 If you've watched my channel for any amount of time, you know that there are three things that are absolutely true about me. First I like tabs a lot and I like workspaces a lot and I talk about file managers a lot. I make more videos about file managers than anybody else and I'm not sure if that's something that I should be proud of but I really kind of am. I like file managers like a serious amount. I have a whole workspace dedicated to my file manager. It's up all the time. It's always one of the first applications that I launch and I have very specific needs when it comes to my file manager. So for the last two years or so I've been using Crusader and I've made approximately five videos on Crusader and how awesome it is. I've literally called it my favorite app on Linux many times and that has been true for the last two years and it's still kind of true but I've been having some problems with Crusader. It hasn't been meeting my needs lately because of a bug or something like that and also I've finally gotten Qtile to work on Debian and I really don't want to theme Qt applications anymore. It's always kind of a pain in the rear to do so and I just don't want to do it especially because it usually breaks theming inside of Plasma itself and I don't want to abandon Plasma completely. So I've just decided to switch away from Crusader for the time being. I probably will come back to it sometime because I really do like it. It has so many features and it's just awesome but I've been searching for something different. So today I'm going to be talking about what I switched to but before I talk about that if you would be so kind as to leave a like on this video I'd really appreciate it. It really does help the channel. So I have switched to Thunar. Now I've talked about Thunar before Thunar has always been a very good file manager has always been very good but it was always lacking a few of the features that I really wanted specifically the ability to save position when it was closed. That was one of the features that I really really wanted and it was always annoying inside of Thunar because Thunar has had dual pane mode for a while. So if I show you what I'm talking about here this is dual pane mode. It just is to pain side by side so I can have two directories open at the same time I can drag between them. This is usually the setup that I have in Crusader so if I open up Crusader this is what Crusader looks like by default. Crusader does not have a single pane mode. It always has two panes and that's one of the reasons that kind of drew me to it. Thunar has always had or at least has had for a long time dual panes but usually when you close it and you reopen it in the past it would completely forget that it was open in dual pane there was no option to automatically open it in dual pane and there was no way for it to remember the tabs that you had open. Now recently they added that ability so if I go into the preferences here and if I go to behavior there's this check mark here annex to restore tabs and startup. Now what that will do is it will not only remember that you have dual pane if you have those open but also it will remember all the tabs that you had open and like I said that is one of the essential things that I need from a file manager because I always have a whole bunch of tabs and I don't really because like these three tabs here let's I mean some people question me like Matt why do you need these tabs open all the time well these three tabs well not this one here but these two tabs for specifically I always have open when I'm doing videos and I'm always getting into these I don't want to have to go searching for them and yes I know that there are bookmarks I have bookmarks but I would prefer to have the tabs open because I'm always in these two directories here there's usually another one that's the videos directory is usually the one that's usually here and then I always in this tab here I always have my projects so either for videos or for work this is the the pane where I have all the directories open for that and very often I'll have multiple projects going at once and I'm not gonna finish them all in one day so I like having the tabs open so that's the reason why I like tabs and it's so much easier to to have this workflow when it remembers the position so now that they are does that it has won me back over also it's a it's a GTK application which makes it much easier to theme especially inside of a window manager so that was another plus for it but honestly it doesn't have nearly as many features as crusader so if you're looking for a file manager that just has literally every feature under the sun they may not be it for you but for me personally it has the ones that I need now I have discovered one really cool thing now I don't know if crusader has this feature or not oops I bumped the mic there I don't know if crusader has this feature or not but and I'm soon actually I'm assuming it probably does I just never actually thought to look at it but there is a option here in the edit menu called configure custom actions and basically what this will do is it will allow you to add things to the context menu so the context menu is when you right click on something these are this is the context menu in this up here allows you to add things to that now so far the only thing I've saw fit to add is this pie wall script so I have a script that allows me to change the wallpaper and it will restart Qtile and it will add all the things that I need in order to have pie wall up and running now if I right click on say this wallpaper here and hit pie wall it'll actually change the wallpaper and it will change all the stuff that goes along with Qtile which is awesome it just will run any script that you want from that contact menu now I've found this specific use case for that but there are others that you could possibly think of like if you wanted to if you want to avoid say you one of these let's just go to one of my previous actually let's just go here if I wanted to right click on this and have a context menu for automatically opening in Caden live I could do that all it have to do is add that to this up here right I could add a custom action that would automatically show up when I clicked on a video script and that would allow me to open it in Crusader or in Caden live rather and do anything that I wanted to it that's really really cool now like I said Crusader probably has that function and I didn't even know to look for it and that's kind of the problem with Crusader is that it has so many features that discover ability of those features is kind of an issue right as it's just as is traditional with any KDE application all the features kind of get crammed in there and it's really hard to know what it actually has with Thunar it's a very powerful file manager but it's not