Ashton Mills17 September 2007, 12:44 AM
In the last section we discovered that not all was well in media land when it came to Ubuntu's desktop. Will things get better as Ashton Mills learns to live solely in the world of Linux?
Well, after the last challenges I decided to fall back onto some basics we know and love about the modern desktop -- file management. Oh shush, it's not as boring as it sounds: where would you be without Explorer in Windows? And think about the all functions you use it for -- managing, viewing, editing, searching, and burning files and formats of all makes and models. It's something you take for granted under Windows, so can you take it for granted under Linux too?
The Ratings
In this project we're making the assumption that Windows does all that we need, and we're seeing if Linux and open source software measures up. Perhaps that's not an entirely fair place to sit, however as the de-facto in operating systems for which everyone is familiar, it's our best basis for comparison. So here's how we'll rate the experience of going Windows-free:
Optimal -- Passes with flying colours. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows.
Pass -- No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows.
Iffy -- When a task could only be partially completed, or completed but not without issue.
Flop -- Not possible to complete at all. Probably not a good thing.
The depths of Nautilus
Ubuntu uses the Gnome desktop environment, which means the equivalent of Explorer under Windows is Gnome's Nautilus file management and browsing tool. Fortunately it looks and acts very much like Explorer, but sports a few snazzy features of its own.
First, however, I had to find it. Much like the default in Windows XP, the equivalent of 'My Computer' wasn't on the desktop. Instead, it's found under 'Places' on the task bar, along with links to network shares, storage and CD/DVD burning, which we'll get onto soon.
 The Gnome equivalent of Windows' Explorer. |
Launching 'Computer' brings up Nautilus, and as you can see from the screenshot it's very Explorer-esque. Ubuntu automatically finds all mountable filesystems -- that is, filesystems on other partitions or drives it knows how to access -- and lists them. The default view is as an icon list, and Nautilus will show thumbnail views for images and text (the first line of a text file is shown) of the files it finds. For sound files, it can play a preview, which is a nice touch.
There are a few differences -- Nautilus sports a bread-crumb style navigation bar the type of which you'll see in Vista. This makes it easy to jump to anywhere in the current path by clicking on the directory hierarchy. Similarly, search is built into the interface, and this same bread-crumb bar is replaced by a entry field for searching. This then expands with extensible search fields for narrowing your results as they're displayed.
All the usual file management paradigms apply with Nautilus and Gnome, but the first question in my mind for sharing data in a Windows dominated world is could it handle common compressed file formats like Zip, 7zip, and Rar?
Well, yes it can, no surprise there, with all three formats supported in addition to the ubiquitous tar and gzip for Linux. By default, Nautilus launches 'File Roller' to open these archives and add to, extract, or view files.
However, it would only do this for local files. Archives opened from network shares (which I'll get onto next) would spew out an error that looks like File Roller not being able to handle the SMB path to the file. It's a bit disappointing for what should be simple -- and more importantly, consistent -- behaviour for the desktop.
For other formats Nautilus launches Gedit (think Notepad on steroids) for text files, Eye of Gnome for images (basic viewing and manipulation, just like under Windows), and Totem for music and moves -- although as covered last month there are much better defaults in Xine and Mplayer for these.
File management: Pass -- No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows.
Network shares
But onto the fun stuff -- network shares. Once upon a time getting Linux to access Windows shares, let alone browse for them, was a royal pain in the behind. Times have certainly changed!
Clicking on Places > Network Servers brings up a list of current networked links and browseable machines on the network. Once you find a share you can browse it and files contained under it directly however, contrary to logic, right clicking on a share and selecting 'Make Link' to create a shortcut to the share for future use doesn't work. So how to create a direct link to a network share?
