Science and technology

Do this Linux net browser as your file supervisor

Konqueror is a file supervisor and net browser for the KDE Plasma Desktop. In some ways, Konqueror outlined “network transparency,” because it utilized to a private desktop. With Konqueror, you possibly can browse distant community recordsdata (together with the Internet itself, which actually is only a assortment of distant recordsdata seen by way of a flowery lens) simply as simply as shopping your native recordsdata. Sometimes there was some configuration and setup required, relying on what sort of file share you wanted to entry. But in the end, the objective of getting immediate entry to all the information you had permission to view was a actuality with Konqueror in methods no different file supervisor had achieved. And at its peak, the open supply net engine it developed (KHTML) was adopted by each Apple and Google, and lives on at present because the core library of recent net shopping and, technically, Electron app growth.

Today, the KDE Plasma Desktop lists Konqueror as an internet browser. Officially, file administration has shifted over to Dolphin, however Konqueror remains to be able to doing the job. For the total and basic Konqueror expertise, you need to attempt the Plasma Desktop 3.x fork TDE, however on this article I take advantage of Konqueror in KDE Plasma Desktop model 5.

Install Konqueror

If you are working KDE Plasma Desktop already, you might have already got Konqueror put in. If not, you possibly can set up it out of your distribution’s software program repository. On Fedora, CentOS, Mageia, OpenMandriva, and related:

$ sudo dnf set up -y konqueror konqueror-plugins

On Debian, Linux Mint, Elementary, and related:

$ sudo apt set up -y konqueror konqueror-plugins

(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Configure Konqueror as a file supervisor

The most handy function of Konqueror is that it is a net browser along with being a file supervisor. Or not less than, that is theoretically its most handy function. If you are not utilizing Konqueror as an internet browser, then you might not need the URL area or the search engine area on the high of each file supervisor window.

As with most KDE purposes, Konqueror is extremely configurable. You can reposition and add and take away toolbars, add or take away buttons, and so forth.

To modify what toolbars are displayed, launch Konqueror and go to the Settings menu and choose Toolbars Shown. The Main toolbar might be all you really want for file administration. It’s the toolbar with navigation buttons on it. However, you might not even want that, so long as you are joyful to navigate with keyboard shortcuts or utilizing the Go menu.

Keyboard navigation in Konqueror is similar as in Dolphin:

  • Alt+Left arrow: Back one step

  • Alt+Up arrow: Move to dad or mum listing

  • Alt+Home: Go to residence listing

Side panel

To get a aspect panel with a list of widespread folders, press F9 or choose Show Sidebar from the Settings menu. This provides a button bar alongside the left aspect of the Konqueror window. Click the Home icon to show a file tree of your private home listing.

(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)

As the button bar suggests, this aspect panel can serve many functions. Instead of your private home listing, you possibly can show bookmarked places, a historical past of current places you have visited, distant filesystems, and extra.

Applications

Some persons are used to an utility menu. It’s environment friendly and fast, and at all times in the identical place. Other individuals want to launch purposes from the terminal.

There’s one more solution to view utility launchers, although. Konqueror’s Go menu permits you go to a meta location referred to as Applications, which lists utility launchers, by class, as recordsdata in a file supervisor.

(Seth Kenlon, CC BY-SA 4.0)

You can see this in Dolphin, too, by manually typing purposes: within the location area, however of the 2 it is Konqueror that gives a menu choice to go there instantly.

Network folders

Similarly, Konqueror additionally offers a menu choice to go to community folders. The biggest community folder of all of them is the Internet, however Network Folders is the meta location for community protocols aside from HTTP. Most distant places require some setup as a result of they normally require authentication to entry. Most of them may be configured by way of System Settings, together with file methods accessible over Bluetooth, SMB or CIFS, MTP units, Fish (file system over SSH), and even Google Drive.

Split view

You can cut up the Konqueror window into panes, permitting you to see two folders without delay with out opening two home windows. There are two cut up choices: a vertical cut up with one pane on the left and the opposite on the correct, or a horizontal cut up with one pane above the opposite.

To cut up the Konqueror window, go to the Window menu and choose both Split View Left/Right or Spit View Top/Bottom. Each pane is impartial of the opposite, so you possibly can navigate round in a single pane, after which drag and drop recordsdata from one to the opposite.

Conquering your file system

Konqueror is not simply a file supervisor, and I do not assume the builders of the Plasma Desktop count on you to make use of it as your main file supervisor. There’s even an choice within the File menu to open a location in Dolphin, which signifies that Konqueror is an internet browser with a file supervisor part. But that file supervisor part is a pleasant function to have whenever you want it. And if you happen to’re not a fan of all of the options Dolphin gives, Konqueror may very well be an appropriate various.

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