Total Commander 7.5: What to expect?
I will immediately answer the logical question - no, TC 7.5 has not yet come out. And I will not tell you the exact release date, because nobody knows it.
But I will tell you about what will be done in the upcoming version of the most popular (and, in the opinion of many, better) file manager.
TC 7.5 will almost completely support unicode, in fact it can be called the most important change in the upcoming version. Unicode file names will be supported (now work with such files is provided through the compatibility functions available in Windows), I think no one on Habré needs to explain what this means. Unicode will be supported by both the built-in FTP client and all internal TC tools working with the file system (comparing files by content, for example). The updated plug-in interfaces will also support Unicode - for all API functions there will be two options: current and new, for working with double-byte encodings. Thus, existing plug-ins will not have to be rewritten, compatibility with older versions of TC has always been excellent.
There will be no Unicode support for the built-in zip archiver. As far as I know, the specification of this archiver only provides support for single-byte encodings, so there's nothing to be done.
A side effect of TC's unicorification may be the rejection of support for the Win9x OS. In principle, few people care about it, but here's a funny fact: support for Windows 3.x (sixteen-bit OS, by the way) was removed only in TC 7.0. And versions with corrections of errors found go from time to time until now.
')
Many TC users are familiar with the TCBurner plugin (aka CD / DVD Burning Plugin), which did a pretty good job of recording discs. The alternative plug-ins Complex CDBurner and Neropanel are either not free (the first) or require the Nero installed (the second, respectively). Everything is good, but the author of TCBurner for some reason, far from the topic of this topic, stopped the development of the plug-in, leaving some unpleasant errors uncorrected.
So, Total Commander 7.5 will have a built-in disk burning tool based on this plugin itself.
On the one hand, optical drives in times of cheap and fast flash memory are heresy. On the other hand, the need to write to the blanks sometimes arises, not so often to install special software. So the presence of a burner in a program that is always running is a plus. Burning support will be done in the same way as zip / rar support using a DLL.
Total Commander is not an FTP rocking chair, it is a file manager. This should be understood by anyone who complains about the lack of some functions, such as turning off the computer at the end of the download.
But despite this, many users prefer to use TC as a rocking chair, so FTP support improves from version to version.
It is precisely known that the FTP connection manager will be improved: instead of the “flat” list there will be a convenient tree - this makes it possible to group the connections. The possibility of grouping, in principle, was available for a long time, through the tool of access to selected directories, but now it will be faster and more convenient.
Another improvement concerns security. The long-standing problem of TC is that the saved FTP passwords are encrypted very badly (which, however, is warned when the password is saved) and a reversible algorithm, there are a sufficient number of programs that allow passwords to be pulled out. Some viruses used this vulnerability, I myself got caught this way once, running TC from a flash drive on someone else's machine. So, now it will be possible to encrypt all passwords with a master password, this practically eliminates the "password recovery" by third-party software. Entering the master password will be required at the first access to FTP and before exiting the TC (although there will most likely be a custom timeout). Retrieving a password from memory will be very complicated, and the work of keyloggers will be blocked.
Surely there will be other improvements to FTP, not so noticeable. Without this, it never did.
In TC 7.0, a rather controversial innovation appeared: the possibility of including additional panels with directory trees (approximately the way it is done in Windows Explorer). It was supposed that this would help attract new users to TC, whether it was true or not - it was not for me to judge, but the function seemed rather meaningless to most experienced users. Nevertheless, individual directory trees will be improved: functions of working with files will be added and improved (instant renaming, full Drag'n'Drop, copy-paste, etc.) + improved navigation through the tree (expanding / collapsing a branch by pressing the spacebar or while holding the cursor over the node).
Whether you will like these improvements to anyone is impossible to say in absentia. But I’m talking about another addition right away - it’s good.
This is the so-called. breadcrumb - navigation bar in the style of Windows Vista Explorer (drop-down menu with a list of child directories). It will replace the current strip with the name of the catalog, all functions that it already has will naturally be saved.
All additions of the upcoming version are unrealistic to list, and they are unknown to anyone except for a small circle of alpha testers. So let's look at some things in detail.
One of the most visible and useful parts of the TC interface is the toolbar. For many, it replaces the Start menu, the desktop, and much more. Interface improvements that the toolbar underwent in version 7.0 - this is not all.
