Far Manager is a file manager. Plugins Far manager plugins
) and have never seen him, nevertheless, you probably still understand who he is and what he is eaten with. For those who have not read the last article, but for some reason decided to read this one, I will say that FAR manager is an analogue of Norton Commander (programs for managing files), working in the console (text mode), but using all the power of Windows. The statement about the analogue of Norton is a little controversial, we will assume that this is my subjective opinion, of which there will be many more in the future. Liked it - then download it from www.rarsoft.com and run it. By the way, the third beta has been released since the last article was written. I'll tell you about registration right away - it is free for residents of the former USSR.
So you downloaded it. What didn't you like? Things are good? Then read on.
Who is this article for? Rather, for those who have been using FAR for a long time, but have no idea how broad its capabilities are. Nevertheless, it will not be superfluous for those who have not yet chosen a file manager to their liking. I must admit that I had no idea at first how powerful the FAR thing was, until I found a site with plugins on the Internet :)
Plugins. Who are they?
Plugin (from English Plug-in - plug-in) are external plug-ins (plugins) that are used to extend the capabilities of programs. Plugins are not specific to FAR. With their help, for example, the capabilities of ICQ are expanded, Adobe photoshop or Winamp. They are also found in other file managers, for example, in Windows Commander. But, in comparison with other file managers, only in FAR plug-ins are provided with truly fantastic opportunities: plug-ins work anywhere - in panels, in the editor, in the viewer; they can be run directly from command line... Sometimes you just don't know who exactly will execute the next command - far.exe itself or plugins, the shell merged so closely with its helpers. The very ideology of plugins allows you to customize the shell for yourself, adding the necessary and throwing out the unnecessary. This is the main advantage of plugin systems over monolithic programs.
And now the fun part
Since there are a huge number of plugins (at the day of this writing there were 288 of them), I will try to describe the most useful ones (in my opinion). And I will mainly use the author's comments and my subjective opinion.
So, according to the rating, FarNavigator (formerly ProxyFtp) is in the first place. Just recently, he bypassed a plugin that will be described below - colorer. The author is Vasily Moshninov. FAR includes a standard ftp client, but it has only basic functions. And thanks to this plugin, FAR becomes an excellent FTP client, since it can be used to work with any type of proxy server. In the latest version, it also works with http servers.
Colorer is a plugin for syntax highlighting of programming languages (for example, setting colors in any software environment) in the FAR editor. It is very convenient if you need to quickly edit the source code, and you are too lazy to launch the shell. The author is Igor Russkikh. Contains a huge number of ready-made scripts for coloring different languages. A few words about installation: this plugin consists of two parts - the syntax highlighting library and the plugin itself.
Search and replace(s_and_r). Author - Ivan Sintyurin. The plugin, which allows you to replace in a large number of files, expands the search capabilities in the standard editor, and also provides the ability to search and replace using regular expressions. As the author said, this is a plugin for the smart, and for those who know what regular expressions are, this is an irreplaceable thing ...
7-zip. A plugin that makes working with archives transparent, that is, it does not require the archivers themselves on the machine. Initially, it is designed for zip, so it can only archive in zip, but unzip - from most archives.
In addition to these plugins, there are many others. For example, to control WinAmp from FAR, to support various languages and encodings, for all kinds of mass file processing. In fact, everyone can write the desired plugin for their specific task, which makes the modular architecture convenient.
Now let's take a look at the standard delivery plugins.
Advanced Compare is a plugin that enhances directory comparison capabilities. Why describe it - just look at the dialogue it gives out.
Editor \ Align - plugin for formatting blocks in the built-in editor. I recommend using Format Block instead.
Editor \ AutoWrap - plugin for auto-wrap lines as you type.
Editor \ Brackets - plugin for auto-transition between brackets in the editor. It is stated that it is not needed if you have a colorer, as it can do all this.
Editor \ DrawLine - plugin for drawing lines in the editor. Dedicated to Dos Nafigator lovers.
Editor \ EditCase - plugin for changing the case of typed words. Knows how to do everything - "all lowercase", "Start with uppercase", "ALL Uppercase", "CHANGE REGISTER", "Cyclic change".
