[Maemo 5] [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6.6
 

Uhm, what?
I am pleased to announce a new file manager, but a the same time I would like to apologize for the stupid name and the icon which is perhaps a little too cute. ;) It was a codename which I quickly grew attached to and couldn't come up with a better one for the release. However, it's not as meaningless as it seems -- with this application you can accumulate bucketloads of files in the clipboard and have multiple file operations going on at the same time, just like a hamster hoarding tremendous amount of food. ;)

How does it look like?
Attachment 28906
Attachment 28907
Attachment 28908
Attachment 28909

What does it do?

• Copy, move, link and delete files and folders, including root privileges (restart required)
• Parallel file operations with logging -- do many things at the same time and browse the history (Ctrl+O)
• FileBox-like clipboard (Ctrl+P) with configurable behavior
• Location bar with buttons and path editor (Ctrl+L or press and hold one of the buttons)
• Opening files with default or user-defined applications (enter "application-name %s" in the command field)
• Bookmarks (Ctrl+B)
• Customizable view: hidden files (Ctrl+H), grid/list view (Ctrl+G), a (currently quite limited) choice of file details to show, fullscreen view, location bar that can be hidden
• Displaying thumbnails, MIME icons
• Creating empty files and folders
• Sending files via Bluetooth and email
• Multi-selection (Ctrl+S)

There are a few more keyboard shortcuts, like Left end Right to go up/down the filesystem hierarchy when in the list view, Ctrl+A to select all, and maybe others which I forgot to mention. If you don't want to pull out the keyboard, filter box can be shown by swiping up from the very bottom of the screen.

There is a page in the wiki dedicated to this application: http://wiki.maemo.org/HamsterFiler.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

awesome as always ,just a query before testing,is it written in qt ?

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Yes, C++ and Qt, everything hand-written in a notepad. ;)

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

anything to extract .tgz files??

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

This looks like something I would approve of. I hope it's coded with portrait mode supported, cuz if not I shall be sad and continue to use FileBox. Either way, will install and give it a look, probably sometime tomorrow.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

There's no built-in support for archives, but it can be configured to use another program for that (Xarchiver in this example, but also File Roller comes to mind and maybe others). Go to the Applications window and add a new entry with "xarchiver -e %s" in the Command field. You can also add "xarchiver -d %s" to create archives. Then you can use Open with... in the context menu to extract an archive or create one from a folder (selecting a few files instead of a folder will also work, but in a different way: using Open with... in multi-selection mode will run the command as many times as there are selected files).


It even has a portrait lock in the settings.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Absolutely wonderful.

I will dare to ask for the possibility to enqueue operations, rather than running them in parallel, as it will be a bit overkill for the device to run a few operations at the same time.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Great work and thanks for applications..
can change the icon-pack?;)

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

I just tried it out. I think I'm feeling in love (with a file manager) for the first time.

I noticed a tiny bit of glitchiness with multiselect (had multiselect on, went into clipboard, fiddled around, came back to folder, selection wasn't working, clicked the single/multi-select toggle button, and all was good - I don't recall exactly what I did, but it was more complex than just getting into clipboard and back out).

Also, multiselect is done a LOT better than in FileBox, I have to say.

The only counter-intuitive thing is if you've selected 4 [Edit: Some amount of files, I said 4 as an example] files using the dragging-select, and then lift up your finger [Edit: this applies to clicking multiselection too, it's just more counter-intuitive feeling in the dragging on in my opinion), if you press down to get to the long-press context menu, it immediately deselects whichever file you pressed on. I got into the hang of it pretty quickly (click a second time to reselect (and hold), or select all but the last desired file, and then click and hold that one).

Perhaps it would be better to toggle the selection OFF on a file in multiselect after the finger has lifted /off/ the file instead of after it has touched it? (But still keep toggling the selection ON on a file happening when touch first happens, since if you made that toggle after a finger lifts off, you'd force double-clicking just to get to the long press context menu while in multi-select.)

Also, the icon for the button that takes you to the clipboard is missing from my theme, apparently (but then again, my theme is a custom one I slapped together myself so I might have missed something) - are you sure it's a standard icon that should be in every theme?

