LIghtweight file manager and text editor for remote server suggestions?[solved]

[graemep]

I have been gradually moving to more and more lightweight distros and currently plan to move to PCLOS E17. There are three KDE applications I still use: Akregator, Konqueror and Kate (and Kwrite).

I need a file manager and a text editor that can manage and edit files on remote servers over SSH.

The alternatives I am aware of are:

1) Konqueror + Kwrite/Kate. This works very well but drags in KDE dependencies (although less than I initially thought, its still a lot)
2) Komodo Edit/Open Komodo. Its not in the PCLOS repos (but installs cleanly in a single directory so that is not a major problem) and far from light (bigger than Krwrite with KDE dependencies). It is very good, but not what I set out to find, and I still need a file manager.
3) Any editor and file manager with SSHFS or similar. Its never worked smoothly or reliably for me in the past, but it is light.

Are there any options I am missing?

[melodie]

Hi,

On remove server with SSH I use only mc for all : file managing, editing, connecting another remote server with ftp or ssh. All in one swiss knife in the lightest console program.

[Archie]

Hi,

On remove server with SSH I use only mc for all : file managing, editing, connecting another remote server with ftp or ssh. All in one swiss knife in the lightest console program.

+1 on Midnight Commander. IMO this is the best choice. I personally use Krusader a lot on KDE. Very similar app.

[Neal ManBear]

For a gui file manager, try xfe (x file explorer). It comes with its own text editor. It is quite light, too.

[graemep]

mc is probably what will suit me best.

The only problem I can see is that it only supports Fish over ssh rather than sftp. I think fish is an ugly hack, and it will not work everywhere - but it does work well enough for my current uses.

Xfe is not going to work for me for this, but it might be wroth trying as an alternative (for local files) to PCMan which is the default in PCLOS E17.

Now I just need a text editor lighter than Komodo that can work over ssh.

Thanks for the suggestions,

Graeme

[melodie]

Now I just need a text editor lighter than Komodo that can work over ssh.

Thanks for the suggestions,

I don't know what komodo is, but when you select a text file in mc, and then press F4, it launches mcedit which is very easy to use. (F2 to save, F10 to quit mcedit)

[Neal ManBear]

leafpad

[Hootiegibbon]

graemep


Either

Xfe

or

Midnight Commander  aka mc (ncurses based , has mcedit built in, does ftp and ssh connections) and combine it with screen (ask that other paranoid nut Andy about it....)

Jase

[graemep]

Thanks, I did not realise that it had an internal editor that has text highlighting and which works over SSH as well: I suppose I could have guessed if I looked more carefully at the documentation (from things like the editor section of the wiki having a link to a non-existent page on highlighting.

I think that looks like a complete solution. Thanks.

melodie, Komodo Edit is one of the options I mentioned in the post starting this thread. Its nice but too heavy for this purpose - I might still use it as well, but I need a light weight editor for things like one changes to config files on a remote server.

[melodie]

greamep, I never looked at the documentation about mc, thought I'm sure I would learn much more there. I just looked at each Fx number in the down part of the console, so see what it was doing. For the ssh and ftp, I figured it out by browsing the menus, as well.
Have fun with your new tool !

[uncleV]

Now I just need a text editor lighter than Komodo that can work over ssh.

Thanks for the suggestions,

when you select a text file in mc, and then press F4, it launches mcedit which is very easy to use.

Shift-F4 starts editing a new file.

[melodie]

when you select a text file in mc, and then press F4, it launches mcedit which is very easy to use.

Shift-F4 starts editing a new file.

Great tip ! Thank you !

[smurfslover]

Using gsshfs i can mount the harddrive of the remote machine with a single click in my homedir and browse with pcmanfm and edit files with leafpad or pyroom or whatever editor you want to use.
Best choice if you want to stick to a gui solution.

[graemep]

PCMan works for me. It appears to handle sftp by default! I had it installed and did not know that. I can bookmark my server logins and go straight to them. It has all the functionality I have been using Konqueror for but is much lighter.

However, it does not seem to create a mount point visible to anything else. I looked in .gvfs and it is empty. I look in the LXDE forums confirmed that this is how it works:

http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1532

I have gsshfs installed, so I have what I need.

BUT, it would be really nice if I could have some way of easily opening, in a text editor, a file I can see while PCMan is browsing an sftp:// path.

[Neal ManBear]

PCMan works for me. It appears to handle sftp by default! I had it installed and did not know that. I can bookmark my server logins and go straight to them. It has all the functionality I have been using Konqueror for but is much lighter.

However, it does not seem to create a mount point visible to anything else. I looked in .gvfs and it is empty. I look in the LXDE forums confirmed that this is how it works:

http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1532

I have gsshfs installed, so I have what I need.

BUT, it would be really nice if I could have some way of easily opening, in a text editor, a file I can see while PCMan is browsing an sftp:// path.

Do you have leafpad installed? Right click > leafpad.