Why does nautilus suck so bad!?!

[wildman4god]

As you all know nautilus is the file manager for ubuntu/gnome as the title says, why doesn't nautilus have the ability to do a lot of simple things like format a flash drive, or rename a drive or even be able to show files in separate groups like dolphin and windows explorer. Thats just a few things, I bet if we all get together we can easily come up with a 101 things that nautilus should do but doesn't, seriously we shouldn't have to boot into windows just to rename a flash drive. I say we all send emails to nautilus development teams telling them to focus some of their attention on the file manager and make it worth using.

[murman]

As you all know nautilus is the file manager for ubuntu/gnome as the title says, why doesn't nautilus have the ability to do a lot of simple things like format a flash drive, or rename a drive or even be able to show files in separate groups like dolphin and windows explorer. Thats just a few things, I bet if we all get together we can easily come up with a 101 things that nautilus should do but doesn't, seriously we shouldn't have to boot into windows just to rename a flash drive. I say we all send emails to nautilus development teams telling them to focus some of their attention on the file manager and make it worth using.

Use Dolphin fm, problem solved :D

[ajgreeny]

But nautilus is a file manager, and I honestly think it manages files splendidly. If you want an all singing, all dancing application like konqueror in kde 3.5.9 etc, then you can still use it, or dolphin, but it takes a long time to load in comparison to nautlius, and, let's be honest, for the number of times anyone needs to format a partition, it is much easier to use some other application and not expect the file manager to do everything. And why boot into windows to rename a flash drive? Use tune2fs in ubuntu. I say keep it simple!

[smartboyathome]

As you all know nautilus is the file manager for ubuntu/gnome as the title says, why doesn't nautilus have the ability to do a lot of simple things like format a flash drive, or rename a drive or even be able to show files in separate groups like dolphin and windows explorer. Thats just a few things, I bet if we all get together we can easily come up with a 101 things that nautilus should do but doesn't, seriously we shouldn't have to boot into windows just to rename a flash drive. I say we all send emails to nautilus development teams telling them to focus some of their attention on the file manager and make it worth using.

How about we make Firefox able to edit images, play music, and browse the web too? Does Firefox suck because it doesn't do all this? ;)

There is a reason it doesn't do this. The GNOME team follows the philosophy "One app per job". This means that they aren't going to make Nautilus be a partition manager/editor as well as a file manager.

[swoll1980]

I believe that is attributed to the UNIX philosophy that gnome seems to have adapted that an app should do one thing really well. I hear people say things like why doesn't rhythmbox play videos, or why doesn't firefox have a e-mail client. I like these apps the way they are, and wouldn't use them if they were all in one nightmares like songbird.

[wildman4god]

Well using a different app for renaming/formating a flash drive would be just fine except there is no app that I am aware of that'll do these things, also I thought that was the job of a file manager was to handle flash-drives, I have used windows most of my life, I have only used linux for a year and a half. But in windows you just found the drive in explorer and right click and select rename or format, that is a whole lot easier than using a separate program that doesn't exist. If gnome's philosophy keeps them from making programs easy to use then they need to re think their philosophy, some programs are meant to multi task, also like I said before formating removable media and renaming drives is the job of the file manager. at the very least provide a program to do these things and an extention/script that allows you to do it from the file manager.

[init1]

As you all know nautilus is the file manager for ubuntu/gnome as the title says, why doesn't nautilus have the ability to do a lot of simple things like format a flash drive, or rename a drive or even be able to show files in separate groups like dolphin and windows explorer. Thats just a few things, I bet if we all get together we can easily come up with a 101 things that nautilus should do but doesn't, seriously we shouldn't have to boot into windows just to rename a flash drive. I say we all send emails to nautilus development teams telling them to focus some of their attention on the file manager and make it worth using.
Eh nautilus is just fine for me. It can't format or change the label, but GParted does that just fine.

[smartboyathome]

Well using a different app for renaming/formating a flash drive would be just fine except there is no app that I am aware of that'll do these things, also I thought that was the job of a file manager was to handle flash-drives, I have used windows most of my life, I have only used linux for a year and a half. But in windows you just found the drive in explorer and right click and select rename or format, that is a whole lot easier than using a separate program that doesn't exist. If gnome's philosophy keeps them from making programs easy to use then they need to re think their philosophy, some programs are meant to multi task, also like I said before formating removable media and renaming drives is the job of the file manager. at the very least provide a program to do these things and an extention/script that allows you to do it from the file manager.

