HANDY COMMANDER Diego Cervo, Fotolia

Managing files with the Krusader twin-panel file manager HANDY COMMANDER Diego Cervo, Fotolia

The user-friendly Krusader brings the time-honored twin-panel file manager format to the Linux desktop and offers easy shortcuts for keyboard users. BY MATEJ URBANCIC possible. The two panels are the active rusader is a graphical file man- In *nix systems, the grandfather of all (or source) panel and the inactive (or ager based on the twin-panel orthodox file managers is Midnight Com- destination) panel. The panels are con- Kparadigm. The Krusader file mander, or mc for short. Several projects nected to each other; in other words, ex- manager was created early in 2000 by are currently developing a diverse assort- ecuting a command in one panel results two enthusiastic programmers who ment of commanders in various pro- in an action in the other panel. Addition- wanted a graphical twin-panel file man- gramming languages. ally, every action must show the result ager for the KDE environment and without refreshing the view. couldn’t find one. What Is Krusader? This connection between the left and The concept of a twin-panel file man- Twin-panel file managers like Krusader right panels has many advantages, but ager (which is also called an orthodox are often called commanders. They are the most important advantage is speed. file manager) is not a new concept. The easily recognized by a basic structure When you move a file, you only need first twin-panel file managers emerged consisting of left and right file panels on one key press or mouse click. The file back in the mid 80s, with the now leg- top and a bottom command-line panel. manager executes the command from endary Norton Commander, which was Even though the design is easy to under- source to opposing destination in the an inspiration for many text and graphi- stand, the functionality is difficult to im- other panel. Because the view does not cal file managers. Among the first graph- plement, since a commander offers a change and the windows do not cover ical versions that followed was the also wide spectrum of actions and features. each other, the file simultaneously ap- legendary Windows Commander, which The goal is to execute each action with pears in the destination panel and is, at is now known as Total Commander for the minimum number of keystrokes, and the same time, removed from the source MS Windows. the output must be as informative as panel. In more advanced uses, such as

84 ISSUE 78 MAY 2007 WWW.LINUX - MAGAZINE.COM Krusader LINUXUSER

Managing files with the Krusader twin-panel file manager tant feature is the userac- tion system, which allows the user to extend and ad- just Krusader to meet per- sonal needs and further HANDY COMMANDER minimize key strokes needed to perform fre- quent operations. It is sometimes said that an orthodox file manager inhabits the middle ground between a con- ventional file manager and command line. Kru- sader offers the simplicity of the command line with the visual orientation of a graphical interface.

Figure 1: The Krusader user interface offers a twin-panel design. Getting Started Krusader is included with synchronization, space calculation, and mouse. The extensive collection of key- many of the most popular Linux distri- ftp, the functionality is similar. board shortcuts, combined with key- butions, so check to see if you already The real advantage of an orthodox file board steps for navigating the directo- have it before you download it. If you manager is its integration with the key- ries, makes Krusader much more effi- don’t have Krusader already, you’ll find board. Krusader is designed to function cient for an experienced user than the source code, as well as packages for with little or no dependence on the single-panel equivalents. Another impor- Gentoo, Debian, Fedora, and Slackware,

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Krusader takes the middle road between advanced features and user friendliness. The Krusader team is currently working on integrating operations that will let users place time-consuming tasks into the background. Also planned are enhanced regular ex- pression features that will allow users to automate frequently recurring actions, as well as descriptive tooltips and support for the metadata of the most popular file types. Conclusion Krusader might be branded an advanced file manager, but it really is easy to use. The twin-panel paradigm is highly effec- tive for a user who knows how to oper- ate from the keyboard. Krusader also has a regular upgrade cycle, releasing new Figure 2: You can customize Krusader with the KDE Konfigurator utility. stable versions several times a year. ■ at the Krusader website [2]. The installa- the keyboard user. Most basic actions Birth of the Krew tion page [3] has additional information. are covered with function keys F1–F10. The twin-panel model was easy to cre- In addition to providing the benefits of Krusader also comes with an ad- ate, but the basic implementation re- orthodox file management for KDE, Kru- vanced integrated search engine capable quired additional functionality that was sader offers advanced features, including of searching files and the text inside of added slowly over time. As the story support for synchronization, as well as them. You can apply as many filters to goes, the Krew, as the Krusader devel- file and directory comparison. Krusader the search as needed. oper community is called, was born a comes with alternative protocols through All basic required information, such as few years after the initial release when KDE kioslaves, such as fish, ftp, and occupied space, size, permissions, and a third member asked to join the team. The third member was put in charge of sftp, and includes support for a variety dates, are readily updated on the main the website, which helped the project of archive formats. Krusader supports window. This format has many advan- make its first international steps and various integrated checksum calculation tages, but the most obvious is that you brought badly needed help. and verification tools, and it can handle can use a similar interface for different Every professionally organized crew associations to many common file types. operations. Whether you work with file needs good developers with fresh ideas, To truly experience the advantages of systems, archives, transfer protocols, or relentless bug slayers, organized docu- Krusader, you need to use the keyboard other virtual file systems, the usage and mentation editors, and proofreaders. because Krusader really is designed for interface stay the same. Over the years, the group managed to define specific tasks for specific mem- bers. The Krew now includes code con- tributors, translators, and package build- ers who manage installations for different distributions and operating systems.

INFO [1] Krusader website: http:// www. krusader. org [2] Download Krusader: http:// krusader. sourceforge. net/ downloads. php [3] Krusader installation information: http:// krusader. sourceforge. net/ handbook/ installation. html [4] The Orthodox file manager paradigm: http:// www. softpanorama. org/ OFM/ Paradigm/ index. shtml [5] Krusader history: http:// krusader. sourceforge. net/ phpBB/ viewtopic. Figure 3: Convert your CDs with the audioCD KIO slave. php?t=1057

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