Suggest me a file browser

General system Applications
1

Okay, I’m looking for a file manager with a couple of specific requirements.

01: dual pane. This one is easy enough, since quite a few file managers have the option.

02: Instead of setting view mode by folder, like most file managers, I want to be able to set view mode by pane, i.e. the left pane is always in detailed view mode, and the right pane is always in icon view. This is the most important thing I’m looking for.

Not as important, but still something I’m looking for:

03: The ability to use tabs for each pane, and to be able to tell which tabs are for which pane.

04: An obvious indicator of which pane is active, ideally a different background shade or color.

05: a sidebar to access the file system and, more importantly, drives.

And some nice to have features:

06: Folder tip-downs in list view, like Dolphin and a couple others

07: Resizable file & folder icons

08: a clearly visible divider between left and right panes.

I used spacefm for years, until the crashes became unbearable. I’m not quite geek enough to install thermitegod’s version, and zzzfm shares most of the same issues I had with spacefm.

Currently, in order to get the layout I want, I’m using Dolphin and PCmanFM side by side, with Dolphin in detailed list mode and PCmanFM in thumbnail view. It works, but it’s got some bobbles, mostly with copying or moving files between the two.

I’ve tried quite a few different file managers, but nothing does what I’m looking for, and I’m actually considering brushing the dust off my programming and trying to write one myself.

So, what are your suggestions?

2

Thunar can do this. Pressing F3 opens Split View, and you can then set the left pane to a detailed view, while the right pane remains in icon view. The active pane has a differently shaded background, there is a sidebar with shortcuts to folders and drives, file & folder icons are resizeable with zoom, and there is a clearly visible divider between panes.

3

Thunar doesn’t save the split-view, view mode or open tabs when exited and restarted, but now that I think about it, that was the deal-killer the last time I tried it out, and it’s a couple keystrokes to get the left/right panes set up right, and opening tabs is just some mouse-clicks.

4

To save the option for split mode:

xfconf-query -c thunar -p /misc-open-new-windows-in-split-view -n -t bool -s true
5

Thanks, that does start it in split view mode, so a definite step forward. Doesn’t keep the view mode, though. It looks like it starts with both panes using the same view mode as the active pane the last time it was open.

Looks like I’ll be using Thunar a lot more than usual. And I learned something, and that’s almost always a win in my book.

6

Which DE/WM? I normally just open 2 thunar windows, but I am using a tiling WM (MangoWM):

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#!/usr/bin/env bash

if pgrep -af thunar; then
    mmsg dispatch view, 4
    exit
fi

fm="thunar"
path_one="/home/xircon/Downloads/Completed"
path_two="/home/xircon/dmnts/htpc-mech"

SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
"$SCRIPT_DIR/dnum-m.sh" 4
mmsg dispatch view, 4
#sleep 0.2

# Avoid D-Bus registration race when starting multiple windows.
#"$fm" --daemon >/dev/null 2>&1 &
#sleep 0.3
"$fm" -w "$path_one" "$path_two"&
#sleep 0.2
#"$fm" -w "$path_two" &

And that is the script I use to open it (some stuff is Mango dependant, but easily adapted).

7

XFCE, I’ve been using it for years.

I can understand almost all of your script, and should be able to noodle out the last couple bits with a little poking around.

Is there a way to set it to open one in list mode and the other in folder mode?

8

You could use xdotool, doesn’t work on wayland:

or

Which works in both.

9

That’ll be something I look into tonight, when I’ve got the time. And ydotool is in the repos, so that’ll be easy enough.

10

I am now retired and bored :smiley:

I created a python/pyside based file manger in less than 30 minutes using codex ai:

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You can open two folders in the view you want:

fm ~/ icon ~/tmp list
11

I was thinking I would need to pull out my books on C++ and relearn everything I learned and mostly forgot 20 years ago. Looks like it’s time to focus on python.