Dolphin is the default file manager in the KDE Plasma desktop environment and although it is the most feature-rich file manager available on any computer in any time in history, it can always use a few more functions. Thankfully, there are a fantastic set of plugins that just may improve your quality if file-manager life with “dolphin-plugins”.
I was in need of being able to quickly mount ISOs in the file manager for a particular retro-computing project. With a short bit of searching, I found this Dolphin-Plugins application page on kde.org
https://apps.kde.org/dolphin_plugins
After quickly reading the description, this was exactly what I wanted.
Installation
Since there are many flavors of Linux out there that run the Plasma Desktop environment, the simple solution from the KDE teams was to provide an AppStream link to use some sort of software store like Discover.
appstream://org.kde.dolphin_plugins
Since I use openSUSE I used the terminal solution because, that is where I like to hang out. This can be installed by running
sudo zypper in dolphin-pluginsIf you are not running openSUSE, consult your distributions documentation on the process for installing this plugin package.
The Features
There are several features that this plugin provides. If you use Git for revision control (along with Bazaar, Mercurial but I haven’t heard of those), dolphin gives you service menu items for adding removing and reverting files. For those that use Dropbox, indicators are also provided as to the status of the synchronization. These are some neat features, maybe edge cases but none the less, very important.
For the features you want available in the service menu or “Context Menu” you will have to explicitly select what you want. For my proposes, I wanted to have Git and the ability to mount ISO and disk images.
Git
Once you have those available. Cloning a Git repository is as easy as a right-click, add the appropriate information and go. Having the indication of the status a Git repository, super cool. You are able to make changes, commit and push them to your repository.
Mount ISO and Disk Images
The most important feature that this plugin provides me is the ability to mount and view information from ISOs and Disk images. I enjoy dabbling in the retro computer systems and one of the tasks one must do is be able to explore the contents of an ISO or IMG file. This is easily accomplished by a right-click and select mount on the file.
I have mounted both ISOs and IMG files and am able to browse them easily now. No more fiddling around with various apps to get a file out of that ISO or IMG container. I should mention here, I am not able to edit these files but I certainly can read them.
Unmounting the device is just as easy. Within the Places pane on the left side of the Dolphin window, click the Uparrow icon and the image will unmount. Do note that Dolphin will remember that this was mounted while you are in your current session. That can be annoying for those that like to keep their workspace clean and I haven’t found a solution yet for flushing those.
Other Stuff
If you use Dropbox or a few of the other version control systems, this plugin should work quite well for you. Since I don’t currently use Dropbox, Bazaar or Mercurial, I cannot give those examples here.
Final Thoughts
The Dolphin File manager is an incredible application. It is, without question, the best file manager ever made. There is, today, not a single file management application that comes close, on any Desktop Environment or any other operating system that will do what Dolphin can do. Truly an incredible file manager. Having plugins to provide additional functionality and integration with other services makes it yet again, another step out into the awesome-sphere. I am truly grateful for all the work put into this as it makes using a computer so much more enjoyable.
References
https://apps.kde.org/dolphin_plugins
https://get.opensuse.org
Leave a Reply to bassemCancel reply