When comparing Midnight Commander vs fman, the Slant community recommends fman for most people. In the question“What are the best file managers for Windows?” fman is ranked 6th while Midnight Commander is ranked 12th. The most important reason people chose fman is:
Windows, Mac, and Linux are supported.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Intuitive interface
Midnight commander uses the full screen of the terminal in a very efficient way. It displays two panels for files horizontally. On the bottom it has the most useful commands with their corresponding key attached. All of this makes for a very intuitive interface both for beginners and experienced users.
Pro Can be run in the terminal
Being a terminal application means that it's suited for people who spend most of their time on the terminal because they don't have to switch windows in order to open their file manager. It also means that they can use it both locally and remotely.
Pro Easy to use
Midnight commander is easy and intuitive to use. The most common commands are displayed in the bottom (move, copy, paste, delete, edit, view, make directory). Files can be selected with the arrow keys which move the cursor through them. The Enter key goes down in a directory. To move the focus between two panels the tab key is used.
Pro Lightweight
Pro Stable
Pro Often available in default repository
and hence easy to install by usually package manager.
Pro Lynx-like motion
Cursor+left to go to parent directory, cursor+right to go into child directory.
Pro Well-presented
Pro Works on all operating systems
Windows, Mac, and Linux are supported.
Pro Simple to use
Pro Makes finding commands *by name* easy
Pro Slick
Cons
Con File viewer: searching can be quite cumbersome
Especially searching next or previous.
Con No directory bookmarks
Con No easy way to change colors matching certain files
There probably is a possibility, but it is not easy.
Con Quirky and hard to remember shortcuts
E.g. when trying to take the current directory's path to the command line.
Con Lacks drag and drop feature
With midnight commander you cannot drag and drop files to move them around. Instead, you have to do the necessary actions in order to move files around (cut and paste or copy and delete).
Con Can only be run in the terminal
MC lacks a standalone GUI option.
Con No (text) file viewer
Con No explicit bookmark support for directories
It though remembers the visited directories and allows to search in this list in most-recently used order and by name.
Con Mainly for key-board-orientated users
The interface is most naturally navigated by arrows and keystrokes. The target market is software developers.
Con Has no menu bar
Hence it is not well suited for visually orientated users which find or remember commands by using a mouse and a menu. Even the fman's hero Sublime Text uses a menu bar.
Con Requires email address to download
Doesn't say what it will do with this data. It is in contrast to the new laws in Europe where only necessary information is allowed to be collected. A download should not require an email address.
Con Still quite buggy
So, for example, sorting only is remembered if triggered by command and not be clicking the table column header using the mouse.
Con Settings can't be found by the GUI
You need to know which files to edit.
Con Default dark theme
No choice between dull-dark or fresh-light.
Con No portable bundle available
On Windows only a net-installer is available.
