Dinosaur Sightings: DOS File Managers

The first DOS File Manager that I ever used was called the 1dir from Bourbaki. I got a copy back in 1985 when I was still running DOS 2.11 on my old Kaypro 16. I still have the original package—a 6x9 binder-like folder that contained the 5.25-inch floppy disk and the manuals.

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The package included the User’s Manual, a Quick Reference Card, and a little booklet that explained how File Management Systems work.

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I later upgraded to 1dir+ which offered some new features and color. The standard display provided the file list, lots of status details, and the menu across the bottom of the screen.

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When you accessed the File Mgt menu, you could use the arrow keys or the mouse to select a file and then choose one of the file management commands such as Copy.

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To make copying files from one location to another, 1dir+ offered a dual pane view.

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The Tree view made it easy to see and move around your directory structure.

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1dir+ provided a basic file viewer and editor for working with ASCII files.

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When Microsoft introduced DOS 4, one of the many new features in the operating system was the MS-DOS Shell, which was designed to negate the need to add a third-party file manager to the operating system.

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The MS-DOS Shell provided a dual pane view to make copying and moving files from one location to another easier.

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The menu system provided easy access to a host of DOS commands and much more.

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Copying files was an easy operation.

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The Executive Systems’ DOS File Manager products, XTree (1985) all the way up to XTreeGold (1993) were very popular in their day. Every version of the product offered great features and made managing files a piece of cake. Xtree was so popular that to this day, the product’s most ardent fans maintain a Web site dedicated to the product called XTree Fan Page. While visiting the page I learned that in 1993, XTree was sold to Central Point Software, which in 1994 was acquired by Symantec. By 1995 the XTree product was discontinued.

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XTreeGold had a dual pane view to facilitate copying files from one location to another.

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Copying files XTreeGold was a simple task.

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A very nice feature in XTreeGold was the built-in Undelete command.

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The menu system in XTreeGold only appeared on the screen when you clicked on the top line of the screen.

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When MS-DOS 5 came out, it sported an improved version of the MS-DOS Shell. In the basic version, the mouse pointer, shown in the center, was a simple rectangular block.

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If you had an EGA or VGA graphics system, you could change the Screen Display Mode to a higher resolution. When you did, you got a mouse pointer that looked similar to the one in Windows.

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At a higher resolution, MS-DOS Shell 5 even allowed drag and drop for copy and move operations.

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However, you could use the menu system to access all the common DOS commands.

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The MS-DOS Shell 5 also had a Program menu (titled Main) that contained a set of DOS programs, such as the Edit program. You could also add programs to the menu.

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Of course, my favorite DOS File Manager was the Norton Commander with its standard dual pane view. I never upgraded past 1993’s version 4, shown here, but for me it did everything that I needed it to do.

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Copying files from one location to another was as easy as pressing [F5].

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The Norton Commander came with more than 30 file viewers that allowed you to view anything from an ASCII text file to a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet.

Just to name a few:  WordPerfect, Dbase, Word, Write, Works, Wordstar, Xywrite, Excel, Symphony, Quattro, Rbase, Paradox, Foxbase, Clipper, Reflex

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Clicking on the top line of the screen revealed a set of menus that contained a wide range of commands and special features.

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The Norton Commander came with a basic connectivity tool called Commander Link. Using a serial or parallel cable to connect two computers, each running Norton Commander, you could easily copy and move files between the two systems using the dual pane view which showed directories on both systems.

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Built in support for compressing and decompressing standard Zip files was a great asset at the time.

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Another handy feature in Norton Commander was the detailed System Information display.

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What’s your take on File Manager’s from the DOS days?

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