

Individual file manager sites

• http://www.ghisler.com/ -- Total Commander site. One of the best GUI-based OFM for Windows.

  • Articles:

    • A Guide to Efficient Use of Windows Commander 4 by Ilya Gulko. Outdated but still useful. One tip is reproduced below:

    If you're a webmaster and have FTP access to your web server, updating your web page should be very simple. You can use Windows Commander to easily synchronize the files on your computer with your web server. Just connect to the FTP server in one pane, and open the directory with the local copy of your files in the other pane. Now, press Shift+F2 to compare the two directories. All the files that are newer than the ones in the opposing directory are selected. If the file doesn't exist at all in the other pane, it is also selected. Now, go to the pane with the local files, and press F5 to copy all of the files that are not up to date.

  • Windows Commander review
     

• Dos Navigator -- one of the best of DOS OFMs. Since it become open sourced several programmers are trying to upgrade it. At least two derivatives already work with long file names!

• VC was not updated for several years so it's assumed to be dead, but it still have some adepts and reincarnation is still possible ;-). Here are some useful sites:

  • Volkov Commander -- official German and English homepage maintained by Daniel R. Egner. Among other things contains the latest versions of VC, a newsletter, a photo of the Vsevolod Volkov -- the famous author of VC, zip file with various icons for VC and an interesting collection of links about other OFMs. Attention: the site was redesigned (and IMHO greatly improved) in Jan.1999.

  • VC Official Polish Homepage -- site with good collection of utilities for OFMss. Among them hiew -- a viewer that is often used as an external viewer for VC, Edit 4.4. BTW this site contains all alpha versions for v.5 and a keyboard reference. Great job !

  • An Unofficial Volkov Commander Site maintained by Finn Ekberg Christiansen. Contains interesting icons for VC as well as good collection of links.

• XTree Fan Page More On XTree Links -- Page of our friends --  fans of Xtree file manager...  Please visit it. You can never fully understand OFM managers without trying Xtree-clone. Xtree introduced  two great ideas:

  • "flat directory tree VFS".

  • "history everywhere" approach -- this is actually the second greatest idea of Xtree that eventually found its way into best OFMs is the idea that each and every operation should have history available.

  • Jeffrey C. Johnson XTree story from the original developer.

  • Articles:

    • Xtree -- a nice article

    • Better File Management By Using XTree by Tom Ruben & Len Stuart

  • See also the following derivatives:

    • ZTree -- Xtree managed to survived Symantec acquisition (the XTree company was bought by Central Point who were themselves immediately swallowed up by Symantec with usual result... Their first move was to bring out a XTree Gold 4 for Windows and then, as usual, to abandon the product...) See also ZTreeWin Unofficial Homepage and Zedtek

    • Tree86 Lite- Directory tree and file management utility.

    • UnixTree   XTreeGold look-alike for the Unix and Linux systems by Rob Juergens

    • Ytree   XTree look-alike file and archive browser for UNIX by Werner Bregulla

    • ZTreeBold   Text mode XTreeGold clone for OS/2 by Kim Henkel

    • ZTreeWin   Text mode XTreeGold clone for 32 bit Windows by Kim Henkel

    • ZTreeWin Unofficial Homepage   ZTreeWin support site by Victor Garcia
       

• F freeware file manager features -- very interesting file manager; long list of useful features.

  • F is a freeware multi-platform text-mode file manager with many features. Main F functions: multiple file windows display, full support for ZIP archives, integration with built-in file viewer and editor, network support.

  • File Managers -- list of free file managers
     

•  Childrens of Captain Norton (in Russian)   -- interesting page with some new OFM managers [May 16, 1999]
   

• Window Managers for X [February 27, 1999]
   

• Managers for Linux X11 http://sunsite.auc.dk/linuxberg/x11html/fil_managers.html
   

• Chuck's Linux File Manager Page contains descriptions of several OFM style managers [December 4, 1998]
   

• File Managers/File Handling Utilities -- from SCO [added October 3, 1998]
   

• [March 7, 1999] GNU Interactive Tools - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)  -- non- orthodox, but very modular -- contains components that can be reused in other GPLed OFMs (suggested by Juhapekka Tolvanen <juhtolv@st.jyu.fi>)

Recommended Papers

[Feb 05, 2004] simpleRECURSION 21st Century Nostalgia

Comments are more interesting the the article...

