7 ms·

It's insane to me that this is a frustration I've had back maybe 20 years now and I still feel like there isn't a particularly great solution. My current itera

It's insane to me that this is a frustration I've had back maybe 20 years now and I still feel like there isn't a particularly great solution. My current iteration is just a "transfer" SyncThing folder that is on all my devices. It's not clean or convenient but at least its incredibly fast.

Yodel0914 3y ago
Yep, syncthing is the closest I've found to a simple(ish) cross platform solution. Though when at home, my actual solution is to copy to my file server on one device, then copy from the server on the other.
DaSHacka 3y ago
If only we had something like AirDrop that reliably worked cross-platform. Proximity-based sharing just makes significantly more sense than uploading files to some server miles away, then immediately redownloading them back when the computer was two feet away from you the whole time.
- mkotowski 3y ago
  Maybe LocalSend? https://localsend.org/ https://localsend.org/ Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and macOS. Seems quite cross-platform. Can confirm it works smoothly for Linux and Android at the very least.
  - lifestyleguru 3y ago
    Most people will happily install entire ad package from Meta and Google, but not some unknown "LocalSend app".
    - Eisenstein 3y ago
      I know that Meta and Google make money from data, but they are also competent, so they can be trusted to at least not get breeched or sell the data to the an aggregator.
      - ogurechny 3y ago
        “But they feed us for free in our competent concentration camp!”
        Eisenstein 3y ago
        If the choice was between 'the competent concentration camp' and 'the concentration camp run by one dude in his spare time', then if the question is 'which one is more likely to feed me', then yes, that is apt.
  - happymellon 3y ago
    Seconded for LocalSend. Works a treat for me.
    - ryandrake 3y ago
      Insane that we need a third party application for something as basic as this. This is as bad as an OS not shipping with a file browser.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
  - mrpotato 3y ago
    I just tried it and it works as expected for Windows <--> Android. I was using syncthing but this will replace it for one offs. EDIT: I checked out another app in the comments and their website mentioned that it didn't work with a VPN. I can also confirm that LocalSend works when connected to VPN.
  - geophile 3y ago
    Never heard of it. Just tried it. Easy to install and run, copied one file in each direction (Linux/iOS). Seems to good to be true. Are we sure this isn't malware?
- XorNot 3y ago
  Pairdrop was posted on HN a little while back and I setup an instance on my home network. Doesn't work everywhere obviously but it does seem to effectively solve this problem within my household. https://github.com/schlagmichdoch/PairDrop https://github.com/schlagmichdoch/PairDrop
  - esafak 3y ago
    It dropped files midstream for me. Name checks out, I guess.
  - Jolter 3y ago
    Does it require self-hosting a service?
    - fimdomeio 3y ago
      no, you can use https://pairdrop.net/ https://pairdrop.net/
- akshayt 3y ago
  Nearby share maybe. It is being merged with quick share from samsung.
- NotPractical 3y ago
  Syncthing tries to send over the LAN if it's available, and only uses Internet relay servers if it can't establish LAN connectivity. This is why it's (usually) blazing fast. Not sure why the OP thinks this is a misuse of the tool. In fact, it's probably one of the intended purposes of it.
rkagerer 3y ago
I hate how it's gotten progressively harder as the big platforms effectively declared war on local files. Tools like ES File Explorer and WinSCP used to work great, once upon a time.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  > Tools like ES File Explorer That one has no one but themselves to blame - the developers went for monetization by click fraud. [1] https://www.slashgear.com/1010495/the-file-explorer-app-you-should-probably-stop-using-on-android/ https://www.slashgear.com/1010495/the-file-explorer-app-you-...
AceJohnny2 3y ago
The hilarious thing is that was what Dropbox was meant to solve. Like Drew Houston's demos to Y Combinator was copying a file to a given folder on one computer... and seeing it show up in the corresponding folder on another computer. HN comments at the time were dismissing, like "whatever, I can do that with rsync" And then cloud storage became a thing.
cnity 3y ago
It is purely because of the lack of static addressing. Probably an entire country's GDP-worth of SaaS products are essentially nothing more than providing basically a proxy to other devices that have to have apps installed to speak their special language. If I knew your computer's address (and it didn't change) and you knew mine, we could route traffic through the infrastructure we already pay for.
- NotPractical 3y ago
  IPv6.
  - cnity 3y ago
    What about it?
    - NotPractical 3y ago
      It will solve all of our problems for good and after it's implemented across every ISP, everyone will live in an interconnected utopia without NAT and other obstacles getting in the way of direct P2P communications across any device. /s It will at least address the NAT problem. Theoretically, if ISPs truly embrace it, it will also open up the possibility of direct P2P communication across most devices on the Internet. Can't remember if there's a standardized protocol for IPv6 like UPnP but if not you can just configure your firewall manually. Of course, that's assuming ISPs allow you to do so. Tbh, I misread your OP and I somehow got the idea you were talking about NAT. Static addressing is also a problem but a smaller one. In fact, IPv6 probably does nothing to help here, and may even make the problem worse with address randomization (which is a legitimate privacy feature, but still).

