Konqueror as file maanager only?

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Wednesday, February 22nd 2006, 5:31pm

Ubuntu-64 Breezy, Gnome desktop, on my Compaq AMD-64 laptop

I really like Konqueror as a file manager. I've tried a lot of them and it is the best. However, I use Firefox exclusively for my browser. When I launch Konqueror it takes forever. I suspect that is because it is looking for a net connection, because if I am someplace where I don't have a net connection I can go have lunch waiting for it to come up.

Is there a way to tell it never to go to the internet?

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vdboor

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Sunday, March 12th 2006, 3:30pm

I think you're looking for the option: Control Center -> KDE Components -> Componente Chooser -> Web Browser.

You can also open the properties of an existing html file, edit it's file association settings, and choose to open this file type with firefox instead.

Working on KMess, a MSN Messenger client for Linux/KDE.

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "vdboor" (Mar 12th 2006, 3:30pm)

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bram85

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Sunday, March 12th 2006, 3:57pm

RE: Konqueror as file maanager only?

Does Konqueror load a webpage upon startup? If yes, remove the URL in the Konqueror settings. Also, IPV6 may slow things (terribly) down, maybe things are faster if you put

	Source code
1	export KDE_NO_IPV6=1

in your ~/.bashrc

Bram Schoenmakers
KDE Netherlands (www.kde.nl)

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John Jason Jordan

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Sunday, March 12th 2006, 4:29pm

Quoted

Originally posted by vdboor
I think you're looking for the option: Control Center -> KDE Components -> Componente Chooser -> Web Browser.

I know I was there once before, but now I can't find Control Center. I use Gnome. But I know KDE must be installed because I have so many KDE apps. It's just that KDE Control Center is not in the Gnome application drop-down list. I think last time I had to launch it from the command line. But I've forgotten what it's called.

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bram85

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Sunday, March 12th 2006, 4:39pm

kcontrol (only installed if the kdebase module is installed)

Bram Schoenmakers
KDE Netherlands (www.kde.nl)

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John Jason Jordan

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Sunday, March 12th 2006, 7:38pm

Konqueror as file manager only?

Thanks. I've added it now to my applications listings in Gnome, so next time I need it I can find it.

I tweaked a few things in it and now Konqueror is loading a lot faster. But I have one more question -- I note the command to launch it is "kfmclient openURL %u." What does the last part of that command do -- the "openURL %u" part?

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anda_skoa

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Sunday, March 12th 2006, 7:48pm

openURL is the command which tells kfmclient to open the given URL in a browser.

If one uses exec as the command, it will launch the application associated with the URLs MIME type, for example an image viewer for an URL pointing to an image.

The %u tells KDE that it can out a single URL there.
%U would be a list of URLs, %f a single file, %F a list of files.

The usable parameters obiously depend on the application, in case of kfmclient only %u or %f would work.

Cheers,
_

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John Jason Jordan

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Tuesday, March 14th 2006, 5:59am

Konqueror as file manager only?

Man, I'm having a helluva time. I thought I had it configured to start faster. But today after getting home from the university (where I didn't use it all day) I restarted the laptop and then went to launch it. It's back to it's slug-like launch process. It takes over 60 seconds to launch.

Then I needed to make a backup, so I launched kdar. In the process I decided to fix a couple things in kdar that have been annoyances for some time. First, it always announced that it couldn't fnd kwallet. So I fumbled around and got kwallet running and solved that problem. And because kdar refuses to back up a lot of files unless it is run as root, I have been launching it from the command line as "sudo kdar." So I went into the drop-down application launcher (in my Gnome panel) and changed the launch command to "gksudo kdar."

That fixed kdar and I made the backup. I had shut down Konqueror, so after the backup I decided to relaunch it. And now it refuses to launch at all. I get a popup with the error message:

"Could not start the process Cannot talk to klauncher."

Of course it can't talk to klauncher, because I use Gnome desktop, even though I have a lot of KDE apps installed. But it always launched fine before, albeit glacially slow. Why does it suddenly think it needs klauncher? Or did it always have klauncher and I did something to screw up klauncher?

I have tried tons of file managers and every one has something about it that sucks. Nautilus is buggy as hell, has a pathetic user interface and can eat files if you're not careful. Gnome Commander and Krusader cannot show a tree in the left pane and the file list in the right pane. And Konqueror thinks it's an internet browser, has no search utility, and can't mount removable drives. When I used to use Windows I swore at Windows Explorer, but it's way better than anything I've found for Linux. <sigh>

So, in spite of being in bitch mode tonight, I hope someone can figure out what's wrong with Konqueror.