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

where iz the download link

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

If you have extras-devel repository enabled, just download it through one of the app managers.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

@nikhilsyangbo
if you don't know where is the download link then this is not for you, its in extras-devel so it's not ready for normal users to try it out yet :)

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Bugs (running latest thumb CSSU):
1. Installed it, went to options, tried to change default start location (from "MyDocs") and it didn`t work - clicking the button does nothing;
2. Enabled root access, closed program and tried to restart it - it doesn`t start anymore (where is config file located?);
3. Missing icon on clipboard button (as reported by Mentalist Traceur).

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

This is actually not a bug, but it works in a kinda non-obvious way - you need to go to another directory, then go to options and click that button. It'll become set to whatever directory you're currently in.

A "Click to make current directory your start location" label would probably greatly help user understanding of how it works.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Thanks Mentalist, I didn`t think of that and it definitely should be changed .

As per "2": config file is located at /home/user/.config/hamsterfiler and deleting it fixed (as expected) starting problem. BUT selecting "Run as root" make it non "startable" again.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Good point, I'll add an option for that.



Nope, you would have to change the system icon theme. Later -- maybe, but IMO one layer of theming is enough, so I don't give it a high priority.



I don't recall this happening to me, but I'll check the related code.

I left it this way (temporarily), because I was worried that it might need messing with some low-level Qt stuff and preferred to work on other things instead. The same goes for the inability to drag-select more items than shown on the screen (no automatic scrolling).

Oh, looks like it's from Gnumeric. I'll search for a possible replacement, this time making sure that it's from one of the standard packages or bundle some icons if I can't find anything reasonable.



Does it happen to everyone else? I have a non-standard setup with user accounts, so it's possible that if I did something wrong, it could still work for me.

Does running "hamsterfiler" from the terminal result in a message about insufficient permissions (or anything interesting at all)?

By the way, it's just a simple ini file, so you can edit it manually and only remove the line containing "RunAsRoot=true".

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

GREAT APP.
The grid view is magnifique.

But I think you should move the delete option on the pop-up menu when you click&hold on one file.
You may accidently delete a file.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

no need to apologize :o
i use Midnight Commander as my file manager (yeap, i'm a *nix terminal admin / user :D) and only exceptionally use File Manager (the default).
think i'm going to do a lot more things as user with Hamster Filer :)
will keep using mc for root task, however :p

PS: how many pizzas can you eat before getting sick ?!?

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

You can search in the application manager :D

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

It's so cool!!!
I like this FileManager very much!!

but,how can i open current path in XT by Hamster???:confused::confused::confused:

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

I too have replicated the run-as-root-causes-it-to-not-open problem.

Running it from console leads to this:
I tried using the 'user' password, instead of the 'root' password (edit: to be clear, that's how sudo is used - it expects the password of the user calling it, not the password of the root account, obviously - using the root account password just gets failed as the wrong password), and the result was
Seems like a sudo/sudoers issue.

Running as root (after 'sudo gainroot') produced REALLY weird output.
Followed immediately by the output of the busybox(-power?)-symlinked "sendmail" command, when it's executed with no parameters.

It prompts you to confirm before deleting anything when you press it, though. So I think it's fine where it is.

Another bug I forgot to mention: thumbnails don't seem to work in a lot of directories, like if you go to /opt/usr/share/themes/alpha/images/. Unless that's intended behavior?

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

not sure this helps, but...
when starting hamsterfiler from X Terminal as root i get a window with Hamsterfile (root) title
(i do use root in X Terminal to become root and i keep using mc as my root filemanager... GUIs are cute, but nothing beats cli, right?
thus Hamsterfiler is in "default" mode...)

tried sudo hamsterfile and got indeed passwd prompt which i simply CR.ed away as i never set a passwd (that i am aware of)
prompt reappears without Hamsterfiler showing up and without error message.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

I presume "CR.ed" away, you mean you hit the enter/return key? (In which case I would say LF.ed away, since in linux that's a Line Feed char, not a Carriage Return char, no?)

But anyway, I don't think sudo (or maybe even all Linux low-level user things) accepts blank passwords. For example, on Ubuntu (and I think as of lately, Debian, if not by default then as an option) root user doesn't have a password, which prevents any and all logins as root. You can always set one with the "passwd user" command, but honestly, there's no point to do so if you never have a use for it (like SSH'ing INTO your N900).

