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Linux search facility?

Dajoca
Dajoca Posts: 2
in Getting Started with Linux

On windows there are several 3rd party search programs such as Everything.exe, Agent ransack, Locate32 etc.

Install them and they just work very well and very easily.

"Locate and Agent" perform a live search, whereas "Everything" indexes all of the drives quickly and once complete, presents results instantly. It's database is also tiny, despite it's speed and completeness of indexing.

Now onto Linux, where I have failed to find a search utility with anything remotely like the ease of use, small footprint and instant results of the windows versions.

Is it impossible for such a small, simple and thorough program to exist on Linux for some reason, as I have been unable to find anything comparable.

Tried tracker, recoll, catfish, strigi etc and there always seem to be something that prevents it from working "out of the box", or it's indexing is painfully slow, or it's database is just massive.

I know searches can be run from the terminal, but when I am trying to get others to convert to Linux, the lack of a user friendly search (and troublesome printer drivers) makes it more difficult to persuade them.

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • mfillpot
    mfillpot Posts: 2,177
    Honestly I just use the locate application in the cli as my system is set to run updatedb daily to keep the index up-to-date. However I do not know if there is a gui for the application.

    The performance of each application is based upon the level of details that are being captured, if you want something that only searches file names then it will be fast, but trying to index data based upon file contents or attributes will always be slower which is why strigi is slow.

    I found an external site that had the same question a few years ago and the responses may give you options, checkout the responses at http://superuser.com/questions/190078/what-gui-linux-programs-are-there-for-finding-files-based-upon-their-contents.

    For gui uses my family likes the stigi results that are presented by the KDE4 application menu, it is fast once the indexing is complete and makes it easily readable.

    If you really want something like locate in a gui, you could always start a project to build an app to fill the need.

    The printer issue is specific to manufacturers, cheap manufacturers do not try to work on Unix systems. I nthat case you get what you pay for which is why I only purchase HP printers they have always worked.

  • Dajoca
    Dajoca Posts: 2
    Thanks for the most helpful reply.
    Would it be a relatively simple task to enable the search facility to index Ntfs partitions in a dual boot system, as it is something I always have problems with?

    Many thanks.
  • mfillpot
    mfillpot Posts: 2,177
    If I remember correctly, In the past when I was running a dual boot system, the slocate application indexed all mounted partitions including ntfs partitions. Other search applications may require you to specify specific directories to index which in most cases will include partitions with other filesystems.
  • dr.abdallahzaky
    dr.abdallahzaky Posts: 32
    thanks this topic help me to solve abig problem in my computer
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