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Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

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Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#51

Post by ahmedfromtunis »

Phenomenit wrote: post #38

Sharing files is great but what I’m looking for is simple QR code ephemeral chat. Like if a want to copy a link or password between my phone and some device. Tried a bunch of different ones that I’ve found on search but they’re clunky and kind of work.

I should check the code first, but my guess is that this is built using webrtc which was primarily created for realtime communication (including audio and video).

So my guess is that such feature can be easily added.

By the way, if you're using chrome, you can take share text directly via the clipboard. So that you can share from your phone, and immediately paste it in your computer, or vice versa.

By using kdeconnect (it has an Android app and a gnome extension), you have this done automatically. This means that you can copy a text in your phone, and paste it in your computer, as well as the other way around.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#52

Post by j1elo »

neilalexander wrote: post #36
j1elo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple usually does excellent integrations between their devices. But I haven't used AirDrop so I'm not familiar with how it works: in order to create an ad-hoc wireless connection, if the devices were already connected to some wifi access point, are they temporarily disconnected for the duration of the ad-hoc connection? If not, I'd guess that Apple devices maybe come with 2 WiFi adapters inside?

Neither — frequency hopping is used so that the device can establish AWDL connectivity directly with nearby devices while maintaining a connection to an access point, while still only having a single Wi-Fi adapter.

> frequency hopping

That this is possible, and allows to maintain a dual connection to an AP and an ad-hoc connection to another device for AirDrop, sounds amazing. Now I want to learn more about that technique and where/how it can be applied to non-Apple devices!

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#53

Post by jbverschoor »

hulium wrote: post #50
cmiller1 wrote: post #9

All of these "alternatives to airdop" don't seem to actually do what airdrop does, which is create an ad-hoc wireless connection. Airdrop isn't just a nice UI for sending files between people, it allows a wi-fi speed transfer between two devices that aren't connected to an existing network of that speed.

You can create a hotspot and start a HTTP server. Scan a QR code to connect to the hotspot, then a QR code for the file URL. It's easy and works with any device with Wifi access. For the server, on Android I use "Share via HTTP". On desktop running a lightweight HTTP server is easy too. Edit: Apparently that sounded complicated, here is how I can share a file from my phone to any other phone in the same Wifi. - Click…

I'll just tap share -> person

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#55

Post by moritzwarhier »

cmiller1 wrote: post #9

All of these "alternatives to airdop" don't seem to actually do what airdrop does, which is create an ad-hoc wireless connection. Airdrop isn't just a nice UI for sending files between people, it allows a wi-fi speed transfer between two devices that aren't connected to an existing network of that speed.

I admit the convenience is not the same, but this was already possible with my first Android phone (2011/12ish).

There was an app called "Wifi File Transfer" which would expose a web UI in the local network to download and upload files to the phone's storage.

First I only used it to upload music to my phone (faster than USB1.1 or even USB2).

Then I found out it also works fine when creating a WiFI AP/Hotspot and allowing other peers to connect to it.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#56

Post by misnome »

hulium wrote: post #50
cmiller1 wrote: post #9

All of these "alternatives to airdop" don't seem to actually do what airdrop does, which is create an ad-hoc wireless connection. Airdrop isn't just a nice UI for sending files between people, it allows a wi-fi speed transfer between two devices that aren't connected to an existing network of that speed.

You can create a hotspot and start a HTTP server. Scan a QR code to connect to the hotspot, then a QR code for the file URL. It's easy and works with any device with Wifi access. For the server, on Android I use "Share via HTTP". On desktop running a lightweight HTTP server is easy too. Edit: Apparently that sounded complicated, here is how I can share a file from my phone to any other phone in the same Wifi. - Click…

Yeah! Just like Dropbox can trivially be replaced by FTP, FUSE mounts and CVS……

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#57

Post by twosdai »

jbverschoor wrote: post #53
hulium wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can create a hotspot and start a HTTP server. Scan a QR code to connect to the hotspot, then a QR code for the file URL. It's easy and works with any device with Wifi access. For the server, on Android I use "Share via HTTP". On desktop running a lightweight HTTP server is easy too. Edit: Apparently that sounded complicated, here is how I can share a file from my phone to any other phone in the same Wifi. - Click…

I'll just tap share -> person

Can't agree more. Users don't want to run a server or figure any of that out. There is a person near them and they want to share a file quickly.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#58

Post by ahmedfromtunis »

wazoox wrote: post #54

I'm using KDE Connect on my phone, tablet and PCs. It works great to transfer files across devices, and adds some other benefits (clipboard sharing, using the phone as a trackpad or a presentation remote, reading SMS on the PC, etc).

För some reason it never managed to send more than 2 files from the computer to the phone. And I was never able to fix it.

On my tablet, however, it works flawlessly.

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#59

Post by safeimp »

rollcat wrote: post #24
cmiller1 wrote: post #9

All of these "alternatives to airdop" don't seem to actually do what airdrop does, which is create an ad-hoc wireless connection. Airdrop isn't just a nice UI for sending files between people, it allows a wi-fi speed transfer between two devices that aren't connected to an existing network of that speed.

This. Airdrop is actually viable for transferring huge files, like RAW photos or ProRes footage. I've had video engineering professionals ask me if it's viable to implement Airdrop support in something like a camera or a recorder, not because it's pretty or doesn't need cables, but because it would save them time in a media workflow (they are busy people).

I was pleasantly pleased to recently learn Airdrop has no file size limitation! I needed to transfer several 7-9 GB files and thought for sure I'd run into issues but everything moved smooth (and quickly!).

Re: Free and Open Source Alternative to Airdrop

#60

Post by codethief »

gpchelkin wrote: post #41

I've tried a lot of similar tools for sending files between devices in local area network and found that https://localsend.org works best. Yes, it requires an application installation, but the transfers are much more faster and reliable when browser is not involved. And its Android application works nicely on Google TV/Android TV, so I can send files there easily.

How does localsend work exactly? I've read both their website and Github README as well as part of their protocol docs but I still have no idea. How does the initial device discovery work? For file transfer does it use the local wifi, some external server, …?
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