The option didn't immediately appear to exist in the Nautilus browser the way it does in Explorer under Windows. Clicking through to Places > Connect to Server, a dialog with a range of textbox fields presents a number of options for network connections ranging from FTP, to SSH, Webdav and of course 'Window Shares'. This is actually a good tool, which I'll come back to in a moment. Selecting 'Windows Shares' for the type of connection I want to make, I'm pleased to find a 'Browse Network' button down the bottom. Great! I won't have to type a network path I can't remember anyway, so I click 'Browse Network'.
Which then promptly, and ironically, opens up the aforementioned network browser for me to drill down and find my Windows Share. Again. And then I'm back at square one, for the 'Connect to Server' dialog box has closed, and I'm not actually able to browse for and setup a link using this.
Ok, right clicking on the share again I find down the bottom an option 'Connect to this server', even though I'm already on the server, and I'm prompted for a link name. Voila, a direct link to the share is placed on my desktop! Perhaps all the confusion could have been avoided if this option was titled 'Connect to this Share' or 'Make link to this Share'?
Setting up folders on the system to share over the network is a different matter, however there is at least a properly titled option for it -- right clicking on a folder and choosing 'Share folder' is all you need to do. If Samba (the magic that allows Linux to access and use Windows SMB shares) isn't installed, Ubuntu prompts you to install it, which it then does so automatically. Nice.
I'm now able to drag and drop files between local and networked resources, and life is happy again.
Network Shares: Pass -- No problems. The task can be completed exactly as under Windows.
 Network browsing is flawless. |
Interweb uploading
But back to the connecting to servers tool -- downloading anon via HTTP or FTP is easy enough with Firefox, but what about if I want to upload files to a server? I have my own web space for storage, and I'd much prefer a simple drag-and-drop affair for updating files stored there than a command line FTP program.
The 'Connect to Server' tool actually made this extremely easy. After selecting 'FTP (with login)' and putting in the server details and login name, clicking 'Connect' put a link directly on the desktop. Then, using it for the first time, I'm prompted for a password which I can choose to be stored for this session, or in the 'Keyring'. Which, of course, leads me into the Keyring functionality of Gnome -- as I was then promoted for a password to protect the Keyring. The Keyring is essentially a means to store and manage passworded logins for everything from servers to web forms, and is a nice feature of the Gnome desktop. Oddly, however, Ubuntu doesn't install the Keyring Manager by default to give the user more control over the passwords saved for the services and sites you use.
Regardless, once entered Nautilus opens up the FTP site like any other folder on the system, and copying files to and from it is a drag-and-drop affair.
Uploading to sites: Optimal -- Passes with flying colors. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows.
CD and DVD burning
A big part of playing with files for sharing or storage, and especially backing up, is good old removable media. In Windows, of course, burning a CD is a simple copy and paste, and then hit burn.
The 'CD/DVD Creator' portion of Nautilus works exactly the same way as under Windows, allowing me to drag and drop files and then just click 'Write to disk'. When choosing to burn, you can also write to a file thus create your own ISOs for burning later. In fact, and speaking of which, Ubuntu had no problem both directly viewing ISOs (File Roller again handles this responsibility) and easily burning them -- right clicking on an ISO and selecting 'Write to Disc' is as simple as it gets.
It may sound like such a common sense feature but it wasn't always this way with Linux. Even to do simple burns a few years ago used to require using 'cdrecord' from the command line, or a front-end like XCDRoast (and there are better alternatives available today), and this ease of integration makes all the difference for an easy to use desktop.
CD and DVD burning: Optimal -- Passes with flying colors. The task could not only be completed, but better or easier than under Windows.
 The CD and DVD burner works exactly the same as under Windows. |
Conclusion
When it comes to managing, moving, and making use of files and formats under my Ubuntu desktop it's been a pretty pleasurable experience. Ubuntu and Gnome are highly reminiscent of Explorer under Windows, which means it's easy to settle in and have it all work as you expect. Which is important -- no one wants to futz around trying to get basic functionality working, and Ubuntu scores highly here. Next month iPods, Cameras, and more!
Open Source Challenge