Like init1 said, GParted will both label and partition your flash drive. Only problem is that you need to get a more recent version than is in Ubuntu 8.10.

[wildman4god]

Eh nautilus is just fine for me. It can't format or change the label, but GParted does that just fine.

to change the lable you need to reformat the drive, you shouldn't need to do that, do wonder normal people can't use linux, you have to stop thinking "can I use it fine" and start thinking "can non-techies use it" yes you mabey able to format from gparted and rename it then, but that involves installing another app and then getting familar with another program, and I have seen people on this forum that have a hard time figuing gparted out for the first time, there is nothing wrong with being able to right click a drive in your fm and format it and/or rename it, it would be very conviant to do it that way.

edit: okay I just figured out how to change lables in gparted, although the new lables don't show up in nautilus, but still the need to make it more convinant.

[swoll1980]

also like I said before formating removable media and renaming drives is the job of the file manager.

A file managers job is to manage files in a graphical environment. A flash drive is not a file, it's a drive. There are several apps than can rename a drive, and 2, or 3 have been listed in this thread already.

[Therion]

Well using a different app for renaming/formating a flash drive would be just fine except there is no app that I am aware of that'll do these things
gParted will do what you want.


]... also I thought that was the job of a file manager was to handle flash-drives
No, the job of the file manager is to manage files; not partition drives. That's the job of a partitioning tool.


But in windows you just found the drive in explorer and right click and select rename or format, that is a whole lot easier than using a separate program that doesn't exist. If gnome's philosophy keeps them from making programs easy to use then they need to re think their philosophy, some programs are meant to multi task, also like I said before formating removable media and renaming drives is the job of the file manager. at the very least provide a program to do these things and an extention/script that allows you to do it from the file manager.
Such is the Windows-way.

The Linux was is different: Discrete applications for discrete jobs.

Your association of file managers also managing partitioning is forged from your exposure to the Windows-way.
If you wish to use Ubuntu effectively, you should try adopting the Linux-way. Don't fight it at every opportunity, embrace it.

[Skripka]

How about we make Firefox able to edit images, play music, and browse the web too? Does Firefox suck because it doesn't do all this? ;)

There is a reason it doesn't do this. The GNOME team follows the philosophy "One app per job". This means that they aren't going to make Nautilus be a partition manager/editor as well as a file manager.

It is the One App of All Trades that usually cause users to shoot themselves in the foot.

[wildman4god]

A file managers job is to manage files in a graphical environment. A flash drive is not a file, it's a drive. There are several apps than can rename a drive, and 2, or 3 have been listed in this thread already.

I just tried gparted, it let me make a label but nautilus still shows it as what it was before, do you know how to fix this. and what other programs are you talking about?

[abyssius]

to change the lable you need to reformat the drive, you shouldn't need to do that, do wonder normal people can't use linux, you have to stop thinking "can I use it fine" and start thinking "can non-techies use it" yes you mabey able to format from gparted and rename it then, but that involves installing another app and then getting familar with another program, and I have seen people on this forum that have a hard time figuing gparted out for the first time, there is nothing wrong with being able to right click a drive in your fm and format it and/or rename it, it would be very conviant to do it that way.

edit: okay I just figured out how to change lables in gparted, although the new lables don't show up in nautilus, but still the need to make it more convinant.

If your point is that Windows provides better tools for casual disk handling, I've got to agree. The way Linux addresses disks is one of the big differences I noticed when switching from Windows. When you're talking about handling removable media like flash drives or even floppies, you really shouldn't have to go through the machinations that Ubuntu requires, like loading gparted, unmounting/mounting, etc. compared to right-click and format. However, other than this, I think that nautilus is quite powerful. I would never say it sucks outright.

[wildman4god]

Okay, i ejected my flash drive and removed it then put it back in and now the labels work, sorry about all that, I still think some one should make a script that would allow you to invoke gparted from nautilus, just like you can with writing stuff to cd/dvd's. Does such a script exist?

[smartboyathome]

Okay, i ejected my flash drive and removed it then put it back in and now the labels work, sorry about all that, I still think some one should make a script that would allow you to invoke gparted from nautilus, just like you can with writing stuff to cd/dvd's. Does such a script exist?

