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kouteiheika

I love Midnight Commander so much; I install it on every system I use. It's so much more efficient/pleasant when in comes to navigating the filesystem and doing basic operations, especially when you learn the shortcuts and learn how to use it along with other command-line tools (hint: if you press Ctrl+O in MC it will switch to a normal shell command prompt it the directory you're in, and you can press Ctrl+O again to get back to MC; this allows you to easily use MC for things it is the most efficient for, and normal command-line for things where that is better).

pimeys

I use it especially when moving files around in my NAS and it is awesome.

For GUI file managers, I have to say you can't get better than Dolphin. It has an integrated shell for the current directory, and you can split the view. It can also directly open ssh and SFTP URLs. For local things the combination of Dolphin and it's shell is unbeatable.

unmole

> and you can split the view

You could do the same with Nautilus. But in their infinite wisdom GNOME developers decided to remove that ability.

tomrod

The stories about GNOME dev make me sad. Not quite as bad as resume-driven development changes to core tech products, but not too far off either.

I like things that work. Somehow that makes me a luddite!

homebrewer

I'm partial to pcmanfm-qt, which also supports splits, and has the best "search in current directory" I've seen anywhere. You open a directory, start typing, and it filters out matching files fzf-style.

It doesn't simply select them like some other file managers do, it searches within the name and not just the prefix (again, like some other file managers), you don't have to press anything beforehand. When you get used to it, it's hard to go without it.

https://github.com/lxqt/pcmanfm-qt

For those preferring lightweight environments, it has far fewer dependencies than dolphin.

bigwheels

Wish there was a screenshot of the final product in this repo! QT apps are non-trivial to build if you don't already have the environment setup.

BTW, do you know if it can build for macOS, or is that a non-starter?

graemep

Konqueror (the old KDE file manager) lets you do multiple splits, horizontal as well as vertical, and preview files in the file manager.

Very nice, but no longer as well maintained.

bmn__

> you can't get better than Dolphin

Try <https://krusader.org>. Same KDE underpinnings, but orthodox interface.

rob74

I used Krusader for years, then (after installing Ubuntu instead of Kubuntu) I discovered Double Commander (https://github.com/doublecmd/doublecmd), which is also free software, but more cross-platform (and developed using Free Pascal/Lazarus, which makes it old-fashioned in even more ways - it even used to be hosted on SourceForge, but it looks like they moved to GitHub now).

professoretc

I miss TkDesk, which I discovered many years ago when I was first trying Linux, partly because it supports unlimited splits, not just two. In fact, if I'm remembering correctly, when navigating to a subdirectory the default was just to open it in a new split. You ended up with splits containing the full path from wherever you started to your eventual subdirectory (you could scroll the view of splits horizontally once there got to be too many).

https://tkdesk.sourceforge.net/

overfeed

> It can also directly open ssh and SFTP URLs.

I wish mc could browse remote URLs, and I'm tempted to author an mc clone in Go to address this particular pain-point. Maybe some day handcrafting bespoke rsync/rclone commands will frustrate me enough to motivate me.

baumschubser

In the Left/Right menu in mc, you can select FTP, SFTP and SSH URLs to browse. Is this not what you mean?

akagusu

Not only that, but if you want to move around a large number of files, Dolphin is the only that get you covered without crashes or slowing down

kees99

> Ctrl+O in MC will switch to a normal prompt

Better yet! (one-line) shell prompt is always available and has some nifty integrations via <Ctrl+X>. For example, one has a bunch of files visually tagged (selected) on current panel, and wants to tar them up as "/tmp/foo.tgz". Well...

   tar czf /tmp/foo.tgz <Ctrl+X><T>

kouteiheika

Oh that's great; thanks! I always used Alt+Enter to do this for the currently highlighted file, but didn't know you can do it for multiple files too.

dayvster

My only issue with it is that it does not come with vim keybindings by default, I love to have consistent keybindings across my system / TUI tools

lozf

You might like Yazi[0], although the layout is more "modern" (like ranger / nnn etc.) uses tabs for multiple different views.

[0]: https://yazi-rs.github.io/

dayvster

Oh thanks for the tip, appreciate it.

