Author Topic: Xenon Portable File Manager - Portable Associations! (Read 32,211 times)

raybeere · « **on:** January 19, 2009, 03:25 AM »

I just discovered, over at Portable Apps, an interesting new tool they haven't had on offer before. It is known as Xenon Portable File Manager, and it allows you to set file associations, so when you click on a file in Xenon, it opens with the associated program. Even with the limitation (which seems unavoidable, really: any portable associations would have to be limited to the app they were set in) it looks like a great tool. It is a pretty barebones file manager, but for portable use it looks more than good enough. And it has the one feature I've wanted ever since I first put files on a stick.

As an added bonus, if you go to the developer's site, http://www.mi3soft.info/?page=software.portable, they also offer IcoFX - which, for anyone who doesn't know it, is a great free icon editor - in a portable wrapper. I'm off to load up my USB stick with a few more apps.

Since prices are falling, it may be time to pick up a few larger capacity sticks,

although 2 GB will hold a lot more than you'd expect (all my most essential apps, vital information, and manuscripts will fit on 2 GB with room to spare).

fenixproductions · « **Reply #1 on:** January 19, 2009, 03:51 AM »

2raybeere
Portable edition of IcoFX can be downloaded from official site. I would rather not take a risk getting it from different place.

ewemoa · « **Reply #2 on:** January 19, 2009, 05:15 AM »

I hope a slight tangent will be tolerated

One of the things I had considered for the FARR Akete plugin is to try to work w/ the file associations stored by various file managers -- in Xenon's case, there is a file named "assoc.ini" which seems to contain relevant-looking information. So far I haven't ended up using Xenon very much -- and I'm interested in knowing how people find it. IIUC, some other file explorers allow one to have portable file associations, e.g. XYPlorer:

http://www.xyplorer.com/tour/index.php?page=pom
http://88.191.26.34/XYwiki/index.php/Portable_File_Associations

May be folks know of some others...

fenixproductions · « **Reply #3 on:** January 19, 2009, 09:13 AM »

2ewemoa
You can give a shot to this tool:
http://clef.usb.googlepages.com/cafe

PS. I know I saw somewhere version with few bug fixes but I can't find a link....

ewemoa · « **Reply #4 on:** January 19, 2009, 09:42 AM »

@fenixproductions: thanks for contributing

C.A.F.E. is something I put off looking at because I wasn't sure if it was actually going to get developed further (and I don't communicate well in French). When I looked into portable file associations a bit back, I had noticed that there seemed to be a number of efforts in this area, and I've just been waiting to see if any of them actually releases something that is usable...

Another one which looked to me like it might be stalled was PortableFileAssociator.

raybeere · « **Reply #5 on:** January 21, 2009, 07:24 PM »

I use XYPlorer sometimes, and I never noticed it had support for portable associations.

Thanks!

Xenon is pretty barebones as a file manager; its two virtues are, first, the portable file associations, and, second, the fact it is so simple and basic - if you just want the simplest possible interface to do very basic file management tasks, it might work for you. If you want flexibility or power...

PhilB66 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 21, 2009, 08:53 PM »

Quote from: fenixproductions on January 19, 2009, 09:13 AM

2ewemoa
You can give a shot to this tool:
http://clef.usb.googlepages.com/cafe

PS. I know I saw somewhere version with few bug fixes but I can't find a link....

There you go fenix... http://download.tuxfamily.org/nomadsofts/C.A.F.E./cafe-0.1.3.2a.zip

fenixproductions · « **Reply #7 on:** January 21, 2009, 11:16 PM »

2PhilB66
THX

OldElmerFudd · « **Reply #8 on:** March 03, 2009, 03:29 AM »

Somehow I missed the discussion about Xenon when this thread first started. Thanks to Clif of Clif Notes Newsletter http://freewarewiki.pbwiki.com/index.php?wiki=ClifsCurrentNewsletter I'm definitely giving this one a good look. It appears that it solves one of those nagging little portable apps issues when it comes to file associations. I picked up three 8 GB flash drives the othe day (dirt cheap from Meritline or Adorama, I think) so this comes along when I can really take advantage of it.

Thanks for the post, raybeere

2 penny Ron

MilesAhead · « **Reply #9 on:** April 18, 2009, 09:22 PM »

Does anyone else think it weird that a "portable" app comes with an installer?
I'm making a restore point before I push the button

Josh · « **Reply #10 on:** April 18, 2009, 10:06 PM »

All of the apps from portableapps.com come with installers....I see nothing weird about it.