Also, I was surprised to find out that tomorrow, February 6, is NC5's ninth birthday. Weird. Could it be that many others like myself felt a point of anguish and somehow projected it into the collective unconscious? Or does NC5 have a psychic presence among us, in our hearts and minds? I don't know, but here's to you, old buddy!

I'm so glad to find someone else who is nostalgic for the days of Norton Commander. Back in those days, you were either an XTree Gold man or an NC man ... I was definitely an NC man through and through. My fingers would fly through the keystrokes with NC, and hapless customers would stand by open-mouthed :)

I was so disappointed when I discovered that NC for Windows was slow and ugly. After a careful search, I settled on Servant Salamander and I haven't looked back since. God bless you, Norton Commander!

PS. Yes, I too keep a copy of NC4 and NC5 on my hard disk for no reason other than nostalgia :)
 

Posted by Eric Pircher on June 20, 2006 05:39 AM
 

---

Norton Commander 5.5 for DOS with Long File Names really exists. Look at Wikipedia to proof that is true.
 

Posted by TurricaN on November 24, 2005 11:52 AM

 

---

 

Well, turns out you are right, TurricaN. I don't know if it was you, but the other day a guy e-mailed me a copy of NC 5.5 with LFN support.

I have to say that I was severely disappointed in this version. Unlike NC 5.0 and its predecessors, NC 5.5 needs to be installed and cannot be moved around with ease; it does not interact well with Windows, crashes a lot and is very slow.

P.S. TurricaN, just because someone says something on Wikipedia, it is not necessarily true.
 

Posted by Mike on November 26, 2005 12:50 PM

 

---

 

NC 5.5 inability to move and crashes exists only in NT line of WIndows, while in Windows 9x/ME this is not in the case. For Windows NT better use NC 2.01 for Windows.
 

Posted by TurricaN on November 28, 2005 04:50 AM

 

---

 

Win 9x/ME is utter crap, without argument; the first good, stable Windows version was Win2K, which is NT-based. I will have you know that NC 5.0 works perfectly on all NT-based systems, even though it does need tweaking to work with LFN.

Now, if I still wanted to use an orthodox file manager, I'd use FAR, by far (pun not intended) the superior NC clone, in all regards; NC for Windows is not a true OFM.

Posted by Mike on November 28, 2005 08:24 AM

 

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If you want 100% NC-like archiver, use Commandline ACE - mentioned in one of links inside Wikipedia NC article.

Posted by ACEfan on February 13, 2006 07:27 AM

 

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I would, Acefan; if I hadn't been lured by the power and compatibility (and increasing ubiquity) of WinRAR over the years. ;)

Posted by Mike on February 13, 2006 10:38 AM

 

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I used to use NC 2.0-4.0, but then I discovered DOS Navigator.

Posted by Guti on February 28, 2006 08:07 AM

[May 25, 2001] Inside Solaris - Midnight Commander

A long time ago, on another computing platform, Peter Norton Computing released Norton Commander. This became my favorite file management program. As I wandered further and further into the UNIX realm, I found it hard to believe that a program like this wasn't available on UNIX. Finally, I came across Midnight Commander, as shown in Figure A. It offers more features than Norton Commander and, unlike Norton Commander, it runs on a variety of different computing platforms.

[Feb 7, 2000] Battle of the File Managers - the quest for the perfect file managers starts HERE!  Suggested by Nguyen Nam Duy <ndnguyen@wanadoo.fr>

An interesting review of several file managers...