I see it can even do file previews with kitty which is perfect as I already use kitty as my default terminal.

unixhero

I think I love it more than you do. I am sure of it. It is ingrained into my workflow and how I think about files.

inglor_cz

Same here. I wonder how much does it have to do with the fact that I came of age during the MS-DOS era. The design seems just so sleek and efficient to me.

browningstreet

Interestingly, the latest GNOME sorta supports something similar, as a new feature:

> ..a “Ctrl + dot” keyboard shortcut for opening the current directory in the terminal

https://9to5linux.com/gnome-49-brescia-desktop-environment-o...

pimeys

Does it work the same as Dolphin where you get a terminal panel to the same window with the Konsole settings of yours, and it changes the directory together with Dolphin navigation?

Super nice especially when adding music to my library with Beets...

thendrill

I have loved it since '99, when my friends used to tell me that to be a linux admin you have to stay up late because midnight commander works only after midnight ! Slackware 7 <3

lepicz

it was not always named Midnight Commander, it was Mouseless Commander

it was renamed somewhere around 1995

klodolph

Right now, is it after midnight, or before midnight, where you live?

cout

The only time that is not after midnight is midnight.

amelius

Can you reference the file that was modified latest by me? With one shortcut?

Because that's what I miss most in my shell.

jcynix

You mean something like

    print -rl -- *(om[1].)
in zsh?

amelius

No, I mean globally (over all directories, starting from my home directory).

And of course, if the latest file isn't what I wanted, then it should be possible to easily go to the latest file before that.

ghtbircshotbe

Reverse shell command search for eg *.txt allows you to look through the most recent text files you've explicitly referenced

jwr

Midnight commander is a great tool, although I think most younger users do not realize that we lost something along the way. Norton Commander was fantastically fast for common file operations not just because of the dual-pane design, but because of several things working together. Thoughtful design of software while thinking of hardware. To get the most out of it, you were supposed to use the numpad on your keyboard. And it should be the classic IBM PC numpad: large +, large 0, [num]/*- in the top row. Then, you wanted your function keys as a top row above your keyboard. Also, ESC was supposed to work immediately, not after a delay.

I know many people think these things don't matter, because you can do everything with MC (and more), but I disagree. In this case, every fraction of a second matters. In the setup I described above, selecting all files in the current directory and moving them to the directory in the other pane is: one flick of the right hand (roll over + and Enter on the numpad), F6 with the left hand followed by another Enter immediately with the right hand. Now try to do that using the + that is on your = key and tell me it's the same thing.

homebrewer

> ESC was supposed to work immediately, not after a delay.

It's not mc's fault, the Escape delay is added by the terminal emulator, to correctly handle escape sequences. You can probably configure it, but the most portable way that works everywhere is to simply press it twice quickly. It's only barely slower than the DOS way of doing it, and much faster than pressing and waiting for a second.

ptspts

This should have been solved in the last 30 years on Linux console, X terminal emulators and through SSH.

tracker1

It's more of a "just in case" thing for the most part... the actual risk of an escape as part of a sequence showing up over TCP without the rest for over a fraction of a second today is highly unlikely. That said, so many systems seem to add a delay well over half a second like we're using dialup.

I'd probably tune the delay to 100-200ms if I ever really felt it and have the option to change it.

mmastrac

The kitty key protocol solves this, but your app and terminal need to support it. Many do.

undefined

[deleted]

zahlman

In gnome-terminal, I have yet to succeed in inputting an escape sequence manually without the escape key being interpreted separately.

couscouspie

I don't even understand the problem: ESC and the following key is generally just an alias for ALT+key.

tremon

"select all files" was just one key: * (actually, it was invert selection -- so assuming no files were selected beforehand). Pressing + and Enter would select one file, then try to edit/run the next one?

Lex-2008

I believe pressing + should open "Select files" dialog prefilled to select all files (and dirs), pressing Enter confirms it.

My Midnight Commander 4.8.33, however, remember previously entered mask, and if no mask was entered - then it defaults to selecting nothing :(

nottorp

Stuff is still there as long as you get a proper keyboard.

Well, and monitor.

If you're slouching over your laptop for extended periods of time, you have bigger problems than not being able to use numpad +...

javier_e06

Ah Norton Commander. It sure throws me back to the Intel Pentium days. Today for that left versus right birds eye view, just-do-it, operations I use beyond compare.

eviks

> every fraction of a second matters

That was not true otherwise you wouldn't get stuck with the most unergonomic keys mandating moving your hands off their resting place.

> selecting all files ... : one flick of the right hand

The common Ctrl+A is better, no flick, just shifting a single thumb

> F6 with the left hand followed by another Enter immediately with the right hand

Or still same single hand Ctrl+Shift+X (or something even easier like maybe X, X)

arevno

> the most unergonomic keys mandating moving your hands off their resting place

Touch typists always have to get their dig in.

