Krusader 2.0 Review - First Stable KDE4 Release

    Krusader is a twin-panel file manager for KDE which has been around for around seven years and was always a good alternative to Konqueror since KDE3 days. Its interface resembles the one of the popular file manager Midnight Commander for the console. Codenamed 'Mars Pathfinder', 2.0 is the first KDE4 stable release, bringing lots of new features and coming with the entire interface ported to Qt4 libraries.

    Krusader is a powerful, full-featured and highly customisable file manager. The first time it starts, Krusader will check for various optional tools it may need, like kdiff3, krename or the available compression tools in the system (e.g. gzip, bzip2, zip, rar etc). Then, it will open the preferences window so you can configure it the way you want before actually start working.

    As I already mentioned, the interface resembles pretty much the one of Midnight Commander, with two panels, a text box for executing commands, and the usual Edit, Copy, Move, Quit etc buttons at the bottom:

    Krusader 2.0 'Mars Pathfinder' running in Kubuntu 9.04

    The good thing is that Krusader also supports tabs inside each panel, a practical way of navigating through various locations in your file system, manipulating and managing files.

    Among the top features Krusader comes with are:
    - twin-panel interface with support for tabs (a vertical mode for panels is also available)
    - user actions for archiving, compressing and uncompressing files or folders
    - integration with tools like kget, ark, krename, kdiff3 or kgpg
    - support for Windows shares
    - configurable keyboard shortcuts (including global) with the possibility to import or export custom configurations
    - 5 methods for sorting files
    - disk usage reporting
    - create and compare checksums

    And these are not all. Krusader is definitely one of the most full-featured file managers available for Linux, integrating any kind of feature one might need.

    Krusader also supports sessions, so you can save, manage and load different sessions on demand. It can even be embedded in the system tray.

    The configuration dialogue is very rich, offering options to customise sessions, user interface (toolbar, statusbar, function keys etc), the look and feel (colours, panels etc), view modes, handling of archives, paths to external tools, user actions and various protocols.

    Configuration window

    As a conclusion I can say Krusader is definitely a professional file manager, providing all the tools an advanced user needs, integrating very well with the KDE4 environment. If you are tired of Dolphin and don't like Konqueror as a file manager, you should give Krusader 2.0 a try, you may be surprised by its wealth of features.
    Source URL: http://ashesgarrett.blogspot.com/2009/07/krusader-20-review-first-stable-kde4.html
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