File manager - Wikipedia
 

XTreePro as HTML-editor... : ion1.ionet.netbills

Xtree -- Another Classic File Manager

Xtree was another original file manager that created a strong following and almost cult-like devotion. Like OFMs Xtree users were able to achieve very high productivity in command line environment and it can became the style of thinking about filesystem, more merely a file manager. Like OFMs Xtree was re-implemented on most other operating systems, including Unix. See  UnixTree Homepage - XTree alike filemanager for Unix - Linux

Along with tree-like representation of the DOS filesystem Xtree was/is a pioneer that introduced two very important concepts that later and often incompletely found their way to other file managers including OFM:

• History for all commands

• The idea of Virtual File System (from the first version Xtree users were able to work with files in any directory subtree as if they all were in one directory).

As far as I can remember the original version was very small(34K ?) and did all this staff and more... It was really amazing masterpiece of programming.

Please take a look on the homepage of Jeff Johnson, the author of the original XTree and XTreeGold (Thank you Jeff, for your great work !)

Recommended Links:

• Jeffrey C. Johnson - Inventor of the Directory Tree and XTreeGold
  • The History of XTree
    • ...A couple of months later we had hundreds of floppy disks and several hard disks cram-packed with files and no idea where anything was. We had no way to manage all the files - and there hangs the tale.
      
      You see nobody had a way of managing files. At least not any reasonably easy way. There just weren't any utilities to do it. there was a utility for CP/M written by a friend of ours, Mike Karas, that we had been using, and some command-line-oriented programs, but none of them addressed the concept of managing a directory structure. You know, paths and stuff like that...
      
  • The links page
    • Only The Good (Software) Dies Young (Jul 98)

     

•  UnixTree Homepage - XTree alike filemanager for Unix - Linux[Jan 5, 2001]
   

• XTree Fan Page More On XTree Links -- Page of our friends --  fans of Xtree file manager...  Please visit it. You can never fully understand OFM managers without trying Xtree-clone. Actually two greatest achievements of Xtree eventually found their way into OFMs. And if  "history everywhere" -- each operation should have history available was implemented more or less adequately, the idea of "flat directory tree" or XtreeVFS) is still not implemented properly in most managers (most limit themselves to Panelize command).
   

  • ZTree -- Xtree clone that continues the line despite Symantec acquisition of Central Point (the XTree company was bought by Central Point who were themselves immediately swallowed up by Symantec with usual result... Their first move was to bring out a (much inferior) XTree Gold 4 for Windows, then, as usual, they abandon the product...). See also ZTreeWin Unofficial Homepage and Zedtek
     

  • Xtree -- a nice article
     

  • Better File Management By Using XTree by Tom Ruben & Len Stuart

Add-ons

UPX Homepage GPLed execution compressor

• UPX 1.07 has been released - featuring major compression speed improvements
  
• Visit the UPX Message Board for discussions about problems, features, GUI frontends, and more.
  
• We'd like to hear from you if you are a happy author that uses UPX to compress your programs! Please announce your files on the new UPX Application Board.
  
• The UCL compression library has been released. UCL is a re-implementation of some especially efficient NRV compression algorithms. This is the first step of the UPX source code release as UCL contains all of UPX's stub decompressors.
  
• UPX is rated number one in the well-known Archive Comparison Test .
  
• http://upx.tsx.org now is the official (and hopefully permanent) UPX redirector.

{*****} [Oct. 26, 1999]  WebDrive FTP Client Software by RiverFront Software -- a revolutionary FTP client that makes an autonomous FTP VFS implementation in OFMs redundant. This was probably the most important breakthrough for the 1999 and paradoxically it was produced by the company that has nothing to do with OFM development. Currently limited to Windows 9x/NT environment. Highly recommended. Shareware $39. Suggested by Eric Pement <epement@jpusa.org>.

WebDrive is a Windows 95/98 FTP software client  that allows you to map an Internet FTP site to a local drive utilizing the standard FTP protocol. This enables you to connect to an FTP site and perform familiar file operations like copy, xcopy, and directory functions with the Windows explorer,  a DOS box, or any other application like Microsoft Word, Excel, etc. WebDrive instantly FTP enables any application that reads or writes files by allowing the application to read files from or write files to the FTP site.

