[svlug] About mc (and other linux file managers)

[Joe Brenner]

J C Lawrence <claw at kanga.nu> wrote: 

> Loosely what I want is single pane, single directory view with the
> ability to interactively (in the move the cursor about and hit
> command keys sense) copy, move, rename, etc files with a very fast
> large file viewer that doesn't insist on loading them into memory.
> If the command keys are letter based (c=copy, d=delete, m-move,
> r=rename, etc I'm fine and configurability is not needed.  I don't
> want to launch editors, run scripts, or handle spiffy regxes -- just
> text mode point, select, and shoot.  Not particularly interested in
> an internal command line.  Don't want help.  Copy destination can be
> typed in, or can be walked to and then copy invoked.  Can't think of
> any reason I'd be interested in ALT-TAB.

I'm trying to figure out why "dired" isn't in the running
here.  I would think it does everything that you're asking
for here, though of course it also does a bunch of things
you're saying you don't care about it... (I'm not sure why 
you don't, but that's up to you.)

One of the reasons I use dired of course, is that I also use
emacs, and the two are integrated very well (like, for
example, if I'm editing a file, and go change the name of
the file in dired, emacs knows about it and the open buffer
gets associated with the new name).  There is also a
standalone version of dired, though I have to admit I'm not
too familiar with it.  I don't know if it has all of the 
customization features you expect from emacs.

> The emphasis is on speed and simplicity.  One of the things I really
> miss is an equivalent to 4DOS/4OS2's "select" command.

Describe how it works and I'll write an emacs extension for
you that does it.