cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/41988045
This is a personal passion project of mine, it is still in its early infancy (many core features are still missing) and the development is slow but deliberate.
why should I care?
if you care about speed and deep integration with the OS this project might be of interest to you.
why?
Wireless file sharing between my devices is still unnecessarily slow, half-baked, and unintuitive. Direct-Share is my attempt to build a file transfer tool that makes local file transfer more seamless than:
- Android ↔ Android (Nearby Share / Quick Share)
- Apple AirDrop
- LocalSend
- Blip
…but for Linux desktops and Android phones, using Wi-Fi Direct.
what?
- Python, GTK4/Libadwaita on Linux
- Kotlin, jetpack compose on Android
if you want to stay up to date with the project or want to know or read more, you can take a look at the GitHub repo
i use localsend. how is this one better?
Well, it is far from complete and far from usable right now, so right now it is not better. But when it is done it will be because of two things:
- Wi-Fi direct, instead of using the local network. Wi-Fi direct is P2P, which potentially will make the transfer much faster and the whole thing of setting up a hotspot or requiring the two device being connected to the same network won’t be necessary.
- Deep integration with file managers and desktop environments
Well technically localsend is not native, uses dart and flutter. Something native would be cool, but it should be interoperable with localsend I think
Have you tried KDE Connect? It’s cross platform and works on Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS. It’s what I use for sharing files from my phone to my computer and vice versa. It supports a lot more than just file sharing though.
I find it really buggy, it often loses connection and won’t connect to multiple devices at once.
Yes actually I have tried it and I use it to share text between my devices and receive notifications.
The file sharing feature though is unbearably slow.
Interesting… The file sharing is extremely quick for me at home.
I haven’t figured out how to get it working at work though (between my work phone and my work PC, both on the same network). Might not be possible with their firewalls.
What about
Vibecode
KDEConnect and other apps already do this
why should I care?
if you care about speed and deep integration with the OS this project might be of interest to you.
what?
Python
Between Android phones or Android->Windows Quick Share exists. Between all other devices Bluetooth can be used for sharing.
Bluetooth is slow as hell
But no extra tools needed on either side.
idk about other distros but on ubuntu I can’t send or receive files using Bluetooth without a 3rd party tool (unless there is a pre installed cli tool that I am not aware of:)
but anyway, if the transfer speed doesn’t bother you or isn’t a deal breaker for you then fair enough… have a nice day.
KDE Connect can transfer files over WiFi, it’s likely preinstalled on anything with KDE Plasma (eg SteamOS has it by default in the desktop mode), but it can also work with GNOME with the gsconnect extension. There’s also LocalSend, Syncthing and probably many more
Wifi-direct is cool, as it doesnt require the whole “setting up a hotspot” mess
Kdeconnect?
That is for two devices that are both connected to the same network. If I understand what this program is doing (without actually trying it), it allows two devices to directly connect to one another via Wi-Fi to transfer a file.
With KDE Connect, to send a file from Device A to Device B, your file travels from Device A to a network router (and any number of network switches, etc. in between), then from the router to Device B. It has to make several hops across a number of devices to reach its destination. And both endpoints have to be connected to the same external network.
With this program, Device A and Device B create a direct Wi-Fi connection to each other and just send the file. One hop. Two devices. Direct. The devices are establishing their own ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection for the purpose of the file transfer.
Ah my bad? Sounds cool then!
Or GSConnect for gnome.
i couldnt figure that out, but i didnt try much. kde connect works fine for me with gnome
How can it get more seamless than LocalSend?
Or croc, out of network.
Through 2 things:
-
The answer is partly in the name, but there is no magic involved. Direct Share uses Wi-Fi Direct (also known as Wi-Fi P2P), which bypasses the middleman and connects the two devices directly to each other, potentially increasing the file transfer speed. However, it is only as fast as the slowest networking stack of the two connected devices. This is in contrast to almost all other solutions (like localsend) that rely on the two devices being connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
-
The other thing is deep integration with most file managers and desktop environments. For me personally, I believe that you should not need to open an app to send a file to your other device. You should be able to simply right-click on any file on your system, and there should be an option that says “Send to”. It should not open the whole app. It should only open a mini window or a small window with only the necessary things you need to send the file, which is:
- Select the device you want to send to
- (Optionally) Click Send
That’s all.
For 2 that’s neat to have, but how do you send the clipboard or something thats not in a file manager?
Well, I guess I would need to add an option in the app to share clipboard content.
You know what? You just gave me an idea, a very good idea. Sometimes there are things that are not in file managers, maybe in a particular app, maybe in a browser, and you just want to drag and drop it. I don’t like the idea of opening the app, right-clicking on the corners of the window just to enable “keep this app on the top” so that you can drag and drop whatever you want.
Instead, what I would like to see is a keyboard shortcut where a small window opens that stays on top of all the other windows. That you can drag and drop anything to it, or maybe copy-paste anything into it. Maybe a photo, maybe a video, maybe anything. This would work for clipboard content, for video files from other apps that are not file managers.
-
There are already like 100 of these apps . but sure i will give it a try
I use Syncthing on my Linux and Android. Once set up, it just works without me getting involved.
I use
adb pushandadb pull. Simple and fast, works both over USB and wirelessly
