Directory Opus

Directory Opus

Screenshot  Directory Opus 9 running on Vista with coverart.jpg in folders.
Developer(s)	GPSoftware
Stable release	10.0.2.0.4269 / September 9, 2011; 2 months ago (2011-09-09)
Operating system	Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS
Type	File manager
License	Proprietary
Website	http://www.gpsoft.com.au

Directory Opus (or "DOpus" as its users tend to call it) is a popular file manager program, originally written for the Amiga computer system in the early to mid 1990s. Development on the Amiga version ceased in 1997, but an entirely re-written version of Directory Opus is still being actively developed and sold for the Microsoft Windows operating system by GPSoftware.

Directory Opus was originally developed by, and is still written by, Australian Jonathan Potter. Until 1994, it was published by well-known Amiga software company Inovatronics, when the author joined with Greg Perry and the Australian-based GPSoftware to continue the development of the product, and it has been published by GPSoftware ever since.

Features

Directory Opus has evolved since its first release in 1990 as a basic two-panel file manager. The interface has evolved significantly due to the amount of feedback that the users have given it. Some of the features include:

• Single- or dual-panel exploring.
• Folder tree (either shared or two separate for dual-display).
• Tabbed explorer panels.
• Ability to maintain date created/modified timestamps for both files and folders.
• Internal zip and rar handling (browse them like folders).
• Internal FTP handling, including (for a small extra fee) advanced FTP and SSH (browse these like folders also).
• Flat-file display, where you can flatten a folder tree, and even hide the folders themselves.
• Powerful file selection and renaming tools, with advanced regex if needed.
• User-definable toolbars, menus, filetypes and filetype groups.
• Preview panel, and preview of thumbnails (including animated avi thumbnails).
• File collections. These are like virtual folders that contain links to the original files (unlike shortcuts, these actually deal with the files directly).

History

Release history

Version 4.17 (GPL release): design circa 1992

Version 8: design circa 2004

Amiga release history

• Opus 1: January 1990
• Opus 2: February 1991
• Opus 3: 1991-12-01
• Opus 4: 1992-12-04
• Opus 5: 1995-04-12
• Opus 5.5: 1996-08-01
• Opus Magellan (5.6): 1997-05-17
• Opus Magellan II (5.8): 1998-11-01

Versions 1 and 2 were only available direct from the author. Versions 3 and 4 were published by Inovatronics. Versions since 5 have been published by GPSoftware (German versions were published by Stefan Ossowskis Schatztruhe). The trial version of Magellan II is included for free with AmiKit package.

Windows release history

• Opus 6: 2001-06-18
• Opus 8: 2004-10-04
• Opus 9: 2007-04-27
• Opus 9.5.6.0: October 2010
• Opus 10.0.0.0 was released in April 2011

All Windows versions published by GPSoftware (German versions published by Haage & Partner Computer GmbH.)

Open source release history

• GPSoftware released the older Amiga Directory Opus 4 source code in 2000 as open source under the GNU General Public License. AROS and MorphOS ports of this version were made available.

See also

• Comparison of file managers

External links

• The official site of Directory Opus
• Directory Opus 4 Research Project
• Opus Resource Centre Forum
• Getting to know Directory Opus (Guide)
• Information on the acquisition of Directory Opus for Amiga