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Configuring Directory Opus for Fun and Profit

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Nudel:
That's what I think the problem is with a lot of s/w like Opus. "It's a file manager." "Yeah, so? So's Explorer, and I got that already." "But it does this, and this, and this." "Huh? What use is THAT?" And so it goes on. You don't know what someone will find useful and they believe there's lots of useful stuff, if they but knew how to get at it.-oblivion (January 04, 2012, 08:22 AM)
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Totally. I still don't know what to say when people ask me about Opus in real life. I still haven't been able to explain it to my dad. "It, um... It lets you do stuff... to files..."

Knowing which specific examples to give is hard because you don't know what people do all day with their computers. And what's amazingly useful to one person often looks utterly pointless and stupid to another person.

That was why I wrote my "Getting to Know..." guide back in the day. (Hopefully I'll get around to updating that one of these years. Always end up writing code instead.)


And that was the point I was trying to make way back when v8 was released. I had a spirited discussion with Dr. Perry regarding archive formats & how the limited support for ZIP & RAR were not going to be enough & that no one was going to take on the daunting task to write them. Dr. Perry just took awhile to come around to my way of thinking.-Innuendo (January 04, 2012, 09:46 AM)
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I can't argue with that. The community's willingness/ability to write plugins was overestimated. Some people have written viewer/thumbnail plugins for Opus but most of the time people look to us to do it (but there's only so much we can do at a time). Total Commander is the only file manager that seems to get a lot of love from plugin developers, for whatever reason, but I think we've got the important stuff covered now; it just took us a while to write all that code ourselves. :)


I'm not sure DOpus would be nearly successful as it is today if some driven fellow hadn't taken the time to make that DOpus discussion group on Yahoo! Groups all those years ago. Thanks, Leo!
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I think Wayne Howard gets the credit for making the Yahoo! group; I just posted on it sometimes.

I should also mention Steve Banham for starting the Opus Resource Centre web forums (which I admin these days, but Steve got the ball rolling and ran it for years first), which replaced the old user-to-user mailing list that GPSoftware used to run.

hpearce:
Two more things I recommend if u have the time.

1) go thru the OPTIONS/various SETTINGS thoroughly and you will get a better idea of what you can do.  I had to go thru a minimum of 3 times to start grasping it all.

2) read thru the HELP including the commands section. This too can be intensive. Again I had to go thru 3 or 4 times to start comprehending it all.

cyberdiva:
I should also mention Steve Banham for starting the Opus Resource Centre web forums (which I admin these days,...)
-Nudel (January 05, 2012, 05:47 AM)
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Leo, "admin" doesn't begin to get at the amazing work you do on those forums.  You provide an immense amount of help on everything from newbie questions to complex problems, and always graciously.  I thought I'd take this opportunity to express my thanks.  :Thmbsup:

tomos:
I should also mention Steve Banham for starting the Opus Resource Centre web forums (which I admin these days,...)
-Nudel (January 05, 2012, 05:47 AM)
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Leo, "admin" doesn't begin to get at the amazing work you do on those forums.  You provide an immense amount of help on everything from newbie questions to complex problems, and always graciously.  I thought I'd take this opportunity to express my thanks.  :Thmbsup:
-cyberdiva (January 05, 2012, 08:17 AM)
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+1 :)

Innuendo:
Knowing which specific examples to give is hard because you don't know what people do all day with their computers. And what's amazingly useful to one person often looks utterly pointless and stupid to another person.-Nudel (January 05, 2012, 05:47 AM)
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And I concede that point. However, and maybe I am just different than everyone else, but I like to see what people have done and so what if it looks pointless to my uses? More often than not I can look at what they have accomplished and think to myself, "Well, I have no use for that. However....I can take what they have done, change this or that, and adapt it to my workflow easily enough." all without having to totally reinvent the wheel.

That was why I wrote my "Getting to Know..." guide back in the day. (Hopefully I'll get around to updating that one of these years. Always end up writing code instead.)
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Which I have read, but understand that I was pleased when playful (a user on the DOpus forums) approached me and let me read his new article on configuring DOpus. It takes you from a blank slate step-by-step to building a full-featured DOpus configuration. It's a great companion piece to the existing tutorials out there & it's let me take what I want from it and leave what I don't behind.

I can't argue with that. The community's willingness/ability to write plugins was overestimated. Some people have written viewer/thumbnail plugins for Opus but most of the time people look to us to do it (but there's only so much we can do at a time). Total Commander is the only file manager that seems to get a lot of love from plugin developers, for whatever reason, but I think we've got the important stuff covered now; it just took us a while to write all that code ourselves. :)
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Total Commander and the now-defunct FAR file manager have/had extremely dedicated users from east European countries and it seems like east European countries must begin teaching coding in kindergarten because there's just a ferocious amount of talent coming from those people. What other file manager in the world offers a plugin to read Xbox game discs? It's crazy.

And you *do* have "the important stuff covered now." I'm a file manager addict & I used every version of DOpus for the Amiga. I've also closely scrutinized every version released for Windows. I've always wanted to buy, but a lot of that 'important stuff' wasn't covered until v10 was finally released.

I don't know why DOpus never caught on with that market segment. Maybe DOpus's pricing is too high for their economies or if the eastern Europeans just prefer the old Norton-style file managers.

I should also mention Steve Banham for starting the Opus Resource Centre web forums (which I admin these days, but Steve got the ball rolling and ran it for years first), which replaced the old user-to-user mailing list that GPSoftware used to run.

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I stand corrected. However, I do stand by my statement that you, and those who came before you, have played a large part in DOpus's success. Without you tirelessly answering questions from users everyday I'm sure DOpus would not be enjoying the success it is.

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