I've been using vim for 5 years now and still use up/dn/lf/rt - it's easier to find in a tactile manner with the right keyboard and makes MUCH more sense to the brain than hjkl. It's like 80ms travel, worst case.

Even the gaming community got this more correct with wasd, in terms of key positions that make sense to the brain.

eviks

> it's easier to find in a tactile manner

It isn't because your resting keys require NO finding, so will always be easier.

> makes MUCH more sense to the brain than hjkl > Even the gaming community got this more correct with wasd, in terms of key positions that make sense to the brain

Don't repeat the ancient hjkl mistake? What does your brain say to this simple counter? But more importantly, how does any of the numpad+/F6 nonsense follow from the fact that you can improve within the letters?

> It's like 80ms travel

I bet you didn't really time anything in real use, especially not the return timing to go back to the base, which will take you longer. But more importantly, go convince the "every fraction of a second matters" guy first. To me the lack of design logic/convenience is enough.

Izkata

Fun fact: hjkl are in the same order as the arrows on screen in Dance Dance Revolution.

zahlman

Even the gaming community got this more correct with wasd

esdf would be better (using stronger fingers). I don't like hjkl either and would use ijkl if I were non-lazy enough to figure out rebinding. I can remember many games for the Apple ][ used ijkm.

tracker1

In early, original Doom/Doom2 days, I'd use ctrl/shift as up/down with zx mapped to left right... resting my left hand there felt really comfortable and the actions were pretty easy functionally without as much RSI strain. In the end, I gave up and went with wasd as I got tired of changing settings for games all the time, or having someone else use my computer and complain.

jack_pp

gaming defaulted to wasd because you only use one hand.

hjkl makes a ton of sense considering the j key on all keyboards has a tactile feel, it is way easier than arrows which are a whole lot more than 80ms travel for the move + finding the home row again.

but you're probably just rage baiting

userbinator

dual-pane file manager

For some reason, the technical term for these is Orthodox File Manager, which I've always thought was an obscure cultural in-joke from the countries where these were most popular --- Eastern Europe and the former USSR.

This origin is elaborated at length here: https://softpanorama.org/Articles/introduction_to_orthodox_f...

kqr

The "orthodox" comes from a specific type of GUI, namely one that is driven by commands under the hood. UI elements are merely used to trigger commands that have the actual effect, and these commands could just as well be executed by hand, or automated into more complex commands.

This is an excellent way to build powerful UIs. It is what drives things like Vim, and often why Lisp-based software is so hackable -- think Emacs, StumpWM, etc. Instead of writing plugins against some small plugin API, you're wiring new functionality directly into the application.

The article you reference goes into more detail, as you say.

kiliankoe

Does Blender also qualify? It even shows you the name of the Python function behind each UI element on hover, which is great for discoverability when scripting. Or maybe it used to, can't see it now.

spookie

Still does if you enable dev mode, I think.

Levitating

Similar to the ELM architecture in a way? Except that the commands are literal commands that can be executed outside of the standard UI interaction.

faangguyindia

Isn't this what tools like lazygit use?

Klaster_1

At least in Russia, "orthodox" has an extra connotation that's not strictly coupled to church, akin more to "one true way", as in "orthodox way to learn a tech stack". With a negation, it becomes something like "wrong" or even "heretical", as in "pizza with pineapple".

andrewshadura

What you're describing is the meaning of the word in English. I suspect using the word православный with this meaning started as a joke transplanting the English meaning of the word onto the corresponding Russian word.

rob74

Actually, it's the meaning of the word in Greek:

> "what is regarded as true or correct," from Late Latin orthodoxus, from Greek orthodoxos "having the right opinion," from orthos "right, true, straight" + doxa "opinion, praise".

(https://www.etymonline.com/word/orthodox)

But, when referring to dual-pane file managers, it's probably a mix of both meanings ("one true way" and "old-fashioned").

kgeist

"Orthodox" in Russian is "pravoslavny", literally "right faith" (pravyj = right, correct). I think it also contributes to the meaning. "The right way".

abcd_f

This is incorrect.

Ортодоксальный doesn't carry these connotations at all.

If anything, it describes something that is stuck in old ways and/or pointlessly rigid.

bee_rider

I find this whole thread a bit confusing—the comment two up describes “orthodox” meaning one-true-way as a Russian thing, but this is also part of the connotation in English.