Anyway, I think this is fairly clear - if the program uses "sudo" to execute itself as root, then sudo will simply wait indefinitely wait for a password, which prevents the program from opening from GUI, due to the lack of a password being entered. And then, due to no entry in sudoers to allow it, it won't open even if a password is provided, because the default is for sudo to not permit an action unless it's specifically configured to allow it.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

never understood the furry about that sudo crap
lead to believe this is the way things are done in #buntu @#$%&ßþ :eek: :rolleyes:

if you are so edgy on becoming root, why would you want to open a graphical file manager as such?!?
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

When you remove the 'run as root' part of the config file by the way, the hampster filer opens if executed from the root account, but it doesn't load the UI elements correctly. Still works fine though for browsing (segmentation fault upon trying to open Settings in that state, though).

Well, most desktop Linux distros actively discourage running file managers as root, precisely because you might easily destroy something (whether by delete or by move) and make the system un-bootable.

The logic for locking down the root account with no password by default, is that a hacker can no longer rely on the fact that there will always be an account with the username "root" that the machine can be logged in as, making exploits that still require logging in harder. Or something like that.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

I was happy when i sow a new file manager ,. better than filebox.:)
But no searching capabilities, just like in filebox.:(

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Re. sudo/root issues,

I don't know how Hamster Filer is handling this, but is seems that it tries to restart itself using sudo (don't know, haven't installed it yet :)

The "proper" way is IMHO to install the program with the setuid bit (so that it will run with the privileges of its owner, i.e. root), and then, if the option to run as root is not active, the program should just drop privileges

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

I was able to purchase two 16-inch pizzas thanks to people on TMO, but unfortunately for your question and fortunately for me, I did not consume them in a direct succession. ;)



If "XT" is the terminal, use Open with... on any file/directory under the current path after adding to Applications something like this:
...or if you want to open the selected directory instead of the directory in which it resides:


Hamster does not generate thumbnails of its own, only displays those already cached (but that's most likely to change in the future). Tracker does not reach into /opt, so it did not create thumbnails for those files.



"/usr/bin/hamsterfiler" is a script which checks the config file and can run the binary with sudo. I like the current solution better, because a) it makes the actual program simpler, b) if root access is not needed, it is never used even for a short period and c) the solution with setuid needs some kind of launcher anyway, to prepare the environment (otherwise the skin is screwed up, for example).



To correct the problem with running as root, you have to edit "/etc/sudoers.d/hamsterfiler.sudoers" and add one more line:
Edit: Then, still being root, execute "update-sudoers" to apply the changes.

The only difference from the already existing entry is the missing asterisk (strange, I though sudo's documentation says that "*" means 0 or more characters, but it needs at least 1 for some reason).

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

At me Hamster Filer it has ceased to be started. At attempt to start through X-Terminal writes: user is not in the sudoers file. After that in/etc/sudoers.d/hamsterfiler.sudoers has added one more lineBut has changed nothing! In what a problem???

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Sorry, I forgot to write that editing files in "/etc/sudoers.d/" requires running update-sudoers afterwards.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer - a new file manager
 

Hamster Filer 0.6 has arrived. It's not as fast as a hamster spinning on a wheel, but there are some speed-ups and a few features too. ;)

• Added a configurable limiter for the number of active operations.
• Added a confirmation when deleting files through the clipboard window.
• Added keyboard shortcuts for confirmation dialogs.
• Added an option to sort files in a few different ways.
• Added new file details to select from: nothing, permissions.
• Directory listing happens in a separate thread, so GUI is more responsive.
• Improved startup time.
• Invoking file menu selects the current item, so it is easier to use with multi-select.
• Disabled selection for ".." items.
• Changed icons for clipboard and multi-select.
• Fixed the failure to start as root with no arguments.
• Fixed the crash caused by double-clicking a bookmark.

File details will be messed up after updating, so visit the settings window and readjust them to your needs.



I was considering to work on FileBox, but ultimately decided that it will be easier to start from scratch. That also gives me a chance to have a fresh (perhaps better) look at things and provides more freedom to implement various ideas, without worrying that people can accuse me of destroying their favorite file manager with too much innovation.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6 - a new file manager
 

Couldn't you have announced Hamster Filer somewhat earlier, then I wouldn't have spend time on the FileBox fixes... :)

I think this will replace FileBox for a lot of people, even if it is just the second release.

