README TkDesk 1.0b5 2.12.1997 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- TkDesk - a Desktop and File Manager for UNIX's running X11 Files available for download: tkdesk-1.0b5.tar.gz This is the complete source release. To install, extract the archive in a temporary directory, and follow the instructions in the file INSTALL. Note: The following files are not available from ftp.neosoft.com. tkdesk-1.0b5.bin.ELF.tar.gz tkdesk-1.0b5.bin.ELF.static.tar.gz ELF binaries for Intel-based machines running Linux. You just need to download one of these. The static version does not require Tcl/Tk to be installed on your machine. Both binaries have been compiled under Linux 2.0.30, using gcc 2.7.2.1, against Tcl 7.6p2 and Tk 4.2p2. tkdesk-1.0b5.bin.common.tar.gz This file contains TkDesk's run-time library and needs to be downloaded for any binary package. To install TkDesk using the binaries, do the following: 1. Download tkdesk-1.0b5.bin.common.tar.gz 2. Download either tkdesk-1.0b5.bin.ELF.tar.gz or tkdesk-1.0b5.bin.ELF.static.tar.gz 3. Go into the base directory where you want TkDesk to live (e.g. /usr/local) and extract the two archives. This will create the following directories unless they already exist: bin for the binaries lib/TkDesk for the run-time library man/man1 for the manual pages 4. Make sure the "bin" directory is in your path. If you didn't choose /usr/local as the base directory either edit bin/tkdesk accordingly, or set the environment variable TKDESK_LIBRARY to /lib/TkDesk (and don't forget to "export" it). Changes since 1.0b4: Lots. Really. It's been almost 12 months since the last release, so I had time to put in lots of new features and bug fixes. Somehow I really wonder why I didn't release anything in the meantime, but well, didn't get around to it I guess. I plan to release more often in the future though... Here's a list of the more important things that have been changed or added: o Much simplified installation through GNU autoconf magic o Dynamic and static (no Tcl/Tk required) binaries for Linux o Directory-specific button bars o "Unlimited" number of entries in cascading popup menus o Commands may now be executed as "root" from within TkDesk o Multiple file masks may now be defined, also added a mask history o Added cascading popup menus for both directories *and* files o Pressing both left and right mouse buttons in most history or file tree popup menus brings up the item's popup menu o Big performance improvements with reading directories and icon display o Virtually all colors and fonts used by TkDesk are now configurable (if a font or color is not available, TkDesk will use a fallback) o Made file selection bindings more Motif-compliant. Especially single files are now selected using the Control-key. The Shift-key is now used for range selections. o Remote control of TkDesk through an embedded TCP/IP server o Tons of bug fixes o Support for Tcl/Tk 8.0 ... is unfortunately not there yet :-(. As TkDesk is built using [incr Tcl] it won't be able to support 8.0 before [incr Tcl] does. Please also take a look at the change log ("Help"/"Changes"), especially for new configuration possibilities! What is TkDesk? TkDesk is a graphical desktop and file manager for several brands of UNIX (such as Linux) and the X Window System. It offers a very rich set of file operations and services, and gives the user the ability to configure most aspects of TkDesk in a powerful way. The reason for this is the use of Tcl/Tk as the configuration and (for the biggest part of TkDesk) implementation language. TkDesk has been influenced by various other systems and file managers: NeXT, for laying out the file browser windows, Apple Finder, for the idea of file annotations and, (shock horror), Windows 95, for some other (of course minor and unimportant ;-)) inspirations. This is a brief overview of the most prominent features of TkDesk: o Arbitrary number of automatically refreshed file browsers and file list windows, o Configurable file-specific popup-menus, o Drag and drop, o Files and directories may also be dropped onto the root window, o Configurable application bar, with several displays and cascadable popup menus for each button, files can also be dropped here, o History of visited directories, opened files, executed commands and many other things, which is automatically saved to disk, o Find files through their annotation, name, contents, size or age, o Trash can for safe "deletion" of files and directories, o Calculation of disk usage for directory hierarchies, o All file operations (find, copy, disk usage, etc.) are carried out in the background, o Traversal of directory hierarchies through recursive cascaded menus, o Bookmarks, create menu entries for often used files/directories, o Comprehensive hypertextish online help (slightly out of date in this release...), o Built-in multi-buffer editor, providing virtually unlimited undo, o Remote control of Netscape and XEmacs, o Sound support, o Powerful on-the-fly configuration of nearly all aspects of TkDesk using Tcl/Tk, allowing for unlimited extensibility, o Free of charge! But see the file COPYING, or menu entry Help/License for information on usage and redistribution of TkDesk. How do I install TkDesk? See the file INSTALL for instructions on how to install TkDesk. Usually the steps are: Install Tcl/Tk if you still don't have it, and then run "./configure", "make", and "make install". Is there a Web page for TkDesk? Yes, please take a look at: http://people.mainz.netsurf.de/~bolik/tkdesk/ Latest bug fixes, new versions and (in the future) binaries will be available first from there, or from the TkDesk mailing list. Oh, there is a mailing list for TkDesk? Yes there is (thanks again to Chris Sterritt for running this list!). To subscribe, please send an email to majordomo@mrj.com with an empty subject, and the body "subscribe tkdesk". There is also an archive of this list available on the web at http://www.findmail.com/listsaver/tkdesk Hope you enjoy TkDesk! Christian (Christian.Bolik@mainz.netsurf.de)