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OFM Bulletin 1999

Top news for the year 1999 are in red and marked from {*} to {*****}. There are Just two top news for 1999 (Drall and WebDrive FTP).

• [Dec.30, 1999] kcom -- Linux OFM inspired by Windows commander.  Suggested by Juhapekka "naula" Tolvanen 

  Here is a relevant quote from the product web page:

  A highlight would be the automatic (un-)mounting of dynamic drives like CD-Rom or Floppy. Furthermore all the points you want configurable can be changed to satisfy different tasks. You can handle packed archives like normal lists.
  And so on ...

• [Dec 17, 1999]   OFMs for BEos. Suggested by Nguyen Nam Duy <ndnguyen@wanadoo.fr>
  • http://www.becommander.com
  • http://www.be.com/beware

• [Dec. 16, 1999]  Konstantin Zamyatin's  Akkord -- Advanced KDE Commander  (beta) Suggested by Juhapekka "naula" Tolvanen 

  At begin of my experience at Unix I couldn't find an excellent commander like Dos Navigator. Later I found Midnight Commander that is similar to Norton Commander (IMHO Dos Navigator more beautiful). But with all commanders I missed some features (e.g. copying in background, non-blocking work when connecting to ftp-server). At the end (about summer 1999), I decided begin work on own commander that should be meet my requirements.

  Features:

  • Traditional 2 panels;
  • Non-blocking operations (e.g copy, delete...);
    
  • Manipulate remote files systems using FTP protocol (try CTRL+G). Needs in ftplib;
  • Representation archives (for thе time being rar and zip) & ftp as common file system;
  • Non-blocking read contents of dir. At any time you are able to stop reading. And at the time when directory is reading (big archive, ftp server, etc...) you are able to continue work with Akkord (on other panel);
  • quick search (try ALT+S);
  • Multiwindowed interface (like Netscape Navigator);
  • You may associate with Akkord using a socket;
  • If you try to start Akkord simultaneously with other copy it only opens new window;

  Requirements:

  • Unix (it only tested on linux. Please, if you are able to run it on other unices report it or if you don't do it contact with me for help with porting);
  • X Windows System (tested on XFree86 3.3.x);
  • QT (tested on 1.44);
  • KDE (tested on 1.1.2);
  • libc (tested on glibc 2.0.x and on glibc 2.1.x);
  • libpthread (tested on 0.7 & 0.8. If you use other thread lib contact with me for help with porting);
  • libftp (3.1 or better). You may download it from my site;
  • C++ compiler (tested on egcs 1.1.2 patched to pgcc);
     
• [Dec. 16, 1999]  DirTree, the DOS File-Manager Suggested by Juhapekka "naula" Tolvanen 
  
• {*****} [Nov. 29, 1999]   Drall by Henrik Edlund -- remote implementation of OFM. Very interesting idea and one of the two top news for 1999(see also news item about CGI-based implementation). Platforms: Linux and Perl (any system supporting perl)

  Drall is a script which allows users to access their directories and files remotely without the need of using insecure ftp and telnet. It enables the user to treat the remote file system as if it was on their local hard disk trough a normal web browser. The interface resembles the well known Norton Commander (of DOS fame) and Midnight Commander (of UNIX fame). Drall relies on the server's HTTP authentication and SSL for security. Dual-frame interface makes it easy to overlook file system and the modular design means you only use the features you need. Written in Perl for easy customization and expansion.
  

• [Nov. 25, 1999] I wrote a small section that discuss innovations in OFM in my new paper A Second Look at the Cathedral and the Bazaar(Open Source Software Development as a Special Type of Academic Research. Part 2)

• [Nov.19, 1999] emelFM - Homepage  GTK-based OFM for Unix(Tested with 1.2.3 on SuSE 6.1 and 1.2.0 on Solaris 2.7) -- Suggested by Juhapekka "naula" Tolvanen 

emelFM is a file manager that implements the popular two-window design. It features a simple GTK+ interface, a flexible filetyping scheme, and a built-in command line for executing commands without opening an xterm. Uses GTK+ v1.2.x
Tested with 1.2.3 on SuSE 6.1 and 1.2.0 on Solaris 2.7. Features:

• Simple Interface
• Bookmarks and History Lists
• Flexible filetyping scheme
• Multiple actions selectable for each filetype
• Filename, Size, and Date Filters
• Built-In Command Line

Screenshots

• Main Window
• Main Window 2
• Configuration Dialog
• Filetypes Dialog

• {*****} [Oct. 26, 1999]  WebDrive FTP Client Software by RiverFront Software -- a revolutionary FTP client that makes FTP VFS implementation in OFMs redundant. This is 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 98 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

• [Oct. 16, 1999] New OFM from Hungary -- "File Wizard". Freeware, Win95 LFN aware, supports 4DOS file descriptions, and generally fits the basic keymap requirements of Orthodox File Managers (TAB, ^O, ^K, ^\, ^PgUp, etc.). Version 119 is available here:
  
  http://www.nexus.hu/gad/  # author's website
  ftp://ftp.elf.stuba.sk/pub/pc/utilfile/  # downloads here
  ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/sac/utilfile/
   

• [July 18, 1999]  GREC - GREC Recursively Enhanched Commander. Suggested by Juhapekka "naula" Tolvanen 
  
  http://blackbox.xy.org/~antonb/grec/
   

• [July 17, 1999] Smartbar -- small Tcl-based -- v. 03. Poscardware. Not very interesting other than yet another proof that TCL is a way to go in programming OFMs. Suggested by Juhapekka "naula" Tolvanen 
   

• [July 15, 1999] People who like Orthodox file managers should also try orthodox file editors :-). I mean Xedit/Kedit/THE family of editors. Softpanorama now has special page devoted to editors in general and Eastern Orthodox Editors ;-) in particular.

• [June 28, 1999] Windows Commander 4.0 is now available for download from http://www.ghisler.com/ 

  The new release adds more than 20 new features, so it's certainly worth to update - especially since the update is still free for all registered users. Simply download the new (Shareware) version, and install it to the same directory as the registered version.

• [June 20, 1999] X WinCommander -- WinCMd clone for Linux.

  • Version: Stable 0.67-2
  • Revision Date: June 16, 1999
  • Byte Size: 91,890
  • License: GPL
  • Home Page: http://study.haifa.ac.il/~mbaranov
  • Description: The File Manager for X11 with Windows Commander look.

• [June 11, 1999] Norton Commander 2.0 -- Symantec implementation -- seems to be not so much different that v. 1.0, but cheaper ($56)...

• [June 9, 1999] ZDNet Software Library - FAR -- nice that they included this product !

• [June 9, 1999]  Change: there is now an Official RarSoft RAR WinRAR and FAR product support site

• [May 16, 1999] DOS Navigator is free now.  See my OFM book  for details about DOS Navigator file manager

• [May 16, 1999] DISCO Commander (Neosoft Russia) -- yet another classic OFM

  • Demo (1.5 Mb)

• [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 "naula" Tolvanen 

Previous news selections:

• Softpanorama Bulletin Vol. 10, No.3 -- see OFM section
• Softpanorama Bulletin Vol. 10, No. 2 -- see OFM section
• Softpanorama Bulletin vol.10, No. 1 --  see OFM section