What is wrong with the default file manager that comes with Ubuntu?
There are several file managers that can be used XFCE’s thunar is a good one.
you can make dolphin the default if you want by going to settings then applications. or something like that.
But you can not replace Nautilus because it is too integrated into ubuntu. If you try to remove it it will remove most of the ubuntu desktop. and most likely make your system unusable.
If you want to use dolphin why not just install Kubuntu?
I found Kubuntu very unstable. I tried it but it kept breaking after updates, plus the theming is horrible. I prefer GTK theming, but Nautilus is so stripped down it is barely usable. For example, I can connect to a Windows Share drive without issue in Dolphin (when connecting I get the correct prompt for the Windows login credentials), however Nautilus lacks this basic function (doesn’t offer any prompt, just states permission denied). Plus other features like integrated terminal, excellent customisation, etc.
I thought that there may be a core issue because Dolphin being QT.
Nemo is the best for more options out of the bag. I install it on every OS I try. It works really well in KDE, XFCE, Mate. I love the context menu from moving or copying files to, duplicating, making links, tagging audio files, editing images, opening as root, automatic command prompt when having to install or run a particular script. Thunar, Nautilus, Caja, Dolphin, PCmanFM have none of the extras, though Caja has more than Thunar, Dolphin, PCmanFM and Nautilus, but what Nemo has is far more superior. For as longs as you do not uninstall the original file manager from your OS, you’ll find Nemo a dream to work with.
Yeah I like Nemo, but when changing using this as default, if creating a file or document on the desktop I get two folder or files appearing. I haven’t got to the bottom of it yet.
I quite like Thunar. It looks a bit dated and ugly, but it has the facility to configure custom actions, so you can probably adapt it to do most things you’d want to be able to in a File Manager. It will probably also have less in the way of additional dependencies than Dolphin (guessing there, but Thunar is based on GTK, like MATE, whereas Dolphin is Qt based).
I used to replace Nemo or Thunar with Nautilus before I came to know that if you uninstall these packages (tracker-miners tracker3-miners) and make a startup command to execute (tracker daemon -k) and delete your tracker data, it will increase nautilus’s overall performance.
Moreover, I replaced mutter with mutter-performance and nautilus with nautilus-typehead, personal choice, for better experience.
Now my gnome experience is far better than earlier.