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bram85

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Tuesday, March 14th 2006, 9:35am

RE: Konqueror as file manager only?

Quoted

"Could not start the process Cannot talk to klauncher."

What about other KDE applications? Same problem?

Quoted

Of course it can't talk to klauncher, because I use Gnome desktop, even though I have a lot of KDE apps installed. But it always launched fine before, albeit glacially slow. Why does it suddenly think it needs klauncher? Or did it always have klauncher and I did something to screw up klauncher?

I think klauncher is screwed, because it should be running whenever you're starting a KDE related process (like Konqueror).
Can you check if the binary is still valid? Running klauncher from the shell is useless, but maybe it spits out some useful errors.

Quoted

And Konqueror thinks it's an internet browser, has no search utility, and can't mount removable drives. When I used to use Windows I swore at Windows Explorer, but it's way better than anything I've found for Linux. <sigh>

What version of Konqueror are you using? Mounting removable devices is no problem (try to type media:/ in KDE 3.4 or higher). And what kind of search functionality are you looking for? In the Tools menu there's an option to search files.

Bram Schoenmakers
KDE Netherlands (www.kde.nl)

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Rinse

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Tuesday, March 14th 2006, 11:54am

And Konqueror [..] has no search utility,
It does, under 'tools->search file

and can't mount removable drives.
depends on your system.
Mounting is not done by your filemanager, but by your system.
Some support automounting, others do'nt.
On my SUSE (since 9.0 or so) automounting removable devices is done automagicly when entering the mountpoint of the device.
On older systems, you can use .desktop-files that contain the mount command and acces those files in konqueror.

imho automounting devices is not a task of the filemanager, because users also want to enter the device directly from within applications (like mediaplayers, foto albums etc..)

Help mee om KDE 3.5.5 in het Nederlands te vertalen

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John Jason Jordan

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Tuesday, March 14th 2006, 5:41pm

RE: Konqueror as file manager only?

Quoted

And Konqueror thinks it's an internet browser, has no search utility, and can't mount removable drives. When I used to use Windows I swore at Windows Explorer, but it's way better than anything I've found for Linux. <sigh>

Quoted

What version of Konqueror are you using? Mounting removable devices is no problem (try to type media:/ in KDE 3.4 or higher). And what kind of search functionality are you looking for? In the Tools menu there's an option to search files.

First, as to the klauncher issue, I shut down and restarted and then it started working again. I have no idea why.

As for mounting, for some reason my Ubuntu-64 Breezy computer (with Gnome desktop) does not automount things, I have only two devices that I ever want to mount -- my 60 GB iPod and my 60 GB USB pocket disk that I use for backups. Regardless of which I plug in, I have to mount it manually. I can do this from the command line; it's just faster if I can click, click, click, enter password, and hit enter. I don't mount the iPod very often because it already has almost all the music on it I ever want (I listen to only classical). But the pocket drive gets mounted about once a week to make a backup. I have Krusader installed also, and it can mount the drive just by clicking on it. But that's the only thing I use Krusader for, because otherwise I dislike it. (It does load nice and fast, though.) If I could get Konqueror to mount drives like Krusader, then I could eliminate Krusader.

As for finding files, there is no option to search for files in the Konqueror tools menu. All I have is

View filter >
Creat image gallery
Select remote charset (grayed out)
Execute shell command

The Help > About window says it is Konqueror 3.4.3 (Using KDE 3.4.3). I don't know if there are newer versions, but this is the latest version that is available in Synaptic.

In order to search for files I have kfind installed. Again, I would like to use just Konqueror so I could eliminate the extra program. Kfind kind of sucks, too. It always starts in my home folder. But I never want to search my home folder. I *know* what's in my home folder and where I put it. I need Find to search from the root when I'm looking for some system or configuration file. But kfind has no preferences to change that behavior. So every time I launch it I have to click, click, click to navigate to the root.

The best file manager I ever used on a computer was Norton File Manager for Windows NT 4.0. It was like the old file manager in Windows 3.x, except that Norton added all the stuff that Microsoft left out -- built in viewer, zip-unzip, tree on the left and file list on the right, and a lot of other handy things. That was ten years ago, and things seem to be getting worse.

