File managers have multiple ways of displaying files. One is tiling. This works great for pictures, you can scann what is there, particularly if your pictures don’t have descriptive names. For other folders, I much prefer the details mode. Switching is easy, -but- when you navigate between folders, it -doesn’t- remember your preference! So folder A that you visited previously and switched over, when you come back to it, you have to switch it all over again! This might seem a small thing, but it will drive me away from lubuntu if there isn’t a solution. I could read the manual, but lack the time and motivation. I have a working installation of ubuntu already, I don’t need lubuntu.
[Let us assume I have read the instructions, or can at least guess at what they will contain. I have been to many forums, read lots of instructions, so this is not such a leep, and have no patience for reading more, at least of this type. I -don’t- have to use lubuntu. I have ubuntu working fine. My current mission is testing out lubuntu, while at the same time attempting to install bsd. bsd is already a marathon of instuctions. About as bad as arch linux. If I make it through, it’ll be a miracle. -there was a time I was a real fool and tried lfs…]
Your question was rather unclear to me sorry. I don’t know what release, and talk of other systems confused me.
There is no reason you can’t use different file managers at different times. LXQt aims to be light (the first L), thus its default file-manager (pcmanfm-qt) which also doubles as handling some of the desktop itself, is kept very light with basic features.
I have one task I do 4-5 times a week where I just use caja or the MATE FM; the task takes me ~30 seconds, so I just use it instead (the fact that caja looks/acts differently I find helpful too, given what I use it for).
I know numerous file-managers do what you want, as they leave files in each directory where you don’t use default settings, but these files can annoy some users (esp. if they have hidden files shown).
Use whichever file-manager suits you best, as you’re not restricted to using only one; I sure don’t.
there are resource costs to using multiple file-managers, esp. ones not sharing resources with the desktop if your machine is lean in resources; ie. pcmfanfm-qt already exists in RAM as it runs some of the desktop, thus using it as FM is extremely light, but few of us have very ‘limited’ RAM (4GB or less) anyway these days
Thank you very much for your reply, and apologies for not having had the time or motivation to made the question clearer. I concluded, possibly even before I asked the question, that this problem was an indication that lubuntu just wasn’t for me. I’ve done enough research now to appreciate that lubuntu really is, or seems to be, for people who either fall in love with it for some reason, or who have a computer that is so ancient that nothing, or very little else, will run on it. That I can appreciate. It isn’t the case for me though. It happened to be convenient as I needed to install an alternate ubuntu-related operating system to do a test, which I have now done (it worked), so if I’m no longer enamoured with lubuntu itself, it’s no biggie to go back to what I was using