Firstly, this panel will not have a size limit (at the moment - these are two lines), and it will be possible to split it into lines in an arbitrary place (and not when filling a line, as it is now). Owners of large monitors will be convenient.
A much more convenient addition, in my opinion, is the ability to hang up on the button in the menu toolbar, something like it is done with the TCMenu and TCToolbar utilities.
One more important improvement will be comprehended by the TC hotkey manager - now it will be possible to assign combinations to the Win key.
We are also waiting for improvements in support for file descriptions (descript.ion), improvements in the comparison tool for content, directory synchronization, and much, much more.
Wait is not long.
As I said above - no one knows the exact release date of the release. The TC development model provides for a closed alpha test, followed by a public beta test, and only then comes a stable release.
There is one way to fairly closely determine the release date of a new major (that is, containing important new features) version: approximate the output data of previous versions. For TC, this method is quite acceptable: the development cycle is very stable, and the program itself has been developing for more than 15 years. So:
If you mentally continue this schedule, it is clear that TC 7.5 will be released in late autumn of 2009. However, I would put it in August, as a last resort - in September: the previous version had a rather long beta testing period due to the large number of innovations.
By the way, the beta version can be expected by the end of the year at best . As usual, already in the first beta there will be 99% of the innovations proposed for release, and their stability has always allowed them to be used not only for tests. The stated beta release date only confirms the calculated date - approximately for half a year, the beta period also lasted for previous versions.
And, finally, about where you can always find the latest, useful and interesting information about Total Commander and everything connected with it:
www.ghisler.ch/board - the official Total Commander user support forum. The abundance of information, the latest news. You can ask questions directly to the developer, suggest ideas, etc.
forum.wincmd.ru is a Russian-speaking forum of support for Total Commander users. Not much inferior to the forum on the amount of useful information, but the communication is in Russian. And according to the materials of this forum topic , in fact, this topic was written.
tckb.ru - Total Commander Knowledge Base. Extensive knowledge base, huge FAQ, a fair amount of useful TC articles.
Yes, habrabraann, will you be interested in a separate blog on Total Commander?
But I will tell you about what will be done in the upcoming version of the most popular (and, in the opinion of many, better) file manager.
Unicode.
TC 7.5 will almost completely support unicode, in fact it can be called the most important change in the upcoming version. Unicode file names will be supported (now work with such files is provided through the compatibility functions available in Windows), I think no one on Habré needs to explain what this means. Unicode will be supported by both the built-in FTP client and all internal TC tools working with the file system (comparing files by content, for example). The updated plug-in interfaces will also support Unicode - for all API functions there will be two options: current and new, for working with double-byte encodings. Thus, existing plug-ins will not have to be rewritten, compatibility with older versions of TC has always been excellent.
There will be no Unicode support for the built-in zip archiver. As far as I know, the specification of this archiver only provides support for single-byte encodings, so there's nothing to be done.
A side effect of TC's unicorification may be the rejection of support for the Win9x OS. In principle, few people care about it, but here's a funny fact: support for Windows 3.x (sixteen-bit OS, by the way) was removed only in TC 7.0. And versions with corrections of errors found go from time to time until now.
Burn discs.
')
Many TC users are familiar with the TCBurner plugin (aka CD / DVD Burning Plugin), which did a pretty good job of recording discs. The alternative plug-ins Complex CDBurner and Neropanel are either not free (the first) or require the Nero installed (the second, respectively). Everything is good, but the author of TCBurner for some reason, far from the topic of this topic, stopped the development of the plug-in, leaving some unpleasant errors uncorrected.
So, Total Commander 7.5 will have a built-in disk burning tool based on this plugin itself.
On the one hand, optical drives in times of cheap and fast flash memory are heresy. On the other hand, the need to write to the blanks sometimes arises, not so often to install special software. So the presence of a burner in a program that is always running is a plus. Burning support will be done in the same way as zip / rar support using a DLL.
FTP enhancements.
Total Commander is not an FTP rocking chair, it is a file manager. This should be understood by anyone who complains about the lack of some functions, such as turning off the computer at the end of the download.
But despite this, many users prefer to use TC as a rocking chair, so FTP support improves from version to version.