Shades · « **Reply #11 on:** April 18, 2009, 11:22 PM »

Conflicting concepts, perhaps?

MilesAhead · « **Reply #12 on:** April 18, 2009, 11:26 PM »

Quote from: Josh on April 18, 2009, 10:06 PM

All of the apps from portableapps.com come with installers....I see nothing weird about it.

I guess it has an option to hook them all in some framework or something. Anyway, looks like a cool thing to have on USB.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #13 on:** April 18, 2009, 11:28 PM »

Quote from: Shades on April 18, 2009, 11:22 PM

Conflicting concepts, perhaps?

Yeah, kind of like those software splash pages where it lists all the features and then says and MORE!!!!! when there ain't no more. If they could think of another specific feature to claim they woulda' done it.

fenixproductions · « **Reply #14 on:** April 19, 2009, 12:27 AM »

2MilesAhead
In many cases those installers are just SFX archives with additional launchers inside.

More frightening for me is complete lack of knowledge about included software from people who download such packages.
Many creators offers "super new portable software" but simply they mislead users. For example: I saw few times "Miranda Portable" branded versions of Miranda and no one knows that Miranda was portable from the day it had been born. "Portable" is fancy word which works like magnet and people allow themselves to be blinded.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #15 on:** April 19, 2009, 01:44 AM »

Yeah, kind of like the word "free" in shareware sites that have no freeware. The download is "free" because you are not charged for downloading trialware. Makes it tougher to find "freeware" which I guess is the idea.

CleverCat · « **Reply #16 on:** April 19, 2009, 08:13 AM »

So is Xenon truly portable or not?

Aren't the installers with Portable Apps sometimes just so you can choose where they go?

MilesAhead · « **Reply #17 on:** April 19, 2009, 05:08 PM »

Quote from: CleverCat on April 19, 2009, 08:13 AM

So is Xenon truly portable or not?

Aren't the installers with Portable Apps sometimes just so you can choose where they go?

To me, "portable" means self-contained. Doesn't use the Registry. Settings, if any in an .ini file in the same folder as the exe. Usually you get a zip file with instructions to "unpack in any folder and make a shortcut" and that's it. Or the exe itself will unpack some files in that folder on the first run but it won't use Registry or AppData. At least the ones I've seen.

I've been messing around with a Rescue USB key drive for my Vista64 machine. So now I realize that SysWOW64 won't be there on the USB. So all the apps I put on, assuming I'm only going to be able to boot off the USB key, need to be native 64 bit. That and "portable" really cuts down on your choices.

mwb1100 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 19, 2009, 06:45 PM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on April 19, 2009, 05:08 PM

I've been messing around with a Rescue USB key drive for my Vista64 machine. So now I realize that SysWOW64 won't be there on the USB. So all the apps I put on, assuming I'm only going to be able to boot off the USB key, need to be native 64 bit. That and "portable" really cuts down on your choices.

I'm not sure I follow - if you're booting from the USB then the apps need to be whatever will run in the USB's OS, right? If the USB OS is 32-bit, then you don't even have the option of 64-bit apps. If the USB's OS is 64-bit then it'll have a SysWOW64 directory so 32-bit apps will be able to load the 32-bit Windows DLLs.

Unless I'm missing something, your rescue USB drive should be fine with 32-bit apps.

urlwolf · « **Reply #19 on:** April 19, 2009, 08:20 PM »

I'm surprised nobody mentioned here that total commader 7.5 (beta) comes with portable associations, is portable itself, and way more advanced that Xenon.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #20 on:** April 19, 2009, 10:03 PM »

Quote from: mwb1100 on April 19, 2009, 06:45 PM

Quote from: MilesAhead on April 19, 2009, 05:08 PM
I've been messing around with a Rescue USB key drive for my Vista64 machine. So now I realize that SysWOW64 won't be there on the USB. So all the apps I put on, assuming I'm only going to be able to boot off the USB key, need to be native 64 bit. That and "portable" really cuts down on your choices.

I'm not sure I follow - if you're booting from the USB then the apps need to be whatever will run in the USB's OS, right? If the USB OS is 32-bit, then you don't even have the option of 64-bit apps. If the USB's OS is 64-bit then it'll have a SysWOW64 directory so 32-bit apps will be able to load the 32-bit Windows DLLs.

Unless I'm missing something, your rescue USB drive should be fine with 32-bit apps.

You're right. It does have SysWow64 folder after all.