FARCmds is a very powerful and feature rich plugin. Since it comes standard, I recommend reading "Help". An example of use is to make the same directory on the adjacent panel as on the current one.
FileCase is a plugin similar to EditCase, but does the same with filenames. In the next version s_and_r (1.6) will do the same, but for the sake of simplicity, I would still recommend using this plugin.
FTP - standard FTP client. For infrequent work with FTP is quite sufficient. If you work with FTP constantly, then I recommend installing the proxyftp described above, and removing this one.
HlfViewer is a plugin for plugin developers. Serves to view an arbitrary hlf-file - help file for FAR`a.
MultiArc is a powerful plugin for working with archives.
Network - plugin for working with the Network. Very comfortable. Perhaps in this version it will be slightly changed for the better. Those who have already used it know that the old Network browser did not know how to leave resources on the Web, while the new one can, however, so far only for the Microsoft Network. Novell NetWare owners will have to wait a bit.
PrintMan is a new plugin. Replaces standard print functions in FAR, starting from version 1.70 beta1. Prints on almost all types of printers. Knows how to remove jobs from the print queue.
ProcList - list of processes. Nice plugin for shooting processes and viewing rather detailed information about them. In addition, he knows how to change the priorities of running processes. By the way, here - to get a list and switch tasks, you can use the ctrl-w combination in FAR, and to remove them in the menu that appears, use the DEL key. At the same time, they are removed immediately and without question, unlike what Windows does (by CTRL-ALT-DEL).
TmpPanel is a temporary panel. The main purpose is to add files found during the search.
EMenu - plugin for getting contextual windows menu... Able to display text or graphic menus.
As I noted above, many standard plugins are add-ons for users, they do not provide all the needs, and in many cases their functionality is overridden by more advanced plugins, which means they can be removed if not used. The main point of standard plugins is examples for those who want to start writing plugins themselves, since they all come with source code.
Where to get them and how to install them?
All FAR plugins are stored in separate folders located in the "Plugins" folder (which, in turn, is located in the same folder as Far.exe). Upon detecting a new module, FAR saves information about it and subsequently loads it only when necessary, so that inactive modules do not require additional memory. However, if you are sure that you do not need any modules, you can remove them to save disk space. Also, be sure to read all text files like readme.txt, whatsnew.txt, file_id. diz. Specific features for installing this plugin can be described there. Also check sometimes the plugin authors' home pages, which should be listed in these files.
Now let's see how to install them. So, you need to go to the folder where FAR is installed (usually c: \ program files \ far \), into the plugins subdirectory, there create a subdirectory with a name corresponding to the name of the plugin (in principle, it does not matter, it is useful only for orientation), and copy the entire contents of the downloaded archive into it. Next, restart FAR. Removing the plugin is a little more difficult. My way is to go into the plugins directory, click. (period) and shift-enter, exit FAR, delete the directory with the plugin (del) and start FAR again. If you want to install new version plugin, you need to uninstall it first and then install it. Sometimes, if the plugin is not loaded into memory, you can do without exiting FAR.
You can get plugins from PlugRing, a community site for plugin writers. By the way, in the last article I wrote that PlugRinG (www.uic.nnov.ru/~ruiv/plugring) is an unofficial site. So, now it has become official, but has not changed its direction: there is the main (and, in principle, the only) collection of plugins for FAR. There are shorter and more memorable addresses for it - www.rarsoft.com/plugring and plugring.da.ru. Also, to keep abreast of all the latest plugins, I recommend subscribing to the forum - [email protected].
And in conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to those who helped me write this article - especially Ivan Sinturin, as well as the developers of FAR, plugins for him.
However, despite all its versatility, FAR is far from being able to do everything. For example, he cannot work with the registry or edit unicode files normally. It's good that there are fans who have written tons of plugins and add-ons for this useful program... A complete list of them, including almost half a thousand items, you can easily find at plugring.farmanager.com... By tradition, we have selected ten of the best from them. If you bought a magazine with a disk, then you won't have to download anything: we have already downloaded the most interesting add-ons for FAR and placed it on the DPK-CD.
