EmelFW is a lightweight file manager with muscle. If you are looking to conserve system resources and you want a graphical interface for a file manager emelFM may be what you are looking for. It is used by Damn Small Linux and is full featured and easily configured to do even more. This tutorial will help you understand emelFM features and adjust emelFM (http://emelfm.sourceforge.net) to become more useful.

Configuring EmelFM on Damn Small Linux
EmelFM is a file manager that is highly configurable and is one of the features on Damn Small Linux. This file manager uses a Graphical User Interface but really has a great deal of options that you may configure. EmelFM opens with two windows, the one on the left is the home directory of DSL and the one on the right is the root directory of the system by default in Damn Small Linux. In the middle are a number of buttons that execute commands. These commands may be adjusted by your needs.

MyDSL – this button will install myDSL extensions by selecting the extension and then clicking this button
Add2FileTool – add files and directories to the .filetool.lst so that if may be backed up
Edit – select a file to edit and then choose this button to open that file in Beaver
Copy – select a file on one window and click this button and it will be copied to the other window
Move – select a file in one window and click it and it will be moved to the other window
Rename – select a file or directory to rename
Create PDF – convert a text document to a PDF format
SymLink – create symbolic links
Delete – highlight a file or directory to delete
MkDir – create a new directory
File Info – select a file to see information on file name, file type, permissions and date last accessed, modified or changed
Refresh – refresh the directory listings in case changes have been made
Configure – configure the emelFM
Help – this is an online help for emelFM
Quit – close emelFM

The emelFM Interface
The left hand window that opens by default on emelFM is a listing of the /home/dsl directory. At the top of the directory in both windows are two options to take note of. The first is Bookmarks options. This allows you to configure locations in the file system that are used often. The default Bookmarks are listed. If you would like to add a Bookmark just select that option. This may be especially important if you have multiple users on the system and need an easy way to access those directories.

The second option is the Filters option. The Size Filter will allow you to filter any files that have a “Bigger Than” specification or a “Smaller Than” specification. For example you may want to view all files Bigger Than 1 MB. When you choose Size Filter set that option and then click on Filter Directories to turn the Filter on. The Filter text will then turn red to indicate that the ability to view files is being filtered. By using the Date Filter a user may choose to view all files that have been accessed since a certain date or files modified or changed from a specific date.
In order to make emelFM be the most efficient choose the Configure button. The Configuration options are listed in the left hand window and specific options are listed in the right hand window. The options under General – Page 1 allow you to turn on or off the Confirm Delete, Confirm Overwrite and Auto Refresh. When you delete or overwrite a file you may not want to be asked if this should be done, if that is the case you could turn that off here. The Auto Refresh just attempts to keep giving you an up to date viewing of the directories as you work with those directories. In addition to these options you may also want to adjust what directories that emelFM will show on startup. Just enter the path to the directory you would like.

The General – Page 2 provides the option to choose which program will be used when you select View with a file, by default it is Beaver in Damn Small Linux. Xterm is the default to use for a terminal. The Histories options can be set to maintain a record of the last Directory changes or commands that have been used.

The Columns configuration page provides a way to modify how files are listed using Size, Modified, Accessed, Changed, Permissions, Owner and Group. By unchecking the default options and selecting those options that are required you will be able to create a friendly use of columns.

The Bookmarks may be modified on the options on the default emelFM screen or from the configuration options that you see here. Remove those Bookmarks you do not want and create new ones for your settings. The order on the Bookmarks may be changed as well. Select a Bookmark and then move it up or down in the listing by using the arrows at the bottom.

The filetypes are standard stuff that you probably do not want to change unless you need a specific implementation. They are standard settings that you will find on most systems.

When it comes to User Commands then you have some significant options to make changes. In the image below you can see the default commands that are available. The developers have just tried to make easy ways for you to use common commands like printing with lpr. When you select Print and then Edit you will employ the command that is associated with the Print option:
lpr %f
This makes it easier for those struggling with the command line.

Commands my be added by selecting the Add button and then giving he command a name and entering the command that will be executed.

The emelFM toolbar has the option to add commands on the toolbar for easy reference. The defaults for Damn Small Linux are listed. The output of the command is then placed in the screen at the bottomof emelFM. For example the command free gives you an idea on how your system memory is being used and that is available by clicking on the free icon. You will see the output in the commands window. If you choose Add you may place additional commands that you may use often on the commands toolbar. Give the command a Label, Enter a Tooltip and then enter the command that will be used.

You will probably want to make the Label short to conserve space on the Toolbar.

Once you add the command you will see it listed. The example command will copy all png files to a secure server for backup. You could modify this for any kind of file and create off site backups.

The ssh command has been added to the Toolbar.

Important Key Bindings are listed.

The buttons listed between the two frames are listed so that you may add and remove buttons as you need.

Choose Add and Enter a label and the command that you want. In the example the command to list all .png files is used. With some time spent emelFM can be modified to create a very useful tool that is quick and performs just like you need.

