Bored of Nautilus? Tired of Thunar? Desperate to ditch Dolphin? Maybe it’s time to try a new file browser?
Marlin is a lightweight file browser built from the ground-up to be responsive, simply designed and easy to use.
It will be the default file browser in the next release of the elementary project’s operating system ‘Luna’.
Our own Georgi K. is a massive fan of Marlin – and now you can try out its development using a Marlin-only development PPA.
Features
Amongst its features are:
- Tabbed browsing
- Multiple-views
- Single-click to open (default)
- Configurable toolbars and interface
- Plugin framework
Icon view: –
List view: –
Column view: –
Integration
Unity quicklist support: –
Plugins for Dropbox and UbuntuOne: –
Enabling the ‘Contractor‘ plug-in requires ‘Contractor‘ to be installed, and must be enabled in order for Marlin to support ‘unrar’-ing of archives.
SSH, FTP, etc connections: –
Modal Dialogs (GNOME-Shell only)
Installing Marlin in Ubuntu
To install the file-browser in Ubuntu 11.10 you must first add the following PPA to your Software Sources: –
ppa:marlin-devs/marlin-daily
After running an update you should then install the package ‘Marlin‘ from the Ubuntu Software Centre.
Alternatively, enter the following two commands in a new Terminal: –
- sudo add-apt-repository ppa:marlin-devs/marlin-daily
- sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install marlin marlin-plugin-*
Using Marlin
After installing Marlin it can be launched from the Dash by searching for ‘Marlin’.
Remember: Marlin is in active development and should not be considered stable or feature complete.