4 ms·

What I'd like to know is why my 2023 phone is still every bit as flaky as my 2018 phone was. For a while I was blaming my Linux solution but every time I try to

by jerf 2y ago

What I'd like to know is why my 2023 phone is still every bit as flaky as my 2018 phone was. For a while I was blaming my Linux solution but every time I try to use it on Windows it's just as flaky. Fundamentally, accessing files on a live filesystem is a solved problem, and has been since before smart phones. I don't even know how they made such a broken setup. (I believe the problem with USB mass storage is that it's closer to an IDE/SCSI protocol than a filesystem protocol. You can't have one bit of the system running around "accessing files" while you've got something else "moving the simulated drive head and writing this sector". In principle you could put the work in to make it all work out, but then it would be as flaky as the media access is now, only for a good reason rather than laziness/lockin.)

Aardwolf 2y ago
Regarding accessing files on a live filesystem being a solved problem: One question I have is the following: If I take two linux PC's, why can't I just plug a USB cable between the two and communicate files to each other? Instead the only solution I know is run an ssh server on one of them, and use sshfs on the other
- jerf 2y ago
  The situation with USB is a lot more complicated than it appears. See things like this for instance: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/120368/make-a-computer-act-as-a-virtual-usb-device-for-other-equipments https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/120368/make-a-compu... The controllers that sit between the port and the computer can create significant limitations versus what is theoretically possible if you were directly bit-banging the cords. You can do this with an ethernet cable, if you have one and an ethernet port on both ends. You can manually set up a network on just that cable and transfer at full speed. (AFAIK all modern ethernet ports are capable of figuring out that they need to crossover in this situation and you haven't needed a special crossover cable in a long time.)

by jerf 2y ago

Aardwolf 2y ago

Regarding accessing files on a live filesystem being a solved problem: One question I have is the following: If I take two linux PC's, why can't I just plug a USB cable between the two and communicate files to each other? Instead the only solution I know is run an ssh server on one of them, and use sshfs on the other

jerf 2y ago
The situation with USB is a lot more complicated than it appears. See things like this for instance: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/120368/make-a-computer-act-as-a-virtual-usb-device-for-other-equipments https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/120368/make-a-compu... The controllers that sit between the port and the computer can create significant limitations versus what is theoretically possible if you were directly bit-banging the cords. You can do this with an ethernet cable, if you have one and an ethernet port on both ends. You can manually set up a network on just that cable and transfer at full speed. (AFAIK all modern ethernet ports are capable of figuring out that they need to crossover in this situation and you haven't needed a special crossover cable in a long time.)