You may modify any of the buttons listed by right clicking on them.

Here is the new button displayed.

The Plugins window allows you to determine which Plugins will show in the Menu when you right click on the directory. . For example the Menu by default will allow you to sort files by extension. If you do not want this just change the YES to NO.

If you prefer to change the default colors you may do this by choosing the clor you want in the Interface – Colors window.

Adjusting Fonts, Scrollbar Position, Window Behavior, Expanding the right click options and sue of vi keys are options available in the Misc. window.

The output window at the bottom of emelFM will list the output of commands that you may use without starting xterm. Here the output of free is shown.

The dsl@box$ gives you a command line where you may enter commands and review the output in the window above the command line. This is a nice feature so that you do not need to open a xterm window to juggle with emelFM. The ^ next to dsl@box$ allows you to turn on and off the viewing of the command line output window.

The README for emelFM contains valuable insights on how the program works as well as methods to work faster.

Default Key Bindings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Open Enter, Right Open/Close Ctrl+W
Up Dir Backspace, Left output window
Home Dir HOME
Switch Panels Space, Tab Switch focus Ctrl+Z
Tag Ctrl+T, INS to command line
Find Ctrl+F
Toggle Hidden Ctrl+H
Copy Ctrl+C files
Copy As Ctrl+Shift+C
Move Ctrl+M Maximize/Minimize Ctrl+, (left)
Move As Ctrl+Shift+M Panels Ctrl+. (right)
SymLink Ctrl+S
SymLink As Ctrl+Shift+S Menu Ctrl+P
Rename Ctrl+R Plugins Menu Ctrl+[
Delete DEL User Menu Ctrl+]
Make Dir Ctrl+D
Refresh Ctrl+L
Sync Dirs Ctrl+X
Quit Ctrl+Q

Command Line Tricks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ctrl+Enter Copies the selected filenames in the active pane
Ctrl+L Copies the selected pathnames in the inactive pane
Ctrl+D Copies the active directory name
Ctrl+O Copies the inactive directory name
Ctrl+Z Close output window and change focus to current file list
(Note: Command line shortcuts also work with Alt+<letter>)

If you prefix a command with an 'x', emelFM will open an xterm and execute the command from there. For example 'x man fopen', will open an xterm with the manpage for fopen. This is useful for interactive programs that the emelFM command line can't handle.

If you prefix a command with 'su', emelFM will open an xterm and su to root to execute the command. For example 'su make install', will open an xterm, prompt for the root password, and then execute the 'make install' in the current directory.

If you append an '&' to the end of a command emelFM will not capture the output of the process.

Typing 'keys' at the command line will list the keyboard shortcuts.
Typing 'clear' at the command line will clear the output field

Drag & Drop
~~~~~~~~~~~
Drag and drop is activated by selecting the files you want to copy/move/link, and then clicking the middle mouse button and dragging to another location in either of the directory lists. If you drag to a directory the files will be copied/moved/linked to that directory, otherwise they will be copied/moved/ linked to the directory of the list. When you release the button, a menu will prompt you for the operation you want to perform (copy/move/link). I find that this is most useful for moving files into a subdirectory of the current directory, since you can avoid changing the other directory. It is also possible to drag and drop between different instances emelFM and some other gtk+ apps like Gnome Midnight Commander and GQView.

Action Notes
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prefixing an action with 'x' will open an xterm to execute the action.
Prefixing an action with 'su' will open an xterm and su to root to execute the
action.
Appending the '&' character to an action will cause emelFM to discard the output
of the command. (By default, emelFM will capture the output and print it to the
output window)

Macros:
%f = The selected filename(s) in the active directory
%F = The full pathname(s) of files selected in inactive directory
%d = The active directory name
%D = The inactive directory name
%{Prompt message} = Prompt for input with the message "Prompt message"

Examples:

x rpm -qlip %f | less

This opens an xterm and executes an rpm query command and pipes the output
to 'less'. If the output were not piped to 'less', the xterm would exit after
the query finished and the user would not be able to see the results for very
long.

su rpm -Uvh %f

This opens an xterm and su's to root, prompting for the root password. Then it
executes the RPM install command which would probably fail if done as a normal
user.

tar xzvf %f -C %D &

This unpacks a tarball from the active directory into the inactive directory.
Because of the '&' at the end, emelFM will *not* capture the output.

diff -c %f %F > %{Filename for patch:}

This runs the diff command to create a patch between the selected files,
prompting for the filename for the patch.

Other Notes
~~~~~~~~~~~
Shift+Right Click:
Right Clicking on the file listing while holding down the Shift key will
activate the Plugins menu.

Ctrl+Right Click:
Right Clicking on the file listing while holding down the Ctrl key will
activate the User Commands menu.

Right Clicking on the "Up Dir" button will take you to the home directory
Right Clicking on the "<" button will copy the directory to the opposite
directory (Like Sync Dirs)

Typing 'keys' at the command line will list the keyboard shortcuts.
Typing 'clear' at the command line will clear the output field