file manager features.

Last update: May 3rd, 2000.

Question

Why a need for another file manager since there are already a lot of existing freeware, shareware or commercial file managers and shells, in several platforms (VM/CMS, DOS, GEM, OS/2, Windows 3.1/95/98/NT/2000/Pocket, Linux/AIX/Unix, PalmOS, EPOC32 and BeOS)? Examples of such file managers/shells:

Fulist, Filelist, FC3, OS2FL, Fileman, Norton Commander, Xtree Pro Gold, D, Shez, ZTreeBold, ZTreeWin, Xlist, Windows Commander, File Director, MrFilePM, Dirutily, Filejet, JetCommander, ADU/2, Control3, CMFiler, FM/2, FileStar/2, Midnight Commander, Ftree, Nico's Commander, Turbo Browser 2000, Windows 3.x File Manager, 4DOS/4NT/4OS2, Tree86, VFU, Ytree, Flafi, WMFinder, Drag and File, MS Explorer, File Commander/2, PC Tools Deluxe, TakeCommand/2, File Freedom, YAOS, FileKick, Servant Salamander, Captain Nemo, OS/2 Commander, PCOpus, X Northern Captain, XTreeWin, PowerDesk Utilities 98, WizManager, DirMaster, FileWrangler, QuickShell, StupenDos, Star Commander, Object Desktop, DiskJockey 2000 Professional, Volkov Commander, WinNC, Pash, FileRunner, TkDesk, Dos Navigator II, FAR, Connect, Xfm, X11 DFM, Manipulator, Dos Shell, Eddy, fmweb, Byte Commander, Speed Commander, FileTiger, Genesis Commander, FmEdit98, KFM, ZFM, XFTree, Larsen Commander, Opus 2000 Professional, File Probe, Magellan Explorer, Kruiser, BeTree, BeCommander...