Installing most of them shouldn't give you any problems. Typically, you need to create a subfolder with the name of the module in the directory C: Program FilesFarPlugins and then unpack all files from the plugin archive into it. That's it - after restarting the program, FAR recognizes the extension and will work with it.
Far navigator
| Far navigator |
The second name of this module is ProxyFTP. Undoubtedly the most useful plugin for those who frequently surf the Internet and work with FTP servers. Among the features - the ability to connect to the server even through a proxy, which is not available in the standard FAR module; the ability to move and copy files on different servers without first downloading them to the user's computer (read - several times faster and without wasting traffic); support for unusual authorization modes; file attachment processing and everything you could possibly want from any commercial FTP client. Moreover, it is absolutely free. Great, isn't it?
7-zip
Built-in support for archives in FAR through the MultiArc module is, of course, universal, but it is implemented exclusively through external programs, which is not always convenient and certainly inferior in speed to separately executed archivers. Plus the need to seek executable files different archivers, and then also configure them. To be honest, this does not upset us very much, but if there is a more convenient solution, why not use it? 7-zip already contains support for ZIP, RAR, GZIP and TAR, which will be enough for most users.
Registry Browser
Editing the system windows registry- an unpleasant, but, unfortunately, quite common operation. So, for example, you can get rid of the notorious error 1311 when installing your favorite game only by editing the registry. If for this you are too lazy to exit FAR and run regedit.exe- use Registry Browser... With it, you can edit any necessary data directly through the file manager interface. Moreover, copying keys and entire branches is no more difficult than duplicating files and folders.
Background File Copy
The main advantage of some paid file managers over FAR has always been the background copying, which allows you to simultaneously perform a number of operations on files without launching several FAR windows. Well, this advantage is negated by the Background File Copy module, which allows our favorite program to do the same, not only with copying, but also moving, deleting and even editing files. The main thing is to carefully read the attached installation instructions and note: the module does not work under Windows 98 / Me.
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| Right Click + Right Click Menu Activator |
Second (and last) useful quality regular programs for file management - the standard Windows context menu invoked by the right mouse button. In FAR, as you know, a banal file allocation occurs instead. If you want to have access to the context menu, install both plugins: one of them will create the actual window with the list of commands, and the second will assign its call to the right mouse button. And do not ask me why it was impossible to do it with one module - this is a mystery covered in darkness. The only drawback is the lack of pretty pictures next to some menu items.
WEB Editor
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| WEB Editor |
If you are more or less seriously interested in creating Web sites or this is your main occupation, then you probably know that almost all existing Html editors do the so-called dirty code which takes up more space and looks sloppy. As a rule, pages are brought to mind in a regular text editor, for example, in the same FAR. And together with the WEB Editor module, this operation has become even easier and more convenient. Among its pleasant features is automatic insertion HTML tags and even PHP functions, easy creation of inline images, menus and various forms.
Plugin Calculator
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| Plugin Calculator |
The need for a convenient calculator with support for expressions, automatic translation of the result into hexadecimal, decimal and binary system is always there. This is especially true for those who are programming or just like to dig into the files of saved games in order to slightly modify them. Plugin Calculator is built into FAR and allows not only performing simple calculations, but also converting units of measures and weights from one system to another. This will surely come in handy when solving physics problems and reading classic American literature, crammed with feet and inches.
FAR Mail
For those of you who don't use Outlook Express for some reason (well, let's say, for religious reasons) and find alternative clients like The Bat or Mozilla Mail not cool enough, you should install FAR Mail. The ability to send and receive letters in text and HTML formats in absolutely any encoding, support for attached files, The address book and many mail accounts(SMTP, IMAP and of course POP3). Even the filtering of letters is there. However, imagine that someone would prefer this program to a separate mail clients, it's very difficult for us.
Multimedia Viewer
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| Multimedia Viewer |
The need to use external utilities to view pictures and video files - unpleasant feature almost all file managers. However, in our case, this problem can be solved very simply - just install the Multimedia Viewer module to see all the pictures directly in the FAR window. Moreover, the plugin even allows you to listen to melodies without leaving the program interface. The main thing: don't forget to download the additional library (located on our disk) to make it all work correctly.