Just 2 remarks (not really bugs):
- It is a little inconsistent that the file date (dayname/monthname) is localized, while the rest of the application is in English. Not very bothering though.
- When choosing "open with" for a file, you will get in the applications menu. It is exact the same menu as when you choose applications from the status menu. The only difference is that in the first case, you will not get the option to add or clear an applications (although the statusbar suggests you can).

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6 - a new file manager
 

Absolutely great software. I have one small issue, dont know if it a bug or a feature, but after the latest upgrade the Hamsterfiles show my rootfolder as empty. I cant say if this problem was present for me before, because I hadn't the time to test the software more thoroughly. I encountered the problem when I was navigating my way to remote_filesystems, but didnt get there because I couldnt find anything on the root folder. Anyone else having this issue?
I tried the gridview and he list, but they had no effect. I also tried changing from the settings that hamster filer does not run as root, and I think that the contents of the root folder flashed in the screen, but the flash was too fast to be sure.

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6 - a new file manager
 

May be, because there are no files in /root for root user?There are only hidden files and folders.

By the way: Great application, thanks a lot!!!

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6 - a new file manager
 

Big thanks:
my favorite on this new update:

* Added an option to sort files in a few different ways.

Though it's still not easy to "open with ..." a file with a given applications.
It'd be nice to get the list of the installed app where we can choose the desired app just like in the stock file manager. (hmmm an option to "always open that type of file with this app" could be better :))

Re: [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6 - a new file manager
 

I have just stumbled upon an annoying bug in file operations, so there it is, another update. Hamster Filer 0.6.1 has the following changes:

• Fixed false overwrite warnings and some other problems when handling multiple directory trees.
• Fixed multi-select button sometimes not being in the proper state after changing location.

I started this project quite spontaneously some time after my bugfix for FileBox and it reached a good shape and a release so fast that I didn't have much time to announce it earlier. ;)


Whoa, I wasn't aware that the stock file manager can do that (and I couldn't find that option after a quick look).

Re: [Maemo 5] [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6.1 - a new file manager
 

Dont know what I did, but after a nights rest, Hamster Filer now shows me the contents of the root folder regardless of being root or no, viewing hidden files or not or using the gridview or listview, so I cant anymore replicate my bug with version 0.6. Problem solved.

Edit: I meant the folder "/" (I thought this was called the root, my mistake, I'm linux newbie), not /root. I also replicated the bug in the newest version and found out when I can see the contents and when not. If I am ofline, the folder shows empty, but if I am connected to internet via WLAN I can see the contents. If I'm ofline and go in Hamster Filer to / and then connect, the contents show up after my Skype icon goes green and show I'm online. And yes, I know this sounds like me or my N900 are on some heavy medication, but this is what is happening!

I also found out about new feature, that might have some effect on users. When you visit a folder and come back from it and delete it, it stay still in the "navigation bar" as a box you can choose (if you use that type of bar). If you click on it (I did, accidentally), the software goes black for a while as it loads something, and is momentarily unusable. After that you can resume using the software as you want. I also tried this with your latest version you released six hours ago.

I also have a feature request. When you navigate folders in Filebox and come back from a folderback to its root, in Filebox you come back to the point in list where the folder is located, where you came from, but Hamster Filer puts you back in the start of the list. This behavior is also same, when you delete a folder, you get thrown in the start of the list. If it is possible, the software should maintain the location in the list. (I used Hamster Filer for cleaning my folders, so I repeatedly went through folders in N900 and if they had nothing important in them, I came back and deleted them, so I was going back and forth a lot in the folders, it would have been great if the software maintained the position). And ofcourse, thanks for the great software.

Re: [Maemo 5] [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6.1 - a new file manager
 

I'm sure you're busy chasing issues with the original design targets now, but later if you're thinking about additional features: it would be really nice to have a file manager through with permissions for files could be set.

Re: [Maemo 5] [Announce] Hamster Filer 0.6.1 - a new file manager
 

Cant the permissions be edited if you pick from the filemenu "Details" (by pressing the file for a while, where you can pick also Clip, Open with, delete...), and modify the tickboxes of "rwx" from there and click save? Or do you mean something other than that? This at least worked for some of my files. I myself can edit the permission in for example /user folder, but cant do that in /user/MyDocs, maybe because of different filesystems or something?