DN - DataNavigator
The classic Dos Navigator, rebuilt for the modern terminal.
Free Pascal + ncurses · macOS (Apple Silicon) · Debian/Ubuntu
Drag it to Applications and run it. No Homebrew or extra dependencies required.
Left Files Disk Commands Tools Options Right 13:59:13 ╔═══════════ /Users/count ═══════════╗╔═══════════ /Users/count/ ═══════════╗ ║ Name │ Size │ Date ║║ Name │ Size │ Date ║ ║.. │>UP--DIR<│ ║║.. │>UP--DIR<│ ║ ║Projects │>SUB-DIR<│ 07-06-26║║Documents │>SUB-DIR<│ 07-06-26║ ║deploy.sh │ 842│ 06-15-26║║backup.tar.gz │ 187,725│ 09-04-26║ ║report.pdf │ 254,322│ 09-07-26║║notes.md │ 2,860│ 10-29-26║ ║sources.zip │1,154,423│ 07-04-26║║demo.png │ 356,042│ 09-25-26║ ╟─────────────────┴─────────┴─────────╢╟────────────────┴─────────┴─────────╢ ║ Projects ║║ backup.tar.gz 187,725 09-04 17:30║ ╚═════════════════════════════════════╝╚════════════════════════════════════╝ /Users/count> 1Help 2UserMn 3View 4Edit 5Copy 6RenMov 7MkDir 8Delete 9PullDn10Exit
What It Is
A recreation of the classic Dos Navigator by RIT Labs, the dual-panel file manager from the 90s, written from scratch in Free Pascal and ncurses. The original Turbo Pascal sources were used as a behavior and visual reference; this is new code for Unix terminals.
Blue panels, yellow highlights, an overlapping-window desktop above the panels, and Ctrl+T Tetris are all here. Inside, it is UTF-8 aware, mouse-driven, SFTP-capable, and can automount disk images.
Features
Enter Archives and images as folders
zip, tar, 7z, and iso files open with Enter and behave like folders. dmg/iso images on macOS are mounted and unmounted automatically.
sftp:// Remote panels
Browse a remote machine through SFTP, manage SSH sessions with Ctrl+S, and copy files between local, remote, and archive panels in either direction.
F3/F4 Viewer and MicroEd
View and edit files in overlapping windows above the panels, with multiple files open at once, title-bar dragging, and mouse resizing.
F2 User menu
Define your own commands in dn.mnu with placeholders (%f, %s, %d), using both a global menu and per-directory local menus, like the original.
Options Configurable by design
Panel columns, exact file sizes, type highlighting, color schemes, and confirmations are all configurable and saved between sessions.
Ctrl+T Tetris
Because of course. Built right into the file manager, like in the original.
How It Was Made
The whole product - code, 160+ automated tests running in a real pty, the icon inspired by the classic DN visual language, packaging, signing, and notarization - was created in dialogue with Claude Fable. The human part was task design and review.
Software is a meme these days. This one passes Gatekeeper.
Install
macOS (Apple Silicon): download the DMG and drag the app to Applications. The image is signed and notarized, so Gatekeeper should not show warnings.
Debian/Ubuntu:
curl -fsSL https://dn.pletnev.biz/install.sh | bash
From source:
brew install fpc ncurses
make && bin/dn