Tetris
And finally, the most useless plugin for FAR. No, rather, even the most harmful. This add-on, as you probably guessed yourself, makes it possible to play the famous "Tetris" right in the program window. Work in this case runs the risk of being put on the back burner until better times. Readers nostalgic for the DOS era will surely remember that the creation of Alexander Pajit-nov was built into the ancient file manager Even then, DOS Navigator got in the way of doing important things.
FAR Manager: a brief introduction
This Norton-like file manager, created by the famous Russian programmer Yevgeny Roshal, reproduces the interface of the Norton Commander program familiar to many users. FAR is designed to work with files, directories and archives in Windows 95/98 / Me and Windows 2000 / NT and can operate in full-screen and windowed modes. We will not sing the praises of this program, but, in our opinion, there is no more convenient file manager, at least for a person who at one time had time to work seriously with the Norton Commander program.
What to give preference to?
Of course, there is no need to present the well-known utility Norton Commander. Currently the latest version is Norton 2000, great problem solver 2000, but not of particular interest to the Russian user. There are many reasons for this, let's name only the most important ones: the package is not Russified; the font used does not contain Cyrillic, so Russian names of files and directories cannot be used; the internal infobase of the package does not include any Russian program... In addition, it is of no small importance that the program occupies about 10 MB (version 1.0) on the hard disk, and it is not cheap.
In contrast to the Norton Commander utility, the latest version of the FAR program (FAR 1.70b3) occupies only a little more than 2 MB of disk space, and the previous version (FAR 1.70b2) generally "weighed" twice less. FAR Manager is considered a shareware product. The cost of registering it is $ 25 (without registration, the product works for 40 days), and citizens and organizations of the CIS and Baltic countries can register the program completely free of charge. For its successful registration (this is done by running the FAR program with the –r: “FAR -r” parameter), a user from the former USSR should enter the phrase “xUSSR registration” as a username, and the registration code will be the day of the week when you decided to register the program (for example, the word "Monday" entered in lowercase in Russian letters). Server addresses for FAR: http://www.rarsoft.com/, ftp://rarsoft.ti.sk/pub/FAR/ and ftp://rarsoft.ti.sk/pub/FAR/ (although not on the most recent version appears at the same time).
As for the software capabilities of FAR Manager, here too this utility is at its best - both for a wide range of users and for professional professionals. The fact is that in addition to the standard features known from the first versions of Norton Commander, the program contains many pleasant features... These include determining the size of directories, calling a list of active tasks; file transfer via FTP client. FAR provides ample opportunities when working with archives: archiving and unzipping, viewing, editing and launching files from archives for execution. The program supports most of the known archive formats, including self-extracting and CAB archives. FAR perfectly understands long file names, works correctly with Russian letters, and the built-in editor allows you to switch between DOS and WIN encodings. But we will not delve into further enumeration of the program's features, since a lot has already been written about this.
On the computers of professional specialists, this program has long taken its rightful place, and I would very much like this utility to attract the attention of all the rest of the user fraternity. Having installed it on your computer, you will no longer want to part with it and will forever forget about Norton Commander and the volume of the disk that you once had to share with it.
Plugins for FAR
The FAR Manager program was originally conceived as a shell with a modular structure (the presence of an API makes it possible to increase the shell's capabilities through the so-called plug-in plug-ins). Plugins are modules that are called from FAR and use FAR functions and interface. The inclusion of a wide range of plugins means a significant increase in the functionality of the program. By default, the file manager is supplemented with several useful modules that support both working with archives and ftp servers, with a network and a temporary panel for storing files and directories, and using all kinds of Russian encodings. The number of built-in plug-ins is constantly increasing from version to version, and the number of functions provided by the program is growing accordingly.
In addition, new plugins by various authors appear regularly. Some of them are of greater interest, others are less, but their total number is constantly increasing (currently about 407 different plugins are known), and old versions of plugins are periodically replaced by new ones. In addition, both the author of FAR Manager and the authors of specific plugins listen to the wishes and suggestions of users and in some cases implement their ideas in new versions. Most full list plugins with the ability to sort them by various parameters can be found at the address, which is a kind of Internet community of FAR plugins authors.
