Software Rave: Rox

Rox is a file manager. It's apparently been ported to several other OS, but I'm just interested in it on Debian (apt-get install rox-filer).

Rox is fast. On my dual PIII-550 at work, it takes about 8 seconds for Nautilus to start after a fresh reboot, and about 6 seconds to pop up a window containing my home directory. Rox doesn't preload, and opens my $HOME in less than a second.

Rox is small. Nautilus consumes 20MB of RAM; Rox uses about 11. Rox is so fast, you won't want to keep it open all the time like Nautilus -- just put an icon somewhere convenient.

Rox does the right thing. When you drag a file from one Rox window to another, the target asks you (in a tiny little window under your mouse, that captures your mouse, so Fitts' Law is observed) whether you want to copy, move or cancel.

Rox conserves desktop space. There's a toolbar at the top; no menubar. The toolbar contains the 10 most common fiddly bits, plus a help button and a quick statistics view (238 files, 132 hidden). The directory path goes in the title bar, where Gosh and Keith Packard intended it. Windows automatically resize to just contain all the icons/files, except if there's too many -- in which case it takes up no more than 75% of your screen.

Recommended.

Software Rave: Rox

Rox is a file manager. It's apparently been ported to several other OS, but I'm just interested in it on Debian (apt-get install rox-filer).

Rox is fast. On my dual PIII-550 at work, it takes about 8 seconds for Nautilus to start after a fresh reboot, and about 6 seconds to pop up a window containing my home directory. Rox doesn't preload, and opens my $HOME in less than a second.

Rox is small. Nautilus consumes 20MB of RAM; Rox uses about 11. Rox is so fast, you won't want to keep it open all the time like Nautilus -- just put an icon somewhere convenient.

Rox does the right thing. When you drag a file from one Rox window to another, the target asks you (in a tiny little window under your mouse, that captures your mouse, so Fitts' Law is observed) whether you want to copy, move or cancel.

Rox conserves desktop space. There's a toolbar at the top; no menubar. The toolbar contains the 10 most common fiddly bits, plus a help button and a quick statistics view (238 files, 132 hidden). The directory path goes in the title bar, where Gosh and Keith Packard intended it. Windows automatically resize to just contain all the icons/files, except if there's too many -- in which case it takes up no more than 75% of your screen.

Recommended.