It is precisely known that the FTP connection manager will be improved: instead of the “flat” list there will be a convenient tree - this makes it possible to group the connections. The possibility of grouping, in principle, was available for a long time, through the tool of access to selected directories, but now it will be faster and more convenient.
Another improvement concerns security. The long-standing problem of TC is that the saved FTP passwords are encrypted very badly (which, however, is warned when the password is saved) and a reversible algorithm, there are a sufficient number of programs that allow passwords to be pulled out. Some viruses used this vulnerability, I myself got caught this way once, running TC from a flash drive on someone else's machine. So, now it will be possible to encrypt all passwords with a master password, this practically eliminates the "password recovery" by third-party software. Entering the master password will be required at the first access to FTP and before exiting the TC (although there will most likely be a custom timeout). Retrieving a password from memory will be very complicated, and the work of keyloggers will be blocked.
Surely there will be other improvements to FTP, not so noticeable. Without this, it never did.
Improved navigation.
In TC 7.0, a rather controversial innovation appeared: the possibility of including additional panels with directory trees (approximately the way it is done in Windows Explorer). It was supposed that this would help attract new users to TC, whether it was true or not - it was not for me to judge, but the function seemed rather meaningless to most experienced users. Nevertheless, individual directory trees will be improved: functions of working with files will be added and improved (instant renaming, full Drag'n'Drop, copy-paste, etc.) + improved navigation through the tree (expanding / collapsing a branch by pressing the spacebar or while holding the cursor over the node).
Whether you will like these improvements to anyone is impossible to say in absentia. But I’m talking about another addition right away - it’s good.
This is the so-called. breadcrumb - navigation bar in the style of Windows Vista Explorer (drop-down menu with a list of child directories). It will replace the current strip with the name of the catalog, all functions that it already has will naturally be saved.
Interesting innovations.
All additions of the upcoming version are unrealistic to list, and they are unknown to anyone except for a small circle of alpha testers. So let's look at some things in detail.
One of the most visible and useful parts of the TC interface is the toolbar. For many, it replaces the Start menu, the desktop, and much more. Interface improvements that the toolbar underwent in version 7.0 - this is not all.
Firstly, this panel will not have a size limit (at the moment - these are two lines), and it will be possible to split it into lines in an arbitrary place (and not when filling a line, as it is now). Owners of large monitors will be convenient.
A much more convenient addition, in my opinion, is the ability to hang up on the button in the menu toolbar, something like it is done with the TCMenu and TCToolbar utilities.
One more important improvement will be comprehended by the TC hotkey manager - now it will be possible to assign combinations to the Win key.
We are also waiting for improvements in support for file descriptions (descript.ion), improvements in the comparison tool for content, directory synchronization, and much, much more.
Wait is not long.
And yet when?
As I said above - no one knows the exact release date of the release. The TC development model provides for a closed alpha test, followed by a public beta test, and only then comes a stable release.
There is one way to fairly closely determine the release date of a new major (that is, containing important new features) version: approximate the output data of previous versions. For TC, this method is quite acceptable: the development cycle is very stable, and the program itself has been developing for more than 15 years. So:
If you mentally continue this schedule, it is clear that TC 7.5 will be released in late autumn of 2009. However, I would put it in August, as a last resort - in September: the previous version had a rather long beta testing period due to the large number of innovations.
By the way, the beta version can be expected by the end of the year at best . As usual, already in the first beta there will be 99% of the innovations proposed for release, and their stability has always allowed them to be used not only for tests. The stated beta release date only confirms the calculated date - approximately for half a year, the beta period also lasted for previous versions.
Information sources.
And, finally, about where you can always find the latest, useful and interesting information about Total Commander and everything connected with it:
www.ghisler.ch/board - the official Total Commander user support forum. The abundance of information, the latest news. You can ask questions directly to the developer, suggest ideas, etc.
forum.wincmd.ru is a Russian-speaking forum of support for Total Commander users. Not much inferior to the forum on the amount of useful information, but the communication is in Russian. And according to the materials of this forum topic , in fact, this topic was written.
tckb.ru - Total Commander Knowledge Base. Extensive knowledge base, huge FAQ, a fair amount of useful TC articles.
Yes, habrabraann, will you be interested in a separate blog on Total Commander?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/44054/
All Articles