Several of the most useful plugins, as we have already mentioned, are automatically included in the FAR Manager distribution. Of the most frequently used ones, I would like to name a convenient print manager and the "File register conversion" module, which allows you to unify the change in the spelling of the file names of the selected directory. The "Advanced Comparison" module is also very effective, which, unlike the "Comparison of folders" command known from Norton, allows you to specify a number of additional comparison parameters (time, content, size), as well as include or, conversely, exclude when comparing certain files and folders. The well-known plug-in "FTP-client" greatly facilitates the process of transferring files. The latest version of FAR (1.70b3) has one more interesting plug-in "Explorer context menu" (Fig. 1), however, most of the features announced in it are not yet active. At the same time, at least part of the functions of this module can be used in practice quite widely (for example, "Send", "Cut", "Copy" and "Paste").
Most often plugins implement various functions, which are not needed by all users. The relevance of using one or another additional module depends on the specific working conditions. Therefore, you need to think carefully before installing all the plugins in a row. And only then, having carefully analyzed your own needs, you should install only the additional modules you really need, thereby reducing the amount of memory and resources used by the program.
Installing any new plugin is very easy. You need to create a Plugins subdirectory in the FAR directory (by default C: \ Program Files \ Far) (in latest versions program, it is created automatically), inside it, create a special subdirectory for this plugin and copy all the plugin files into it. After these manipulations, you close the program in the usual way, and then restart it, and the plugin starts working. You can call the required plug-in by pressing the F11 key and selecting it from the list that opens. Some plugins are also selected through the Alt + F1 (Alt + F2) combination. To change parameters installed plugins you will need to use the command F9ФParametersФParameters of external modules and make the necessary adjustments (Fig. 2).
Are FAR plugins really necessary?
As noted above, at the time of this writing, 407 different plugins were officially registered at http://www.uic.nnov.ru/~ruiv/plugring/cgi-bin/downld.cgi (it’s probably impossible to find another software tool, for which such a number would have been developed). On the one hand, such a wide range of possibilities provided by plugins seems to be superfluous, but on the other hand, this is the main advantage of FAR Manager over other programs designed to work with files and directories. After all, the modular structure of FAR allows users to connect and disconnect exactly those plugins that are needed.
As for the variety of FAR plugins that exist today, you can find literally everything among them - from Tetris, reverse and mini-calendar, congratulating you on your birthday, and ending with all kinds of clients. The "constellation" of plugins still includes those that are automatically included in the FAR Manager distribution or provide features already implemented in the latest versions of the program (these plugins today may be of interest only to users of older versions of the file manager).
A certain part of the plug-in base can be useful to a fairly wide range of users, however, most of the FAR plug-ins still implement quite specific features, the need for which, due to the nature of work on a computer, does not arise for everyone. Therefore, a significant portion of plugins are targeted only at users who face the same problems as the plugin authors themselves.
Clipboard Copy, Clipboard Copy Alt
These plugins are intended for using the clipboard for copying and moving files and folders as usual in Windows, but previously unavailable in FAR Manager. Copying (moving) both from Windows to FAR and vice versa is allowed. By itself, such a possibility greatly facilitates the usual operations of copying and moving, but it cannot be said that it is implemented very conveniently (if in Windows it is enough, as you know, pressing right button and choice the desired action, then in FAR you have to execute the combination F11Ф Clipboard ФCopy (Move / Cut or Paste). True, you cannot demand the impossible from the authors of plug-ins: this is the path that is assumed based on the very logic of the plug-in modules. This idea was originally implemented in the Clipboard Copy plugin, but not fully worked out: when trying to copy some files, the program gives an error file system... Much later, the Clipboard Copy Alt plugin, similar in functionality, appeared, in the work of which we did not encounter error situations. It is very likely that soon this opportunity will be implemented in the file manager itself through the built-in Explorer Context Menu module. Archives: clbcopy110.rar (158,296 bytes, author - Alexander Kotelovich) - Clipboard Copy plugin; works since FAR1.60, clipcopy.rar (9361 bytes, author - Andrey Budko) - Clipboard Copy Alt plugin; works since FAR1.65.