You describe it as not having this “one true way” connotation, but as having this pointlessly rigid connotation. In English, I think it has both connotations. Although, almost any phrase which has an implication of “one true way” can end up with a double meaning of “pointlessly rigid,” right? (It is context dependent, of course).

iamnotagenius

православный is used in jargon for exactly that meaning. source: 45 years of native Russian speaking.

bee_rider

I think this is also the connotation in English. We got it from Greek mostly, correct? I thought it meant something like “right-belief.”

It can be contrasted against orthopraxy, right-practice, where the actions are more important than the belief or intent.

Based on the other comments here, these orthodox file browsers are based on a sort of underlying language,

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45271878

> The "orthodox" comes from a specific type of GUI, namely one that is driven by commands under the hood. UI elements are merely used to trigger commands that have the actual effect, and these commands could just as well be executed by hand, or automated into more complex commands.

It… kind of makes sense actually, if we stretch the definitions a bit, haha. The orthodox UI has some button, which is translated into a sequence of commands that represent the actual user intent.

The alternative is just to have the button do the thing directly, there’s no description of the user intent other than what the button does. It is quite a stretch but maybe we could call that the an Orthoprax UI.

rswail

The English word for that is "canonical".

tremon

To me, "canonical" feels more descriptive whereas "orthodox" has a prescriptive connotation. But I'm also ESL, so not sure if that's just me or common in any/all English-speaking countries.

rurban

But the canonical two-pane file manager is Total Commander, not this TUI Linux clone.

killerstorm

I'd say "Orthodox File Manager" is a forced meme by the author of the article. (Note that he links to his older article, etc.)

20-25 years ago when this kind of file managers were all the rage for power users I was in a Fidonet/Usenet discussion group with the most fanatical of these users, often sysadmins, plugin devs, etc. I don't think "orthodox" was used as a term - sometimes it was used as an epithet, maybe, sort of a joke.

But I guess Dr. Nikolai shows us that if you are really committed to introduced a term you can do it, eventually :D

saulpw

For better or worse, that's what they're called: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_manager#Orthodox_file_man...

esafak

Such a pompous name for a nice thing.

bluetomcat

They were popular because there was no Unix culture in Eastern Europe at the time. Pretty much any computer geek was a DOS user. To me personally, it always seemed kind of lame because many of these people would not bother to properly learn the shell language.

JdeBP

The thing about Orthodox File Managers when they first came about, that does not occur today, was the amount of time that had to be devoted to explaining that particular features would not work on OS/2, Unices, Linux-based operating systems, or Windows NT because only MS/PC/DR-DOS let programs do things like directly manipulate stuff in some other program's PSP or directly peek/poke video RAM or the keyboard buffer; or that filenames did not necessarily have "extensions"; or that there was more than 1 type of timestamp; or that links and symbolic links existed; or that different people can have different local times on a single machine; or that directories actually have sizes.

Today, the DOS Think is far less prevalent.

Midnight Commander's screenshots would have looked a little off to OFM users with DOS Think. Today, it's the original MS/PC/DR-DOS tools that will appear odd to novices. They did things like have a narrow 8.3 filename column, omit the dots, use graphics in the filename for system files, use glyphs that one could only obtain through poking C0-range codes into video RAM, change UI elements as one pressed and released the Alt key, and so forth.

axiolite

I never could use mc. None of the keyboard shortcuts were at all intuitive to me, who had been using many different GUI file managers over the decades. Which is a shame, because I use SSH a LOT and doing normal file housework via pure CLI is super tedious and error-prone... Fortunately, I went looking more recently, and found the nnn file manager, which works properly with the basic keyboard commands I would expect, and really helped improve my workflow a lot:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nnn_(file_manager)

varjag

It's a heavily GenX-coded tool. If you never used Norton Commander there's no point really.

badsectoracula

Depending on where you're from you might have used another orthodox file manager. For some reason they've been very popular in central and eastern European countries.

For example i've worked three Polish gamedev companies and in every single one of them most people (including people who weren't even born in the days of Norton Commander) used Total Commander (it is GUI-based but the shortcut keys and overall layout are almost the same).

(FWIW Notepad++ was ubiquitous too)

varjag

From what I've seen at the time Total Commander didn't stick unless the user was already exposed to NC or its clones. People starting afresh with Windows 95 couldn't be arsed to use anything except File Explorer.

axiolite

I use EmelFM all the time, but despite being "orthodox" it doesn't use keyboard shortcuts anywhere close to NC/MC's.

rererereferred

Midnight Commander was coded by a Gen Xer, but Norton Commander was coded by a Baby Boomer ;)

varjag

As in culturally coded. Say MS BASIC was also written by a boomer but most users were Gen X.

ranger_danger

> None of the keyboard shortcuts were at all intuitive to me

They're exactly the same as Norton Commander had been since the 80s.

spookie

They probably weren't, huh... in front of computers when it was more of a thing.