Yodel0914 3y ago

Yep, syncthing is the closest I've found to a simple(ish) cross platform solution. Though when at home, my actual solution is to copy to my file server on one device, then copy from the server on the other.

DaSHacka 3y ago

If only we had something like AirDrop that reliably worked cross-platform. Proximity-based sharing just makes significantly more sense than uploading files to some server miles away, then immediately redownloading them back when the computer was two feet away from you the whole time.

mkotowski 3y ago
Maybe LocalSend? https://localsend.org/ https://localsend.org/ Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and macOS. Seems quite cross-platform. Can confirm it works smoothly for Linux and Android at the very least.
- lifestyleguru 3y ago
  Most people will happily install entire ad package from Meta and Google, but not some unknown "LocalSend app".
  - Eisenstein 3y ago
    I know that Meta and Google make money from data, but they are also competent, so they can be trusted to at least not get breeched or sell the data to the an aggregator.
    - ogurechny 3y ago
      “But they feed us for free in our competent concentration camp!”
      - Eisenstein 3y ago
        If the choice was between 'the competent concentration camp' and 'the concentration camp run by one dude in his spare time', then if the question is 'which one is more likely to feed me', then yes, that is apt.
- happymellon 3y ago
  Seconded for LocalSend. Works a treat for me.
  - ryandrake 3y ago
    Insane that we need a third party application for something as basic as this. This is as bad as an OS not shipping with a file browser.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- mrpotato 3y ago
  I just tried it and it works as expected for Windows <--> Android. I was using syncthing but this will replace it for one offs. EDIT: I checked out another app in the comments and their website mentioned that it didn't work with a VPN. I can also confirm that LocalSend works when connected to VPN.
- geophile 3y ago
  Never heard of it. Just tried it. Easy to install and run, copied one file in each direction (Linux/iOS). Seems to good to be true. Are we sure this isn't malware?
XorNot 3y ago
Pairdrop was posted on HN a little while back and I setup an instance on my home network. Doesn't work everywhere obviously but it does seem to effectively solve this problem within my household. https://github.com/schlagmichdoch/PairDrop https://github.com/schlagmichdoch/PairDrop
- esafak 3y ago
  It dropped files midstream for me. Name checks out, I guess.
- Jolter 3y ago
  Does it require self-hosting a service?
  - fimdomeio 3y ago
    no, you can use https://pairdrop.net/ https://pairdrop.net/
akshayt 3y ago
Nearby share maybe. It is being merged with quick share from samsung.
NotPractical 3y ago
Syncthing tries to send over the LAN if it's available, and only uses Internet relay servers if it can't establish LAN connectivity. This is why it's (usually) blazing fast. Not sure why the OP thinks this is a misuse of the tool. In fact, it's probably one of the intended purposes of it.

rkagerer 3y ago

I hate how it's gotten progressively harder as the big platforms effectively declared war on local files. Tools like ES File Explorer and WinSCP used to work great, once upon a time.

mschuster91 3y ago
> Tools like ES File Explorer That one has no one but themselves to blame - the developers went for monetization by click fraud. [1] https://www.slashgear.com/1010495/the-file-explorer-app-you-should-probably-stop-using-on-android/ https://www.slashgear.com/1010495/the-file-explorer-app-you-...

AceJohnny2 3y ago

The hilarious thing is that was what Dropbox was meant to solve. Like Drew Houston's demos to Y Combinator was copying a file to a given folder on one computer... and seeing it show up in the corresponding folder on another computer. HN comments at the time were dismissing, like "whatever, I can do that with rsync" And then cloud storage became a thing.

cnity 3y ago

It is purely because of the lack of static addressing. Probably an entire country's GDP-worth of SaaS products are essentially nothing more than providing basically a proxy to other devices that have to have apps installed to speak their special language. If I knew your computer's address (and it didn't change) and you knew mine, we could route traffic through the infrastructure we already pay for.

NotPractical 3y ago
IPv6.
- cnity 3y ago
  What about it?
  - NotPractical 3y ago
    It will solve all of our problems for good and after it's implemented across every ISP, everyone will live in an interconnected utopia without NAT and other obstacles getting in the way of direct P2P communications across any device. /s It will at least address the NAT problem. Theoretically, if ISPs truly embrace it, it will also open up the possibility of direct P2P communication across most devices on the Internet. Can't remember if there's a standardized protocol for IPv6 like UPnP but if not you can just configure your firewall manually. Of course, that's assuming ISPs allow you to do so. Tbh, I misread your OP and I somehow got the idea you were talking about NAT. Static addressing is also a problem but a smaller one. In fact, IPv6 probably does nothing to help here, and may even make the problem worse with address randomization (which is a legitimate privacy feature, but still).