File list creator
It is intended, as the name suggests, to create a file in the current directory containing a list of the names of the selected files. Although there is, of course, the usual possibility of copying the names of the selected files to the clipboard by pressing Ctrl + Ins and then pasting from the clipboard into text file, this plugin is also quite convenient in some cases. It allows you to copy files with paths (entering long paths for a group of files manually is extremely dubious entertainment), as well as supplementing the created list of files with new files and processing subfolders (of course, if they are selected). There are situations when it is simply irreplaceable (for example, the author of this article, as a teacher, often needs it when forming independent assignments). Archive: flist22.rar (107,780 bytes, author - Andrey Belousov); works since FAR1.60 version.
Edit Swap
In fact, this plugin represents two modules: "Paired brackets" and "Rus<->Lat ", intended, of course, to edit the file in the text editor FAR. The first module is responsible for finding and highlighting single and double paired brackets different types... The plugin was written for version FAR1.63, which did not provide such an opportunity. FAR version 1.70b2 already includes a built-in "Brackets" plugin that performs the same functions. As for the module "Rus<->Lat ", then it can still only be connected manually and provides a very useful ability to convert the selected block according to the QWERTY rule<->QWERTY, and such a need arises all the time, if you just forgot to switch the alphabet, and you naturally have no special desire to type the text again. Archive: editswap.zip (16 800 bytes, author - Valentin Skirdin). Although the plugin was written for version FAR1.63, it works fine in subsequent versions of the program. True, the function of finding and highlighting parentheses turns out to be duplicated.
Uninstall
The plugin allows you to uninstall programs from the FAR Manager in the same way as is usually done from the control panel (F11FRemove programsFSelect program name). Archive: uinst11.zip (8 619 bytes, author - Dmitry Zhemerov); works since FAR1.65.
FAR Navigator (ProxyFtp)
This module allows you to work not only with ftp servers (downloading or deleting files and directories from the server, copying your files to the server), as a standard FTP client plugin, but also with http servers (downloading from the server). If the connection is broken, it is possible to resume files. As for downloading files to a computer, there are, of course, more convenient opportunities provided by download managers specially designed for this (here and more conveniently organized resume, and work on a schedule, and download at the highest possible speed, etc.) ), so this direction, in general, is not for everybody. And if we talk about the reverse operation, then the plugin's functions should be of interest to a wide audience. To connect to the server, you need to perform a simple sequence of actions: F11ФFAR NavigatorФ Enter the name and other parameters of the server by pressing the Shift + F4 combination. Archive: FARnav18b8.zip (161,583 bytes, author - Vasily Moshninov); works since FAR1.65.
Web Editor
This plugin allows you to create and edit html files in the built-in environment text editor FAR by inserting templates of a fairly wide range of HTML tags (Fig. 4), CSS attributes, PHP structures (Fig. 5), etc. The process of completely creating Web pages in this way is time-consuming and labor-intensive and not very inspiring, especially considering the specially designed for this purpose. software products... but this module can be very useful in the process of debugging a page, when you need to make minimal changes, save and immediately check the result. In addition, some of the tags (necessary, for example, for the successful promotion of your page) still have to be inserted manually, and the Web Editor helps to significantly speed up the whole process. To insert a tag, use the following sequence of actions: F11ФHTML - EditorFselect the required tag. Archive: web10.zip (163,749 bytes, author - Alexander Ermolaev); works since FAR1.7 version.