overly crammed with features just the ones that you need and I think that that has drawn me in more than anything else because it has the options that I need but it hasn't overwhelmed me with features like Crusader did now just I do like having a ton of features don't get me wrong I like Crusader and I like that it has a bunch of features but over time I've realized that I don't use the vast majority of those features so really what I want is a file manager that just has the features that I need not all the ones that I don't use and this makes it much easier to get to the ones that I do need and it just works really really well and I'm honestly so I was pretty sure I wasn't switching away from Crusader because it's really hard to find a file manager when you're as picky as I am so I've tried all of them like I've tried up double commander I've tried space FM I've tried to use Dolphin for a while Dolphin for whatever reason does not work very well inside of a window manager without a whole bunch of tweaks in order to get like the folders then icons to show up or whatever so that that was always you know a thing I'm not gonna use Nautilus I'm sure there are people out there that use Nautilus and really like it but I don't like Nautilus all that much I've tried Kaja or Kaja or whatever it's called I've tried Nemo Nemo is pretty good you know I've tried all of them and I've been on Thunar before too but it's always come up short now that it has the ability to remember position now that it had now that I found this really cool option here it's really really nice and it has the setup that I'm really looking for without overwhelming me with features and and on top of that is that it's really really fast now I've never really had a problem with Crusader when it comes to speed it works perfectly fine and you know it has all the options that you'd want so if I wanted to go to say my pictures here and then go to walls and the other walls and we'll just go to dedicate color schemes and everforce is one of these things right if I wanted to see the previews I'd have to do this and then if I wanted to make that so it actually looks proper you know here whatever and you know that's a lot of steps to see the preview right with Thunar the preview is just down here right if I just click on this is actually going to show me the preview and that's nice now obviously you have to set that up but once it's set up you know it's there and while it's not you know the biggest preview or whatever and it's not this panel here is not adjustable you can't make it bigger which is a shame it's big enough there or you can see it actually what you're clicking on which is good enough so the simplicity of Thunar has kind of drawn me in and that's unusual because usually I'm more prone to being happy with more complex applications simply because it gives me a lot more options to customize but in this case like I said it has the features that I want and no more and that's actually kind of I think as I further my journey into using Linux and open-source software I'm less interested in applications that do everything and more interested in applications that do just the things that I want them to do now this has caused me some issues where it's hard to find those types of applications without having to sacrifice either some of the things that I want or the simplicity that I'm looking for and you know it's kind of a balancing act that I kind of have to deal with but I think over time I'm coming to the conclusion that I want applications that just do the things that I want them to do I want them to do those things well and then just get out of the way right and I think that's really the hallmarks of a good application if you're gonna do something do it well now I know I'm literally quoting the freaking Unix philosophy but it's not I don't want to go that simple right like technically a file manager does follow the Unix philosophy this manages files that's what it does right and Crusader takes it further I suppose than that but it still follows quote-unquote the Unix philosophy but really what I just really want is an application that is simple enough but has the features that I want I'm very very picky and very entitled I'm sure but you know that's kind of one want what I want and Thunar has met those needs for now and I'm very very happy with it so if you are searching for a file manager Thunar may be a good option for you I know I have turned a lot of people to Crusader over the years I have had a lot of people who have watched my video on Crusader and they have I've helped people set it up because it does require some setup requires a lot of KDE dependencies and I've converted a lot of people into Crusader users over the last two years and I'm happy about that I don't I'm not uninstalling Crusader I don't think that I'm ever going to you know completely abandon Crusader I might go back to it in a week for all I know who knows you guys know how much I change my mind I do that a lot you know that's kind of it's kind of my MO I change things quite a bit in my workflow simply because I like trying new things and plugging things in and out of my workflow and it just kind of it's fun I guess is the way I would I would explain it right so I don't think that I'm going to abandon Crusader completely but for now Thunar is where I'm at so that is it for this video I know I've made yet another video on a file manager which is nuts it's just absolutely insane but whatever if you guys have thoughts on this you can leave those in the comment section below I'd love to hear from you if you haven't already hit that thumbs up button that like button whatever you want to call it it really does help the channel I think since I've started asking for likes I've used this sign more than I ever have in my entire life it feels I mean I'm building some muscle I guess because I mean this is not something that people normally do like who gives thumbs up anymore apparently I do who gives thumbs up this guy and hopefully you guys I don't know it's it's entirely too early for that sense anyways thank you for watching you can support me on patreon at patreon.com slash linus cast links for libera actually libera pay is not no longer down there PayPal and Odyssey and Macedon and all that stuff is in the video description I completely ruined this ending normally I have something that's you know well put together or you know fairly well put together but I ruined it it doesn't really matter anyways thanks to everybody does support me on patreon you guys are all absolutely amazing without you the channel just would not be anywhere near where it is right now so thank you so very very much for your support I truly do appreciate it you guys are awesome thank you so very much thanks everybody for watching I hope you have a wonderful day I'll see you next time