No script for that exists, but it should be pretty easy for you to write a script which uses parted (not gparted, just parted, the command line base for gparted) and zenity to do this. :)

[Keyper7]

I thought that was the job of a file manager was to handle flash-drives

...

[FuturePilot]

AFAIK this (http://live.gnome.org/gnome-format) will be part of Gnome 2.28 which will do what you want with Nautilus integration.

[Icehuck]

I thought that was the job of a file manager was to handle flash-drives

In *nix environments drives are considered folders when looking at the file system. The file manager doesn't see your flash drive as a drive it sees it as a folder located somewhere under "/"




Edit - Forgot my quote.

[init1]

to change the lable you need to reformat the drive, you shouldn't need to do that, do wonder normal people can't use linux, you have to stop thinking "can I use it fine" and start thinking "can non-techies use it" yes you mabey able to format from gparted and rename it then, but that involves installing another app and then getting familar with another program, and I have seen people on this forum that have a hard time figuing gparted out for the first time, there is nothing wrong with being able to right click a drive in your fm and format it and/or rename it, it would be very conviant to do it that way.

edit: okay I just figured out how to change lables in gparted, although the new lables don't show up in nautilus, but still the need to make it more convinant.
Yeah, I see what you mean. It's not very intuitive.

[TBOL3]

How about we make Firefox able to edit images, play music, and browse the web too? Does Firefox suck because it doesn't do all this? ;)

There is a reason it doesn't do this. The GNOME team follows the philosophy "One app per job". This means that they aren't going to make Nautilus be a partition manager/editor as well as a file manager.

You know, I was listening to a recent episode of FLOSS weekly, and they were interviewing two people about changing the way a user interface works. I think the gist of it is rather then having a bunch of apps, and windows, have one app for EVERYTHING.

So you would start up your computer, and everything would be right there. You would type up an essay, and an email in the same place. Need to draw a picture, it's built in, etc.

I think that is an interesting contrast to the way gnome works.

[abyssius]

In *nix environments drives are considered folders when looking at the file system. The file manager doesn't see your flash drive as a drive it sees it as a folder located somewhere under "/"




Edit - Forgot my quote.

This is an excellent explanation for those raised in a Windows environment. The Linux file system is a "must study" for new Windows converts. Some aspects still seem alien to me after 1 year with Linux.

[Mohamedzv2]

How about we make Firefox able to edit images, play music, and browse the web too? Does Firefox suck because it doesn't do all this? ;)

There is a reason it doesn't do this. The GNOME team follows the philosophy "One app per job". This means that they aren't going to make Nautilus be a partition manager/editor as well as a file manager.

It actually can do that lol. FF can edit images with Pencil add-on and you can play music with stuff like flash on websites. Or Foxy Tunes. :D

[wildman4god]

AFAIK this (http://live.gnome.org/gnome-format) will be part of Gnome 2.28 which will do what you want with Nautilus integration.

sweet, thats exactly what I am looking for, it has a deb but when I goto install it it says I need libparted-1.8-10 and the newest one in the repos in libparted-1.8-9, does anyone know where I can download this package? It says gnome-format is on the arch linux repos so I assume libparted-1.8-10 is on them to, I am have problems finding the repos, can anyone help?

[Skripka]

sweet, thats exactly what I am looking for, it has a deb but when I goto install it it says I need libparted-1.8-10 and the newest one in the repos in libparted-1.8-9, does anyone know where I can download this package? It says gnome-format is on the arch linux repos so I assume libparted-1.8-10 is on them to, I am have problems finding the repos, can anyone help?

They are on the Arch Linux repos (AUR), if you're not running Arch-that won't do you much good...you need Pacman and Yaourt, and from there it is a simple easy install on Arch. It might work if you can grab the depends also, as the AUR posts the source code.

http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=22921

[wildman4god]

I found that packages and installed it but gnome-format wouldn't launched, it complained about not having some thing called vala, and I haven't found it yet, but the gnome live page says it it still in development, so I guess I have to wait for it to be implemented this fall.

[Skripka]

I found that packages and installed it but gnome-format wouldn't launched, it complained about not having some thing called vala, and I haven't found it yet, but the gnome live page says it it still in development, so I guess I have to wait for it to be implemented this fall.

FYI-I think this is what it refers to:

http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=7203

(It is handy having an AUR search plugin configured in Konqueror)