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Rinse

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Wednesday, March 15th 2006, 12:52am

Quoted

The Help > About window says it is Konqueror 3.4.3 (Using KDE 3.4.3). I don't know if there are newer versions, but this is the latest version that is available in Synaptic.

kde 3.5.1 should be available as well.

Quoted

In order to search for files I have kfind installed. Again, I would like to use just Konqueror so I could eliminate the extra program.

As told before, you can search from within Konqueror.
Go to [tools->search file] when konqueror is in filemanager mode.

Quoted

I need Find to search from the root when I'm looking for some system or configuration file. But kfind has no preferences to change that behavior. So every time I launch it I have to click, click, click to navigate to the root.

Clicking is not needed, just remove /home/user in kfind and type /

Quoted

The best file manager I ever used on a computer was Norton File Manager for Windows NT 4.0. It was like the old file manager in Windows 3.x, except that Norton added all the stuff that Microsoft left out -- built in viewer, zip-unzip, tree on the left and file list on the right, and a lot of other handy things. That was ten years ago, and things seem to be getting worse.

You can always write your own file manager

By the way, all things you mention are available in Konqueror and Nautilus..
What features are you missing?

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John Jason Jordan

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Wednesday, March 15th 2006, 6:18am

Quoted

Originally posted by Rinse

Quoted

The Help > About window says it is Konqueror 3.4.3 (Using KDE 3.4.3). I don't know if there are newer versions, but this is the latest version that is available in Synaptic.

kde 3.5.1 should be available as well.

It's not listed in Synaptic. I use 64-bit Ubuntu Breezy. Lots of things are not available because no one has made a 64-bit .deb file and put it in one of the standard archives.

Quoted

Quoted

In order to search for files I have kfind installed. Again, I would like to use just Konqueror so I could eliminate the extra program.

As told before, you can search from within Konqueror.
Go to [tools->search file] when konqueror is in filemanager mode.

No, it's not listed under Tools. However, I did find it when I poked around. There is an icon for it you can put on the toolbar. I did so and now it works.

However, it is really like an integrated kfind. That is, it looks exactly like kfind, and it always comes up in /home/jjj instead of the root. And yes, I can delete /home/jjj and type /. That is what I do. My point is not that it is not usable, rather that the interface makes it harder to use because the user cannot change the startup folder.

Quoted

Quoted

The best file manager I ever used on a computer was Norton File Manager for Windows NT 4.0. It was like the old file manager in Windows 3.x, except that Norton added all the stuff that Microsoft left out -- built in viewer, zip-unzip, tree on the left and file list on the right, and a lot of other handy things. That was ten years ago, and things seem to be getting worse.

You can always write your own file manager
By the way, all things you mention are available in Konqueror and Nautilus..
What features are you missing?

Something that doesn't make me go take a coffee break while it launches. And preferably something that cannot be used outside of the immediate computer or LAN, that is, a file manager that does not have delusions of being an internet browser. But having said that, Norton File Manager did have an FTP facility that I found handy on occasion. "Occasion" means three or four times a year. It was nice for transferring files to my company website, because it could remember my password.

Oh, and it would be very handy if it had a mount facility. Like I could plug in my USB pocket drive, right click on the mount point, and be given an option to "mount" or "unmount" (one of which would be grayed out, depending on whether it was mounted or not). And when I selected one of the choices it would pop up a dialog box for my root password, then mount or unmount the drive.

And that reminds me of something else that would be very useful. Sometimes I want to edit or move a file that requires root privileges. So why can't I right-click on the file and be given an option to assume the cloak of root for the function? Naturally, it would pop up a dialog box asking for my password. But it would be a lot faster than having to open a terminal and then launch it from the command line with sudo. That's a big hassle when all I wanted to do was fiddle with one file.

It would also be nice if it would use an index feature to speed up searches. It takes almost five minutes for it to search my entire hard disk, and there are only 12 GB of data to look through. Internet Explorer completes a search of all 65 GB of data on my Windows 2000 desktop in a matter of 20-30 seconds. It must be using some kind of indexing to accomplish this. I don't profess to know how it works; I just know that if it can be done on Windows then it should be equally doable on Linux.

Really, at this point I just want Konqueror to launch reliably and quickly.

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vdboor

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Wednesday, March 15th 2006, 7:28pm

Quoted

Originally posted by John Jason Jordan
Something that doesn't make me go take a coffee break while it launches. And preferably something that cannot be used outside of the immediate computer or LAN, that is, a file manager that does not have delusions of being an internet browser.