Answer

List of features

• Same user interface and configuration file for all supported platforms (Windows 95/98/NT/2000, OS/2, Linux(i386), FreeBSD(i386), OpenBSD(i386), NetBSD(i386), AIX).
• Multiple file windows organized in left and right panels, each panel has its own ring of windows.
• Usual file operations (copy, move, delete, rename, update, backup) on current or marked files.
• File windows can be moved from one side to another, or duplicated (cloned) to other side.
• Commands can be executed against current or marked files, with indication of return code: one command execution for all marked files, or repeating command execution for each marked file.
• Persistent command line history, with incremental search recall listbox.
• Cut/paste from/to command line: works with viewer, editor, file manager or system clipboard.
• Country-dependent format display (date, time).
• Sub-directories are created on the fly if needed, with any new intermediate sub-directories.
• Recursive file operations for directories (e.g. delete, copy, move, update(synchronize), change attributes (date/time, read-only/hidden/system/archive flags, change name case).
• Main file operations can be executed interactively or in background (separate threads). Examples: copy, move, delete, update, zip, unzip, recursive directory search.
• Ability to hide (exclude) marked files from display.
• Customizations options stored in plain text file (f.cfg) for easy update, with built-in editor.
• Log files for important file operations.
• Year 2000-compliant (well, should be :-)).
• Plain text configuration file for easy customizations.
• Several color customizations options, e.g. by file extension.
• Incremental search for file names, with wild card supported for quick file access.
• Incremental search for all listboxes.
• (OS/2, Win32) Automatic start of .INF file by view.exe/iview.exe.
• (OS/2, Win32) Display all available .inf/.hlp (documentation) present in the system, with their title. Option search string from the documentation titles.
• (OS/2) Display of extended attributes (EA) presence and size. View EA content, edit ASCII EA.
• Built-in clock display.
• Strip GML/Bookmaster tags for easier reading as plain text file.
• Built-in calculator (decimal, hex, binary), result displayed in 3 bases.
• Built-in 'grep' (text search files with given string), with regular expressions support and recursive search across sub-directories. You can even search for host FTP or FFP (F to F Protocol) files, or inside ZIP files!
• Collector list file to get unrelated files presented in a file manager window where usual file operations can be performed (copy, move, delete, zip, tar...).
• Show in a file manager window all files present in a list file, with wild card support.
• Easy creation of ZIP file from single file, marked files or directories, and even from marked files inside an existing ZIP file!
• Copy file inside a ZIP file to another ZIP file (direct ZIP to ZIP operation, no intermediate unzip/rezip).
• Rename file inside a ZIP file.
• Copy file inside a ZIP file with a new name (copy-as).
• Easy copy/add/update/delete file(s) to an existing ZIP file.
• Files can be searched for various criteria: file specifications, date, time, size, extended attributes. Search result is presented in a file manager window where file operations can be applied.
• Filter (mask) or select (mark) files with various criteria: by file specifications, by extension, by attributes, by date/time. Reverse mark.
• Create new file manager window from marked files.
• Move to next/previous marked files.
• Mark files from current position to end of list, or from top list to current position.
• Built-in duplicate files search, in multiple drives. Result is presented is a file manager window where all file operations can be applied.
• Very powerful command line substitutions (macro-variables) using current/marked files names from current or other panel, or even from viewer/editor.
• (OS/2) Automatic support for long file name conversions between FAT and HPFS disks using standard .LONGNAME extended attribute.
• (OS/2) Support for removable disks (lock, unlock, eject), with automatic file system flush on ejection (useful for media formatted with HPFS).
• User-defined commands associated with given file extension, with optional comments. Associations can even be defined with complete file name or file extension, with optional wild card ('?' or '*').
• User-defined commands for quick access.
• User-defined directories (bookmark) for quick access.
• User-defined files (bookmark) for quick access.
• User-defined aliases.
• Restore built-in editor/viewer environments from previous sessions.
• Execute program inside ZIP file.
• Check ZIP integrity.
• (OS/2) Check EXE/DLL file type inside ZIP file.
• (OS/2) Check DLL dependency for EXE/DLL.
• Transparent View/Edit/Copy/Delete/Save files inside ZIP file, with extended attributes support.
• Unix compress support.
• GZIP support (compress/uncompress).
• Copy partial file content to a new one (chopcopy).
• Support for automatic conversion between Bookmaster graphic tags (e.g. &Ul.) into corresponding ASCII box characters for Script-type files.
• Quick clone of one file manager panel to other.
• Move one file manager panel to other.
• (OS/2) HPFS support: long file name, extended attributes.
• Support for ZIP archives as local directories (VFS: Virtual File System). ZIP inside ZIP is supported (nth level).
• (OS/2) Support for disk image VFS. Disk images files are created from diskette or magneto-optical disk using utilities like savedskf, dskimage or emt4os2, or F built-in 'dskimg' command.
• (Win32, OS/2) Dynamic network drives connection/disconnection.
• (OS/2, Win32) Built-in diskette image save/restore. Can be used to mass-duplicate diskettes.
• Built-in conversion of ZIP to EXE (self-extracting).
• Built-in conversion of EXE to ZIP.
• Automatic recognition of self-extracting EXE as ZIP directory.
• Support for TAR/TGZ archives as local directories (almost).