It sure is a generational thing, I have the same problem with Emacs. But not with Vim.

axiolite

Right, but other file managers didn't adopt them. Do you use Norton Commander keyboard shortcuts with Nautilus, Dolphin, Thunar, Windows Explorer, Finder, etc? Did anything else adopt most of them? Because if you're only appealing to those who used Norton Commander, that's not a big user base. Using Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts, instead, would give you a vastly larger audience.

ranger_danger

None of those things existed when either program was written though, except maybe a very early Finder.

11mariom

Same feeling… but. For me fastest and easiest way to manage files are coreutils (sometimes with help of rsync/zmv/zcp). And that way I always have exactly same toolset no mather where I am logged in (local pc, server, router, etc).

I'm using GUI File Manager only for multimedia (photos, movies, pdf files).

axiolite

Just renaming a single file, with a rather LONG file name that includes spaces and other symbols that need to be escaped, can take FAR longer at the BASH prompt, than starting up nnn and doing it there. Same goes for moving several of the most recently updated files to another folder, or similar.

buserror

Same here, nnn feels so much lighter too. It also works out of the box, no need to carry around "your" .rc file on dozens of systems as you work

unwind

I never used MC (not very much into TUIs) but ages ago I wrote a graphical file manager in the same vein. For me the inspiration came from Directory Opus [1] on the Amiga, which was just awesome.

When GTK+ was released in the late 90s, combining my love of C programming with a newfound home in Linux and GTK+'s ability to make complicated graphical interfaces resulted in a dual-pane file manager. It was a great project.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directory_Opus

Findecanor

I find it a little sad that you haven't released a new revision since 2016 [0]. It has not declined in usefulness.

Edit: Incorrect:(I'd guess the biggest requested change would have been to update it from using GTK 2 to GTK 3, but I can definitely understand why someone wouldn't want to...)

0: https://sourceforge.net/projects/gentoo/

unwind

Wow, massive ego boost, thanks a lot!

I thought I had released the GTK 3.x version, but I guess not, then. It might have been that there was something I just couldn't get to behave right, gentoo is somewhat picky about its UI and tries to make it do the right thing in ways that GTK sometimes isn't ready for.

Today I guess the target would be GTK 4.x, I tried to align with the latest main version back when I was maintaining it more.

Oh and 2016 makes sense, had my first kid in 2015 ... :|

Findecanor

> thought I had released the GTK 3.x version,

My bad. You had. Sorry.

> Oh and 2016 makes sense, had my first kid in 2015 ... :|

Much congrats!

zerr

Funny that it is still available for Windows and costs 60 USD. I wonder who buys such software nowadays.

imiric

Directory Opus is a brilliant piece of software. At least was when I last used it in the Windows XP days. It's a steal for $60.

Just take a look at that feature set. All in 26.58MB. The average modern web site weighs more than that.

ziml77

Me. I like it, so I pay for it. And there's plenty of time between major releases so it's not like I'm rebuying it yearly.

pabs3

This with the "Lynx-like motion" panel option and the "Quick view" enabled is the best way to review a source tree. So much so that the Debian ftp-masters use it and a plugin for doing license review of newly introduced packages.

https://lists.debian.org/msgid-search/20191228133344.GA4943@...

vsviridov

I've been using `mc` for decades... In fact, in my early professional days as a software dev, I've written entire systems with PHP using `mcedit` (the built-in editor), because I didn't know `vim` then, and `mcedit` had syntax highlighting...

Joel_Mckay

Mostly used Notepad++ or SciTE ( https://www.scintilla.org/ ) over the years, as the number of languages/platforms I traverse made it a consistent option for dealing with various document encodings etc.

I thought mc and mcedit was cool, but needed something small and portable within a fairly locked-down environment ( "No [root] for you!" as the admin would say.) =3

throwaway53021

Many years ago, I used UltraEdit. It was fast, light weight(ish) and supported huge files.

YeGoblynQueenne

Wait, what? I've never seen syntax highlighting in mcedit. I'd be looking predominantly at Prolog files to be honest but those normally have a .pl extension so I should at least be seeing Perl-like highlights?