FAR plugins programming Help Encyclopedia of Developer
It is an encyclopedia in Russian PlugRinG Help for plugin developers. In principle, the FAR Manager distribution also contains a help file, but it is rather short. Therefore, the authors of this plug-in decided to write a real Help-encyclopedia, in which the plug-in development technology in relation to C / C ++ and Pascal (structures, service functions, exported functions, etc.) is discussed in detail, specific recommendations in this area are given and numerous examples. In addition, here are published articles by various authors regarding the pitfalls that they had to face at different stages of the development of their plugins. In other words, this encyclopedia is a great help for those who decided to replenish the number of plugin authors. To launch the encyclopedia, just click on the pluginsr.chm file. Archive: help / pluginsr_chm.zip (394 619 bytes, authors - Valentin Skirdin, Igor Russkikh, Ivan Sinturin, Kirill Kirichenko, Artem Nazarov, Vasily Moshninov and Dmitry Zhemerov) is focused on the FAR1.7b3 version.
PlugRinGviewer
The plugin is designed to work with the plugins database - PlugRing (Fig. 6). The general user may be interested in organizing a targeted viewing of plugins by category. The advantage of this plugin is that you do not need to study the entire plugin base for a long time and persistently if you need to find out, for example, what plugins exist for working with the Internet or with a printer. However, the functionality of PlugRinGviewer is much broader: it includes downloading plugins from the database, and updating, and adding new plugins. But this feature is mainly aimed at plugin authors. To connect to the database, you first need to configure the plug-in to your proxy server (F9FParametersFParameters of external modulesFBase of plugRingFProxy settings), and then, having connected to the Internet, press Alt + F1 (Alt + F2) and select "PlugRing plugin base" (or standard way via F11F PlugRing plugin base). Archive: plugring.zip (394 619 bytes, author - Vasily Moshninov), works from version FAR1.65.
For more information, we advise you to contact the address http: //www.uic. nnov.ru/~ruiv/plugring/cgi-bin/downld.cgi, where more than 400 plugins are waiting for you for free, as they say, for every taste.
ComputerPress 2 "2002
We continue the series of articles about the programs I use at work. Today it is one of the oldest programs I use, FAR. Despite the venerable age of 15 years and the unassuming interface, in the form of two blue text boxes. FAR is one of the most powerful file managers today, and it uses many features of modern operating systems. Windows Vista and Windows 7. And the quantity and quality of plugins written for it allows you to make almost anything out of it. In addition to version 2.0, FAR is free and open source.
File managers and what they eat with
Once upon a time, when the trees were big, the sky was bluer and computers were weaker than modern ones. cell phones... Most popular operating system was MS DOS. Its receiver is now the Windows console or cmd. In those far away Windows times was an add-on over DOS and the overwhelming majority of users did not sit in it. And in 1986, one of the first file managers, Norton Commander, was released (He's Norton, from just NC) It was he who first showed the whole world 2 blue windows. It is this format that became the basis for a huge number of file managers, its layout and commands have become textbooks, and many people remember the speed and convenience when working with it. Many users who have tasted all the benefits while working with it are still using its counterparts. And they have appeared quite a few since that time. Volkov Commander, which had a small size with basic capabilities, DOS Navigator had large capabilities, etc.
But then Windows 95 came into the world and changed it. It was no longer an add-on over DOS, it was an independent operating system that provided enormous possibilities. File managers were also developed for it. One of which was the File and Archive Manager, or simply FAR.
Far Manager today
Today FAR Manager is a free BSD-licensed file manager. It is constantly being developed on the project page http://www.farmanager.com There is also a forum and a database of plugins for it. It works great with everyone Windows versions, including in the mode Server Core
Both x32 and x64 versions are available for download. There are stable and daily builds (despite the name, they are also very stable), download is also available in the form of a 7z archive or an msi package (May be useful for deploying software via GPO)
Many are wondering. Why do you need x64 version in a program as simple as a file manager? It does not consume large resources and high performance she doesn't need it. To answer this question, go with any x32 manager to the Windows \ System32 \ Drivers folder, in any x64 system, and remember the number of files you saw, and then go there with a simple explorer. And you will see that there are much more of them. But it is the work with files and folders that is main function for any file manager
It comes with a large number of plugins that allow you to work with FTP and the network. There is a built-in process manager and an archive manager. It allows you to copy with the mouse and use the Windows context menu by right-clicking. To call the context menu, you need to hold down the key for 3-5 seconds
The plugin Emenu is used for this.