• Support for FTP as local directories (FTP VFS). You can for example recursively copy to/from host FTP directories. Rename, delete (recursive), edit host file. IBM VM FTP host (FTPSERVE) and OS/390 are also supported. Up to 36 simultaneous connections (36 FTP servers) are supported (ftpx: x=0..9 A..Z) with multiple file windows for each connection. QUOTE and SITE commands supported. FTP connections are automatically and transparently re-established if disconnected by server (time-out). Also interrupted file transfer (download) can be resumed if the FTP server supports the REST/APPE command. Firewall (passive mode) supported. Optional direct copy from remote FTP server to remote FTP server (FXP) is also supported.
• (Win32, OS/2) Background FTP operations supported.
• Support for RAR, ARJ, LZH VFS (built-in directory list, but need external executables (unarchivers: unrar.exe, unarj.exe...) to view/copy individual files).
• Support for RPM (RedHat Package Manager) VFS.
• (Win32)Support for CAB VFS.
• (OS/2, Win32)Support for ACE VFS.
• Support for LST VFS (collector).
• Convert marked files between Unix (LF) and DOS (CR, LF) format.
• (OS/2) File annotation using F2NOTE extended attribute: very handy to document files, and integration with Web server directory list. Optional use of 4DOS/4OS2/4NT 'descript.ion' file too.
• Use 4DOS/4OS2/4NT 'descript.ion' file present in each directory to annotate files.
• User-defined file annotation for files.
• Display disk structure in graphical tree format.
• Set disk volume label, show volume serial number.
• (OS/2)Can be run even under 'telnet' text mode.
• Built-in viewer, with ring of files, and split screen support.
  • Syntax coloring support for C-type, HTML, REXX, newsgroup and mail files.
  • Support procedure tagging (like ctags) in both viewer, editor and command line.
  • Support modules tagging in both viewer, editor and command line.
  • Show included files hierarchy (C-programming).
  • Incremental search.
  • Search forwards/backwards for text (case-sensitive optional).
  • Line mark and block mark support.
  • Multiple clipboards, shared with built-in editor and file manager: cut, copy, append, paste.
  • System clipboard support: copy, copy-append, cut, paste.
  • Support for viewing host files (VM) using almcopy.
  • Bookmarks support (persistent between sessions).
  • VI emulation keys (almost).
  • Numerous powerful viewer internal commands (all, put...).
  • Unlimited number of viewer windows.
  • Files reload at startup with single key.
  • Various word functions: search word under cursor, mark word, find all occurrences of word, programming help...
  • Color support for newsgroups (.grp) and mails (.elm) files.
  • Detection of files modified by external sources after initial load.
  • Easy switch to built-in editor mode.
  • Load directory from word under cursor.
  • Excellent integration with file manager.
• Built-in editor, with ring of files, and split screen support.
  • Optional syntax expansion support for C-type files.
  • Support procedure tagging.
  • Show included files hierarchy (C-programming).
  • Incremental search.
  • Search forwards/backwards for text (case-sensitive optional).
  • Change text, entire file or in marked area, with optional interactive prompt.
  • Line mark and block mark support.
  • Automatic tabulations expansion.
  • Multiple clipboards, shared with built-in viewer and file manager: cut, copy, append, paste.
  • System clipboard support: copy, cut, paste, append.
  • Support for transparent editing host files (VM) using almcopy.
  • Bookmarks support (persistent between sessions).
  • Numerous powerful editor internal commands (all, prefix, suffix, nlist, add, put...).
  • Unlimited number of edit windows.
  • Sort by line or column, in ascending or descending order.
  • Files reload at startup with single key.
  • Graphic drawing mode, with optional automatic conversion to Bookmaster tags.
  • Various word functions: search word under cursor, mark word, delete word, find all occurrences of word, programming help...
  • Detection of files modified by external sources after initial load.
  • (OS/2) Extended attributes preserved.
  • Wild card file loading.
  • Easy switch to built-in viewer mode.
  • Load directory from word under cursor.
  • Excellent integration with file manager.
• Built-in binary editor, with ASCII and EBCDIC support: search, insertion, deletion, marked block operations.
• Concurrent process buffer.
  • Operating system command prompt (cmd.exe for OS/2) available as an edit buffer of built-in editor ring when commands can be typed and executed.
  • Automatic capture of stdout/stderr of text-mode programs.
  • Support for common compilers/tools messages outputs: can be used as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). F itself is developed by using its own IDE!
• Built-in viewer or editor can be invoked from batch file.
• Built-in 'fmsg'/'fsend'/'fquery' can be invoked from batch file.
• File window can be invoked from batch file.
• Remote execution of commands can be invoked from batch file.
• FFP (F to F Protocol) VFS: this function allows accessing remote host files (running F) much like FTP/NFS/Telnet combined but with much more functions:
  • Faster.
  • Most usual file operations supported.
  • Files transfer between FFP session and local disk.
  • Files transfer between FFP and FTP sessions.
  • Transparent view/edit of host FFP files, even files inside host ZIP file: the host ZIP file is automatically updated!
  • Files timestamps preserved after get/put (copy from/to FFP host).
  • Up to 36 simultaneous connections (36 FFP servers), with multiple file windows for each connection.
  • Progression status display for foreground operations.
  • Background file operations support.
  • Files transfer between two FFP sessions (ffpx:, ffpy:).
  • Direct send host FFP files to other workstations.
  • Show host directory/disk free space.
  • (OS/2) F2NOTE extended attribute support (view, set/modify, delete).
  • 4DOS/4OS2/4NT 'descript.ion' file annotation support.
  • No drive letter wasted.
  • Remote execution capability.
  • Remote directory size/free disk space display.
  • Build host ZIP file from marked host files/directories.
  • ZIP file awareness, so no need to download entire host ZIP file before accessing its content. Smart download: only compressed data sent, unzip process done on client side.
