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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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What's the point of terminal file managers (mc, ranger, nnn, etc)? (self.linux)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by tatterdemalion to c/[email protected]

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Who are these for? People who use the terminal but don't like running shell commands?

OK sorry for throwing shade. If you use one of these, honestly, what features do you use that make it worthwhile?

EDIT: Just to clarify, my point is I would almost always reach for fzf, fd, or rg before trying to manually search through a directory in a file manager.

EDIT2: A few people mentioned selecting files in a TUI. I don't find it any harder to select files using autocomplete. It might even be faster to start typing a name than it is it "scroll" through a list of files.

EDIT3: Here's a neat tool that can add some flexibility to your shell workflow: https://github.com/urbanogilson/lineselect

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I only use lf in foot to have a preview of a file (image, text, pdf, ssl cert, everything with sixels, cat or the specific command) without opening or searching for that file first. It's faster to just use lf to search for a file instead of opening every single one. Other than that I find using xdg-open, cp, mv, rm etc. is faster compared to using any file manager, probably because I never learnt lf's shortcuts properly. All GUI file managers I know are bound to their DE, eg. dolphin and nautilus, which sucks with a WM.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Thunar and Pcmanfm are not tied to any DE.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I know SpaceFM as a DE-independant GUI file manager.