Put the following in your startup scripts:

Source code

kdeinit &

find /etc/opt/kde3 /home/user/.kde /opt/kde3/share/applications \
    /opt/kde3/share/applnk /opt/kde3/share/mimelnk /opt/kde3/share/services \
    /opt/kde3/share/servicetypes /opt/kde3/share/config \
    /opt/kde3/share/icons /opt/kde3/ &

This improves the startup time a lot. When you launch a KDE-application outside KDE, it still needs to load some parts/daemons of KDE itself. This can be fixed by loading the daemons when your alternative desktop launches.

The find command causes the kernel to cache the directories with the config files, this also improves the performance, as KDE-startup is very much IO-bound, not just CPU-bound.

Quoted

Originally posted by John Jason JordanBut having said that, Norton File Manager did have an FTP facility that I found handy on occasion. "Occasion" means three or four times a year. It was nice for transferring files to my company website, because it could remember my password.

Try ftp:// links in Konqueror, and use the split view to have it like Norton Commander.

Quoted

Originally posted by John Jason Jordan
Oh, and it would be very handy if it had a mount facility. Like I could plug in my USB pocket drive, right click on the mount point, and be given an option to "mount" or "unmount" (one of which would be grayed out, depending on whether it was mounted or not).

Konqueror can do this, there is a devices section in one of the sidebar tabs.. I must agree it could use some polishing. You can also open the media:/ location (this became more visible in KDE 3.4 or 3.5, not sure which one, where the webbrowser view has a nice styled frontpage with useful icons).

Quoted

Originally posted by John Jason Jordan
And when I selected one of the choices it would pop up a dialog box for my root password, then mount or unmount the drive.

How about making removable media mountable by all users in /etc/fstab with the "user" option?

Quoted

Originally posted by John Jason Jordan
And that reminds me of something else that would be very useful. Sometimes I want to edit or move a file that requires root privileges. So why can't I right-click on the file and be given an option to assume the cloak of root for the function? Naturally, it would pop up a dialog box asking for my password. But it would be a lot faster than having to open a terminal and then launch it from the command line with sudo. That's a big hassle when all I wanted to do was fiddle with one file.

This is indeed not defaultly available in Konqueror, but it can be added. See http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=19311 and http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=11998 These examples could give you more inspriration to create more servicemenu's. You can start commands with "kdesu" to display the password dialog.

Quoted

Originally posted by John Jason Jordan
It would also be nice if it would use an index feature to speed up searches. It takes almost five minutes for it to search my entire hard disk, and there are only 12 GB of data to look through.

The known shell-command for this is "locate", it's from the package findutils. It needs "updatedb" to update the database each day (from a cronjob). KFind has support for locate, you can check the option "Use files index" to speed up the searching.

I'll have to agree though that a lot of features in Konqueror are hidden somewhere, and things like "edit as root" are very useful to have as default. Perhaps it is an idea to file a wish about this at bugs.kde.org, or post a nice suggestion in the KDE4-brainstorm topics at kde-look.org...?

Working on KMess, a MSN Messenger client for Linux/KDE.

This post has been edited 2 times, last edit by "vdboor" (Mar 15th 2006, 7:32pm)

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Rinse

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Wednesday, March 15th 2006, 8:37pm

Quoted

However, it is really like an integrated kfind. That is, it looks exactly like kfind, and it always comes up in /home/jjj instead of the root. And yes, I can delete /home/jjj and type /. That is what I do. My point is not that it is not usable, rather that the interface makes it harder to use because the user cannot change the startup folder.

It is indeed an integrated kfind.
But with the difference that it starts the search in the directory that you entered wit konqueror.
So if you are in /home/jjj, kfind wil start there.
If you are in /, kfind wil start in /
if you are in /usr/local/lib, kfind... etc..

about automounting stuff, that is only available in kde 3.5 or newer.
As said before, you can try creating .desktop-files that contain the proper mount commands (right click and choos [create new->link to device].
Make sure that the device is available in /etc/fstab

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John Jason Jordan

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Wednesday, March 15th 2006, 9:10pm

Vdboor and Rinse,

Thanks for your suggestions. I am going to try them. However, I'm kind of new to Linux so it will require some study to figure out exactly how to do some of them. I have this page bookmarked and I am going to work on it as soon as finals are over (next week! Ack!).

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