 Screenshot of Norton Commander |
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| Original author(s) | John Socha |
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| Stable release | 5.51 / July 1, 1998 |
| Operating system | DOS |
| Type | File manager |
| License | Proprietary |
Norton Commander (commonly shortened to "NC") was a prototypical orthodox file manager (OFM), written by John Socha and released by Peter Norton Computing (later acquired by the Symantec corporation). NC is a file manager which essentially acts as the text user interface for DOS. It was officially produced by Symantec between 1986 and 1998. The last DOS version of Norton Commander, 5.51, was released on July 1, 1998.
A related product, Norton Desktop, a graphical shell for DOS and Windows, succeeded Norton Commander. It came in two variants, Norton Desktop for DOS (NDD) and Norton Desktop for Windows (NDW).
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Background
Norton Commander was considered easy to use based on its constant view of two file manipulation objects at once. After starting the program the user saw two panels with file lists. Each panel can be easily configured to show information about the other panel, a directory tree, or a number of other options. At the bottom of the screen, Norton Commander displayed a list of commands that were extended on demand by the CTRL and ALT keys. Thus, without heavy use of the mouse (though mouse functionality was integrated around version 3.0), the user is able to perform many file manipulation actions quickly and efficiently. In addition it also included a built-in text file viewer (called with F3) and editor (F4).
Long filenames
Windows 95 included a new graphical shell called Windows Explorer, while the operating system itself introduced Long filenames (LFN).
Symantec released Norton Commander 5.51 to support long filenames using the standard Windows APIs. In order to preserve LFNs while working in real mode, Norton Commander 5.51 required the use of a Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) utility. Norton Commander did not have native support for LFNs in real mode and would truncate them.
Despite the decline in its use Norton Commander was very popular during the DOS era and it has been extensively cloned.
End of life
According to former Peter Norton Group developer Mark Lowlier, after Symantec had acquired Peter Norton Computing, Symantec had speculated Microsoft Windows would be a success, so the key PNC resources had been rediverted, while new programmers for Windows platform were hired. Brad Kingsbury and Enrique Salem later developed a File Manager and Program Manager released as Norton Desktop for Windows.
Norton Commander for Windows
It was a Windows 95 variant of the classical DOS file manager.
1.0
It was first released in 1996. It supports Windows 95 and Windows NT.
This version fully integrated with Windows features such as the Recycle Bin and Quick View. Quick View feature was supported via the included basic Quick View Plus.
Version 1.02 added Windows 98 support.
2.0
It was released in 2000. It supports Windows 2000 and functions under Windows XP and Windows Vista.
Last Windows version of Norton Commander, 2.01, was released on 1999-02-11.
Norton Commander for OS/2
Version 1.0 was released in December 1992. It supports OS/2 2.0 with HPFS or FAT file system.
It does not include command prompt found in other versions of Norton Commander.
In June 1993, Symantec lowered the price of Norton Commander for OS/2 to $49, but that did not prevent it from end of life.
Norton Commander inspired software
There are several programs that follow the style of Norton Commander. Examples are:
- Altap Salamander for Windows (formerly known as Servant Salamander)
- Beesoft Commander for Linux
- Demos Commander for Unix and Linux
- Dos Command Center for DOS
- Dos Navigator for DOS
- Directory Opus for Amiga (1990) and Windows (2001) - GUI based from first release
- Eie-manager cross platform Java based with web interface
- FAR Manager for Windows
- File Commander for Windows and OS/2
- FreeCommander for Windows
- Foltyn Commander for DOS
- GNOME Commander for Linux (Best used with GNOME) and other Unix-like systems
- Krusader for Linux (Best used with KDE) and other Unix-like systems
- Midnight Commander primarily for Unix-like systems, but also works on Windows and Mac OS X
- muCommander cross platform Java based
- Total Commander for Windows, formerly Windows Commander
- Volkov Commander for DOS
There are also other non-OFM software inspired by NC's look and feel, such as archivers, viewers, hexadecimal editors and more. Mostly these are DOS tools. Examples are:
- Commandline ACE archiver for DOS and Windows, and is the only existing OFM compressor that supports LFN
- Hiew hexadecimal editor
- Pksmart EXE packer for DOS
- RAR archiver for DOS and Windows
Screenshots
 Norton Commander 4.0 for DOS. |
 Norton Commander v.5.0 for DOS. |
Norton Commander v.5.51 for DOS. |
 Norton Commander v.2.01 for Windows. |
See also
References
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This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (May 2009) |
External links
- The History of Development of Norton Commander (Softpanorama)
- 21st Century Nostalgia A Tribute to Norton Commander 5.0
- Norton Desktop for Windows 1.0 A graphical review in the GUI Gallery
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