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What does the customer gain from having a web interface you have to navigate to by IP rather than a simple external storage device that shows up like a flash dr
by wpm 2y ago
What does the customer gain from having a web interface you have to navigate to by IP rather than a simple external storage device that shows up like a flash drive?
- m4lvin 2y agoI think one reason for the web interface is that the device stays usable. If it would export a block device then it would need to unmount the file system on itself or at least block changes. If I remember correctly in the old days before MTP, all Android did this, making storage on the device itself unavailable while making it available via USB.
- MayeulC 2y agoYeah, that would be an issue with presenting the device as a block storage device. The web interface also has a couple of other advantages: the tablet simultaneously listens for ssh connections, and can be used over Wi-Fi, IIRC? Though it could also expose a "USB HUB" with both the network interface and block storage. I just wish we had a more ubiquitous "network file storage" protocol. The tablet itself could offer NFS, but mounting it under different operating systems would be a pain, requiring manual user intervention.