Until now, in order to upload or download files from an FTP site, you needed to run a client FTP utility that presented a user interface to manually select the files to transfer. The WebDrive FTP client makes the FTP site an extension of the file system which enables you to use any application to upload or download files to the FTP site transparently.  For more details, click here

Hiew 6.04  by Eugen Suslikov. Great external viewer for classic OFMs. Frequently used with VC...

Viewer for HTML and XML for DOS

George's Home Page -- textviewer with RTF reading capability

Polish Official VC site/Utilities -- indisputably the best collection of add-ons to DOS-based OFMs. Many will work in Linux's DOSEMU mode). I do not need to compile my own ;-). Please pay special attention to the following:

• Gpm 1.0 -- Vsevolod Volkov driver that allows to select a part of the screen text by mouse and then paste it to this or another application (DOS, Windows 3.1X, Windows 9X, Windows NT, OS/2, Linux's DOSEMU).
   

• View 16.0(a) -- File viewer for DOS, allows you to view: WordPerfect 5.0-7.0, Word 1.0-6.0 and 97,Word for DOS, Wordstar, HTML, Notepad, Publisher, Ami Pro, Write, RTF, ASCII, ANSI, UNIX, ClarisWorks. You can see a quick preview of the first part of files.

History

See also Softpanorama History links

• FILE MANAGEMENT FOR DOS   by Rich Green  -- short descriptions of several DOS file managers including (OFMs are listed in italics). [Feb 9, 2000]

• Volkov Commander -- official German and English homepage maintained by Daniel R. Egner. Among other things contains the latest versions of VC, a newsletter, a photo of the Vsevolod Volkov -- the famous author of VC, zip file with various icons for VC and an interesting collection of links about other OFMs. Attention: the site was redesigned (and IMHO greatly improved) in Jan.1999.

• Dos Navigator -- one of the best of DOS OFMs. Since it become open sourced several programmers are trying to upgrade it. At least two derivatives already work with long file names!

• [May 10, 2001] Some old staff from Symtel

  www.simtel.net: gencm132.zip (Genesis Commander 1.32: Norton Commander clone)

  ... Publisher: Simtel Legacy File Name: gencm132.zip Downloads: 22 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 167840 File Date: 1996-12-28

  www.simtel.net: tn122.zip (Free Norton_Commander-Windows_Explorer clone)

  ... Publisher: Marko Vodopija File Name: tn122.zip Downloads: 11 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 510956 File Date: 1999-11-07 01:08:00 Description: Free Norton_Commander-Windows_Explorer clone Turbo Navigator

  www.simtel.net: gynav125.zip (A Norton Commander clone.)

  ... Publisher: Gyula Bibernáth File Name: gynav125.zip Downloads: 11 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 1304715 File Date: 2001-04-26 04:52:00 Description: A Norton Commander clone. A Norton Commander clone for the win32 platform- Parallel file operations (copy, search) - Built in txt, rtf, bmp, avi viewer - ...

  www.simtel.net: ncav48bd.zip (Norton Commander Archive Viewer v4.8 Beta-D)

  ... Publisher: Simtel Legacy File Name: ncav48bd.zip Downloads: 3 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 297365 File Date: 1996-11-22 00:00:00 Description: Norton Commander Archive Viewer v4.8 Beta-D Norton Commander Archive Viewer v4.8

  www.simtel.net: rc150.zip (Clone of Norton Commander w/some new features)

  ... Publisher: Simtel Legacy File Name: rc150.zip Downloads: 16 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 214675 File Date: 1995-08-29 23:00:00 Description: Clone of Norton Commander w/some new features Clone of Norton Commander w/some new features

  www.simtel.net: dc-sk.zip (DOS Controller: Norton Commander clone)

  ... : Simtel Legacy File Name: dc-sk.zip Downloads: 21 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 39372 File Date: 1992-02-01 00:00:00 Description: DOS Controller: Norton Commander clone DOS Controller: Norton Commander clone

  www.simtel.net: wfu.zip (Wagner File Utility, like Norton Commander)