  • Partial view of big host files (head, tail).
  • Recursive host directory display.
  • Optional transparent compression/decompression of files to optimize file transfer duration for low-speed link.
  • Reset active login from another workstation.
• (OS/2) Support for CD-audio: access as normal disk: play, stop, view track duration, view disk/track titles (built-in database of CD titles). No MMPM/2 needed.
• (OS/2) List CD-ROM/CD-audio internal information.
• Capture stdout/stderr of text-mode programs ('.' prefix) with automatic built-in viewer/editor invocation.
• Submit commands to concurrent process buffer for background processing.
• Built-in file transfer with other F users (fsend).
• Built-in messages exchange with other F users (fmsg). Distribution list or logged-in users list supported.
• Built-in POP3/SMTP mail client, with multiple accounts support, easy switch between the accounts.
• Built-in NNTP news reader client, with interactive/background news retrieval.
• (OS/2, Win32, Linux) Built-in Web server (FWS), with user authentication and integrated directory navigation, files annotation and independent log file. Multi-threading, and CGI GET method support.
• (OS/2, Win32, Linux) Built-in full-featured FTP server, with independent log file, with resume interrupted file transfers (download/upload). Easy/dynamic administration through plain text configuration file ('trusers').
• (OS/2, Win32) Dynamic indication of notebook battery status (if any, Advanced Power Management).
• (OS/2) Dynamic display of swapper file size, largest physical memory available.
• (Win32) NTFS compressed attribute display.
• Dynamic display of current date/time.
• (OS/2) Optional built-in CPU utilization information.
• (OS/2) Built-in TCP/IP send/receive activity display.
• Show directories or disks total/free space.
• Built-in perpetual calendar.
• (OS/2) Support for "ea data. sf" system files.
• Email attachement decoder.
• Built-in MIME encoding/MIME decoding.
• Built-in UUENCODE/UUDECODE.
• Directory comparison between left and right file manager panels: new files, duplicated files, files with differences in date/time, files with differences in size.
• Show/kill running processes in the system.
• (OS/2) Show open files for each process.
• (OS/2) Show list of running processes using a given DLL.
• Configurable external viewers and editors.
• Show current/marked file(s) information: file size, attribute, date, time, allocated size, HPFS dates/times (creation, last access, last write). For ZIP VFS: compressed size, compression ratio. (OS/2) For TVFS (Toronto Virtual File System): mapped file, directory link map.
• Show directory/marked directories size.
• Join (concatenate) marked files or from a list file: ASCII or binary mode.
• Show directory tree disk space usage (dus).
• Clone entire directory structure (maketree).
• Check environment variable for consistencies (PATH, DPATH, INCLUDE, LIB...) (echeck).
• Dynamic set/change environment variables (set).
• Built-in 'which' utility: result presented in a standard file manager window.
• urlinfo: inform about Web server and URL document.
• urlscan: inform changes from list of URLs.
• urlget: get (download) any file with HTTP/FTP/FFP protocol.
• urlput: put (upload) any file with FTP/FFP protocol.
• edupf: search for duplicated files from given environment variable.
• edir: show files from given environment variable.
• Dynamic change of configuration file (FCFGPATH).
• User-defined directory for temporary files (FTMPPATH).
• User-defined directory for log files (FLOGPATH).
• Built-in split/unsplit utility to handle big files.
• (OS/2) Built-in locked module replacement (repmod).
• Swap name of two files/directories (swapname).
• Dump binary files with many options, with ASCII and EBCDIC formats (hexdump).
• Head/tail functions to view only small portion (customizable) of big file.
• Display all ASCII strings sequence from binary file.
• Compute CRC16 for a given file.
• Compute CRC32 for a given file.
• Work with network UNC drives without mounting the disk.
• (OS/2) List of all loaded modules in the system.
• (OS/2) Show number of available selectors in the system.
• Interactive display of keyboard scan codes.
• Built-in operating system API return codes display (osrc).
• Built-in Winsock return codes display (sockrc).
• (OS/2) Set/modify/delete ASCII extended attributes for given file.
• (OS/2) Conversion of .HLP file to .INF file.
• Automatic detection and untersing for TERSED file.
• (Win32, Linux) Automatic support for Object REXX by automatic prefixing .cmd files with 'rexx' before execution.
• Create file with any size (for test purposes).
• (OS/2) Fast floppy disk formatter.
• Built-in binary file comparison.
• Built-in file changer for text or binary files, with optional multiple changed strings.
• Built-in Unix-to-DOS, DOS-to-Unix files conversion. Works with remote FFP files.
• Built-in ASCII/EBCDIC table display.
• (OS/2, Win32) Redirect diskette boot to hard disk or B: drive.
• (OS/2, Win32) Copy disk boot sector to/from a file.
• C-source to HTML converter.
• C++ comments to C comments converter.
• (OS/2) Unlock locked modules (EXE/DLL).
• (OS/2) Set keyboard typamatic rate/delay.
• Batch interface (fpinit) to invoke built-in viewer, editor, file manager, send message, send file, remote execution, refresh configuration file, login with FFP, or query FFP status.
• Several standard video modes support: 80x25, 80x33, 80x43, 80x50, 80x60, 132x25, 132x33, 132x43, 132x50, 132x60. Other modes (e.g. 126x56, 102x40) are also supported (in fact all video modes supported by the system or by 'mode' command (Win32, OS/2)).
• Embedded on-line help (F1, about 300KB), no need for external help file.
• (OS/2, Win32) The package contains only one single executable, no installation required: 'download-and-run'.
• (OS/2, Win32) Easy upgrade to newer F version ('fupgrade' command) without the need to quit current instance.
• Standalone command line utilities (fmsg, fsend, fquery, ffpcopy and ffpquery) available in all supported platforms.
• And last but not least: F is free for use!