emelFM2

Regardless of which desktop environment or window manager I'm using, I normally install KDE4's Dolphin. It's my favorite file browser/file manager. Prior to KDE4, I'd add Konqueror and/or Krusader.

When I installed Fedora 16 (GNOME), I decided to see how I'd like going without Dolphin, using only Nautilus.

Well, Nautilus is okay, but it simply isn't as convenient to use as Dolphin, in my opinion. There's no toolbar, so for doing certain things like going up a directory level or showing two panes or showing hidden files, you have to either use the drop-down menus or use a key-stroke combination.

On a tip from a member of the Fedora forums, I decided to try emelFM2. Version 0.8.0 was a available in the Fedora repos, and installing it brought in only a couple of extra packages for dependencies.

emelFM2 is much more configurable than Nautilus. By default, it has a dual-pane set-up, like Midnight Commander and Krusader. It comes with a few different toolbars (which are also configurable) that contain icons for lots of different tools. Makes life easier, in my opinion.

I found the helpful "usage" document at /usr/share/doc/emelfm2-0.8.0/USAGE, which shows you how to get around the file manager and set things up.

Dolphin has convenient file previews, and the preview pane, and that's something I miss with emelFM2. Other than that, I'm fine with using emelFM2 in GNOME 3, and I find it better to use than Nautilus.

Here's a link to the official emelFM2 web site: http://emelfm2.net/

And, for more screen shots: http://emelfm2.net/wiki/ScreenShots

The user guide is online at: http://emelfm2.net/wiki/UserGuide