My name is Victor Clarke and I’ve got a small article for you!
A little background first. Due to my employer policy, I had to switch from Windows to Ubuntu and… it wasn’t that horrible as I’ve imagined. In fact, I liked Linux. It’s a pity that, actually, Linux is not much popular (compared to Win and Mac) and there are reasons for that. One of them is the switching process. Me (formerly) and a lot of my friend consider Linux to be an OS for advanced users. A lot of it’s features and programs seems confusing, so most people are simply afraid to even try it out. I want to help those people adapt to Linux, giving them a perspective of a newbie user. That’s where my article comes in.
The first trouble I’ve got is the one described in the article. In case you approve it, I can write more on the topic, exploring typical new user problems and giving them a simple solution.
In any case, please reply.
Best regards,
Victor Clarke
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B1 Free Archiver: a newbie’s solution
It’s always difficult to replace your old programs, especially while moving from Windows to Linux. But there is one archiving tool that will solve one aspect of that problem.
After switching from Windows to Linux, a common user like myself can’t help but face a series of problems caused by Windows-related habits. The adaptation period to a new environment doesn’t last long in most cases, however finding appropriate programs for ex-Win users is a real pain. While replacing office programs, image editors, media players and browsers isn’t that hard and most alternatives are satisfactory, finding a decent but simple archive manager turned out to be a lengthy quest??? before I stumbled across B1 Free Archiver.
Everyday archiver from the start
Most archive utilities I found for Ubuntu have at least one problem – complexity. To operate most of them while creating a usual archive you, first of all, have to get used to the program. Combined with totally new OS environment that’s just a bonus headache. Developers have always fought to make their software intuitive but, for some reason, those efforts have passed round archive managers.
Thankfully, B1 Free Archiver doesn’t suffer from appalling GUI and makes everything clear from the first glance. Basically it has three buttons – Create, Open and Extract. Help, Feedback and Exit are great to have, but you won’t use them that much. Everything is self-explanatory and users can deal with their archive needs one step at a time. Whether you need to pack or unpack something, the program will guide you through the process without any confusions. Each packing/unpacking procedure and option is labeled and there are not a lot of them so you won’t wonder what to do next or how to achieve the desired result.
Simple yet Powerful
In most cases, simplicity compromises functionality. But, once more, that’s not true for B1 Archiver. The program provides you with support of almost 40 archive formats. Some files inside the archives (mostly pictures and texts) can be previewed without the need to unpack them. B1 also presents you with a reliable 256 bit AES encryption and integrity check options. Time to compression ratio is actually quite good too. All that comes right ???from the box??? – no need to install add-ons or go through complicated setting process. Everything is available right after the installation is complete.
This program integrates itself with Nautilus, so most tasks can be performed without actually launching the Archiver. User can start packing or unpacking files right from the context menu. If that’s not enough, a double click on the archives can be set to your most frequently used action: open files in B1 GUI, extract to current folder or create a new one.
Platform drifter
Not only the abovementioned contributes to employing B1 Free Archiver as an archive manager for Linux. Actually it is the only archiving program that looks and works the same on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. It even has a version for Android devices. It’s handy in case you have several machines with different OS and need to switch from one to another. Not to mention B1 Online Archiver which has the same unpacking functionality as its older brother. Say goodby to compatibility issues and breaking old habits.
Some compromises
There is nothing perfect in the world of software. While nothing crucial, B1 Free Archiver has some limitations. The biggest one is that it can create only ZIP and B1 (native, but open format) archives. The later one isn’t that much popular (though certain file sharing services have a wide library of files .b1 files), but you can always rely on ZIPs. Another uncomfortable moment is its speed. While the developers promise to speed-up the Archiver, it loses to older tools for now. Still, it won’t takes ages to unpack or pack anything.
Bottom line
B1 Free Archiver can be a perfect solution for new Linux users or those who for some reasons were forced to interact with the OS and are afraid of console. The program helps to minimize the adaptation confusion while being a powerful stand-alone archive manager. It’s not an instant Archive Manager killer because it is aimed at a different category of users, but those who want a breath of simplicity while dealing with archives will be satisfied.