From additional functions there is support for working with User Account Control(UAC)
And dynamically displaying copy and other actions in Windows icon 7
Note that FAR remains a console program, and allows you to use all the features windows consoles right in it. In addition, it has memory for using console programs.
Plugins for Far Manager
Attention: The version of the plugins used depends on the version of FAR Manager, for the x64 version it is necessary to use the x64 versions of the plugins. All the plugins I have described have x64 versions. Plugin compatibility with different versions specified in special topic
All plugins are installed in the Far \ Plugins folder by unpacking them and then restarting FAR
Must have plugin. Significantly expands the possibilities of configuring and using FAR Manager and not only it. It is a console emulator. If at startup it finds the file far.exe launches it and runs in its environment. I am using conemu as the main bootloader for FAR. Its possibilities are enormous
- Run multiple copies of FAR and more, can work with any console program or PowerShell environment, cmd, telnet, etc.
- Run programs as an administrator or any other user, there is UAC support
- Allows viewing console output in FAR of large length. Which cannot be viewed as standard. Useful when viewing large listings
To enable console input, use the CtrlO_View.reg macro located in the ConEmu \ ConEmu.Addons folder. By default it is set to Ctrl + O shortcut, but I recommend using another combination like Ctrl + S by editing the line
to the one you need
- Additionally paint and modify appearance FAR and the fonts it uses
The setting is started by pressing the right key on the upper bar and selecting settings
- Copy / pase from FAR console
- and much more
Archiver for FAR based on free 7-zip. FAR already has a built-in archiver, but to use it you need a lot console versions original programs. This plugin uses the capabilities of the well-known 7-zip archive manager (http://www.7-zip.org/) and, in my opinion, is more convenient to use
Attention: For the plugin to work, only the 7z.dll library is needed, which is in the folder in the installed archiver, I usually copy it to the plugin folder
Allows you to organize syntax highlighting in the built-in editor, has support for many languages, it is convenient
Allows you to use the capabilities of .NET and PowerShell environments directly from FAR. Unfortunately, this seriously increases the launch speed and the resources consumed by FAR Manager.
First, the plugin is installed FarNet. After that, the plugin is installed in the Far \ FarNet \ Modules folder. PowerShellFar
FarSniffer, FarHexitor and other system utilities (http://code.google.com/p/farplugs/downloads/list)
A small sniffer of the network and HEX editor... things like that never hurt
And many others. Far Manager has programs for working with communicators based on WinMobile and Android or mobile phones... Viewing video pictures and listening to music. And many more.
Conclusion
As you can see today Far Manager is a modern and constantly evolving program, in addition free, with open source code and practically unlimited possibilities on configuration. All this allows me to recommend to anyone who has a need to facilitate their work.
June 9, 2001Primus inter pares
(First among equals)
In this note we will talk about programs (surprised?). If be
accurate, then we will talk about one program called Far.
Far is "File and Archive Manager", which translates as "I
I can handle your files and archives better than anyone. " At the beginning a little
stories. The author of this program is Evgeny Roshal, the same
which was written by the Rar archiver. But unlike Rar, Far didn't get
full recognition in the West, but the fact that our programmer
Nobody believes our programmers are able to pay the money.
Especially our programmers 🙂 In order not to engage in self-deception,
for ex-USSR Far was free. As a result, Zhenya made a program
almost for thanks until I got tired of it, after which I passed
sources for the Far Team group, collected from the best and most active
plugin writers. Now they are the ones who introduce new features, fix
old bugs, and Zhenya plays the role of uh ... producer? 🙂
Oh, by the way, about plugins. Far's main charm is that he is in
extensible to some extent with plugins. Plugins are written in
languages C, C ++, Delphi, Virtual Pascal, and so on, so on ... Now
the number of plugins is huge and a lot of what you need is already
implemented.
In principle, plugins are taken from the home pages of their authors. But
there is an open secret - all plugins can be found in one place -
Far PlugRinG.
Everything is very conveniently categorized, there is
search and the ability to find out which plugins appeared for
the last month or two. Their total number is so great (> 350 according to my estimates),
that I decided to describe those of them that may be useful not only to me,
but also to anyone else.