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Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

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Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#261

Post by coldstartops »

klabb3 wrote: post #208
coldstartops wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

also they use mDNS, which many programming languages, such as go, got it in their net library

No they don’t? There are several 3p libs for it but not in std. Unless I’m blind and didn’t get the memo.

No you didn't miss. I mixed the concept, UDP broadcast similar to mDNS, yes part of net library. actual mDNS like visible in Finder and actual RFC implementation not part of standard library. What I was trying to say was easy to make "mdns-ish" with just standard lib, rush typed it and ended up like that.

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#262

Post by gregoriol »

throw0101c wrote: post #125
neilalexander wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't. Apple contributed the core logic to the Wi-Fi Alliance to build Wi-Fi Aware, which they now also support.

PSA: * https://www.wi-fi.org/wi-fi-aware-resources * https://developer.apple.com/documentation/WiFiAware * https://developer.android.com/develop/connectivity/wifi/wifi...

Apple docs say iOS 26/macOS 26, that's so brand new that no apps are using it right now, will have to check that again in a few years.

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#263

Post by gregoriol »

kennywinker wrote: post #137
gregoriol wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AWDL is such an amazing technology, it's understandable that Apple wants to keep it only for their devices as it gives them a noticeable advantage for quick stuff sharing.

Except 20% of the time it just doesn’t work. Hardly an advantage if most people default to texting because of airdrop’s failure rate

We have been using AWDL intensely (not via AirDrop but Network.framework) for 6+ years and it fails less than 5% of the time. It's pretty impressive for a non-connected link between devices. The most common problems we face are very high device density places (100+ device in 30sqm space) and device wandering out of reach quickly (sometime as low as 5m).

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#264

Post by sica07 »

davsti4 wrote: post #87
eigenspace wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't QuickShare cross-platform. My wife has an iPhone and my desktop and laptop are linux, so QuickShare is a non-solution for me.

rquickshare works on Linux and is 99% reliable for me, but I don't have a suggestion for iOS devices since I don't use them. https://github.com/Martichou/rquickshare/releases

This is what rquickshare documentation says: "Wi-Fi LAN only. Your devices need to be on the same network for this app to work." So no, it's not an AirDrop replacement.

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#265

Post by raxxorraxor »

eigenspace wrote: post #28

My problem is that all these alternatives require the devices to be on the same local network. One beauty of Airdrop is that it creates and handles that local network automatically under the hood (as far as I understand). So you could be out on a hike with friends and Airdrop something. The workaround I've found after switching to an Android device has been to teather my connection to my friend's device, which ends u…

I think the initial handshake for Airdrop is through bluetooth and then both devices peer through wifi. Not sure why there isn't a solution for Android, perhaps there are hardware limitations, I don't know the bluetooth stack.

If we would have good operating systems, perhaps this would be easier and more widely spread. Otherwise the solution has to come from the device manufacturer.

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#267

Post by raxxorraxor »

sica07 wrote: post #264
davsti4 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

rquickshare works on Linux and is 99% reliable for me, but I don't have a suggestion for iOS devices since I don't use them. https://github.com/Martichou/rquickshare/releases

This is what rquickshare documentation says: "Wi-Fi LAN only. Your devices need to be on the same network for this app to work." So no, it's not an AirDrop replacement.

Problem is that only notebooks/tablets and few pcs have bluetooth, which is used for the handshake for AirDrop.

If we had good mobile OS I bet we would have a solution for both...

Personally I just use wifi/smb for file transfer and hate it when someone comes with their iPhone and isn't able to send a file to me.

Re: Localsend: An open-source cross-platform alternative to AirDrop

#268

Post by torginus »

I did try this for syncing stuff between PCs, and have found the performance quite poor, like 10MB/s on a wired 10Gbe network. I don't know what the reason for this, but I suspect its networking layer is not really optimized.

In contrast, sftp did hundreds of MB/s

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