(pun totally coincidental)

andyferris

I used to use XTree Gold, which was... golden. I always heard of Midnight Commander but never really got around to using it. I should probably fix that.

What I never got was why this style of TUI (MS edit.com, qbasic, etc) isn't really carried through in modern tradition? I really enjoyed these when when I was younger... yet even textual or ratatui apps don't really bring this interface to the terminal. (Or why screen-coordinate-based terminals aren't the norm to base TUI apps upon... this aspect just seems "obvious" but in this aspect modern terminal emulates seem lightyears behind MS-DOS, of all things).

Perhaps the rewrite of edit [1] will spawn a ressurgence of this TUI style?

[1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/commandline/edit-is-now-open-...

jmclnx

Same here, back then I found a little known file manager called DM.COM. That was my # 1 goto in DOS for files. IMO, it is the best.

You can do this to get information on how to download it:

curl 'gopher://sdf.org/0/users/jmccue/repository/dm220.txt' > dm220.txt

TomaszZielinski

Yes, I also have fond memories of quite a few TUI apps for DOS. Not sure if it’s pure nostalgia, it might be. But then it feels like dark magic that you could have 40kB .COM or 100kB .EXE doing so many things and looking so nicely..

cyberax

I still love FAR Manager: https://www.farmanager.com/screenshots.php?l=en (UNIX port: https://github.com/elfmz/far2l ).

It now even supports true keyboard reporting (through Kitty TTY protocol on compatible terminals) for SSH connections.

cocodill

the best norton commander of all

thom

I still have great affection for Midnight Commander, like Norton Commander before it. I used to use the latter to initiate a parallel cable connection to my brother's computer for Doom deathmatches, pretty cool for a file manager.

For no good reason, here's a screenshot of both of them running side by side on an iPad, which is a thing you can apparently do these days:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GYRYTq6WUAAt_1t?format=jpg&name=...

reaperducer

9%[___)

Dude, plug that thing in!

royskee

I guess you're not familiar with the iconography, but the little lightning bolt symbol in the battery icon means it is plugged in! (edit: I tried to reproduce your "ASCII art" with unicode lightning bolt but the formatting didn't survive)

thom

The world’s best portable Linux/DOS workstation!

xyzelement

Anytime I see this stuff, I get nostalgic for Norton Commander (it was HUGE in the USSR when I was a kid learning computers in the late 80s and early 90s)

But somehow the reality of how I - and I think most people - use computers today is very different. I don't find myself navigating a shallow directory hierarchy and making file operations too often. A part of it is that all the stuff is in the cloud or at least connected to applications (eg: I am more likely to navigate my coding projects from an IDE than from Shell/MC)

And when I administer eg my home linux system, it seems more likely that I jump to a random far-away directory or edit a specific file, rather than navigating the filesystem MC stye.

I am curious how people are using computers today that MC-like interface is still most suitable.

forgotmypw17

I use Total Commander on Windows all the time. It is much better than Explorer at so many things, such as:

- Actually letting you navigate the directory structure.

- Making WSL volumes easy to work with.

- Keyboard accessibility.

- Dealing with many tabs and bookmarks.

- A stable interface that doesn't randomly change without my consent.

- Many other things I'll omit for time reasons.

HackerThemAll

- Multi-rename tool.

- Synchronize directories (symmetric and asymmetric, with subdirectories).

- Background operations.

- Operation queue (so that you don't thrash disks while doing many operations).

- Start menu.

- Displaying directory sizes easily.

- Great file search.

- Diff viewer for text files.

- F3 quick file viewer.

- Compare directories.

- Plugins.

Those are my favorites.

insane_dreamer

I use MC all the item for both work and personal (and was using NC back in the day before MC). I find it much faster/more productive than all the GUI file explorers I've tried.

Recursively find files -> Panelize alone is worth the price of admission.

Multi-file select.

Two-panel for easy moving/copying files, including to cloud/remote/ssh drives (just mount them).

Quickly go back to previously visited folders in your history.

Compare folders.

etc etc

> I jump to a random far-away directory

Esc-C and type in the path. I do it all the time in MC.

> or edit a specific file

Navigate to folder (above), type first letters of filename to find it, press F4 to edit.

YeGoblynQueenne

On windows I use mc to navigate around the WSL-2 file system.

On linux I use it to manage remote servers without a window manager (by design, because I don't need one).

I also use it to pass files between my laptops over ssh, between windows and/or linux.

0x457

I remember a time when FAR was one of the first things I install on Windows.

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GNU Midnight Commander - Hacker News