  ... Simtel Legacy File Name: wfu.zip Downloads: 6 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 49756 File Date: 1986-04-08 00:00:00 Description: Wagner File Utility, like Norton Commander Wagner File Utility, like Norton Commander

  www.simtel.net: fcw212.zip (File Commander/W v2.12: NC style file manager)

  ... Publisher: Brian Havard File Name: fcw212.zip Downloads: 48 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 262045 File Date: 2000-01-06 05:17:00 Description: File Commander/W v2.12: NC style file manager File Commander is a Norton Commander style 32 bit text mode file manager and shell. It allows you to locate, copy ...

  www.simtel.net: nc531.zip (Nico's Commander: File/Zip manager)

  ... Publisher: Nico Cuppen File Name: nc531.zip Downloads: 7 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 793246 File Date: 1999-12-13 13:28:00 Description: Nico's Commander: File/Zip manager Nico's Commander is a Windows 95/98/NT file manager that resembles the old Norton Commander. It offers a dual directory/folder display ...

  www.simtel.net: ncom23.zip (Norbert Commander NCOM: Long name file manager)

  ... Publisher: Norbert Harle File Name: ncom23.zip Downloads: 4 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 198704 File Date: 1997-04-20 23:00:00 Description: Norbert Commander NCOM:

   

  www.simtel.net: ncmd_201.zip (NeuralCommander: File manager for Win 95/NT)

  ... : 1 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 786720 File Date: 1998-01-16 00:00:00 Description: NeuralCommander: File manager for Win 95/NT NeuralCommander is a Norton Commander like file manager running under Windows 95/NT.

   

  www.simtel.net: cdnav41e.zip (CD Navigator v4.1: Audio &amp; data disk catalog)

  ... ;amp; data disk catalog CD Navigator v4.1 is a disk catalog program for DOS. Handles audio, data, mixed CDs and support floppy cataloging. Looks like Norton Commander. ...
  http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/551.shtml , 17294 bytes

  www.simtel.net: wn193.zip (Powerful but easy-to use file manager)

  ... .zip Downloads: 4 since 4/23/2001 File Size: 2250155 File Date: 2000-11-01 14:43:00 Description: Powerful but easy-to use file manager Explorer or Norton Commander. Besides usual file management (copy/move/delete etc), it contains built-in viewer for 9 most popular graphic formats, and 11 sound/music

Xtree History

XTree Fan Page More On XTree Links -- Page of our friends --  fans of Xtree file manager...  Please visit it. You can never fully understand OFM managers without trying Xtree-clone. Xtree introduced  two great ideas:

• "flat directory tree VFS".

• "history everywhere" approach -- this is actually the second greatest idea of Xtree that eventually found its way into best OFMs is the idea of   -- each operation should have history available.

See also

• ZTree -- Xtree managed to survived Symantec acquisition (the XTree company was bought by Central Point who were themselves immediately swallowed up by Symantec with usual result... Their first move was to bring out a XTree Gold 4 for Windows and then, as usual, to abandon the product...) See also ZTreeWin Unofficial Homepage and Zedtek

• Xtree -- a nice article

• Better File Management By Using XTree by Tom Ruben & Len Stuart

MS-DOS history

• Softpanorama OS History page
• DOS section of the Open Direcory Project
• DOS - Webopedia.com
• Links to DOS freeware and shareware sites

• FSPC for MS-DOS Links
  MS-DOS links
  TIME LAPSE MS DOS LINKS
  Kevin P. Inscoe - msdos links
  Timo's collection of http links, Part 2  collection FileDudes Interesting DOS programs Links by Dev Anand Teelucksingh. Newsgroup comp.archives.msdos.announce Announcements about MS-DOS archives. ...
  Jeffrey Carlyle - MS-DOS Programming Information

Etc

• GIT GNU Interactive Tools - a file browser, a file viewer and more.
• Linux Explorer A linux version of the Windows 95 file explorer.
• Workplace  by Hideki Fujimoto. Workplace is a file manager and launcher, which uses gtk+-1.0.0 .