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I am building a file transfer app purpose built for Linux and Android (github.com)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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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

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[–] [S] 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Through 2 things:

  1. 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.

  2. 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:

    1. Select the device you want to send to
    2. (Optionally) Click Send

That's all.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    For 2 that's neat to have, but how do you send the clipboard or something thats not in a file manager?

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    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.

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