cross-posted from: https://lemdro.id/post/41988045

This is a personal passion project of mine, it is still in its early infancy (many core features are still missing) and the development is slow but deliberate.

why should I care?

if you care about speed and deep integration with the OS this project might be of interest to you.

why?

Wireless file sharing between my devices is still unnecessarily slow, half-baked, and unintuitive. Direct-Share is my attempt to build a file transfer tool that makes local file transfer more seamless than:

  • Android ↔ Android (Nearby Share / Quick Share)
  • Apple AirDrop
  • LocalSend
  • Blip

…but for Linux desktops and Android phones, using Wi-Fi Direct.

what?

  • Python, GTK4/Libadwaita on Linux
  • Kotlin, jetpack compose on Android

if you want to stay up to date with the project or want to know or read more, you can take a look at the GitHub repo

    • boredsquirrel (he)@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      3 hours ago

      Well technically localsend is not native, uses dart and flutter. Something native would be cool, but it should be interoperable with localsend I think.

      Localsend is great, absolutely no issues with it design-wise

  • dan@upvote.au
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    edit-2
    6 hours ago

    Have you tried KDE Connect? It’s cross platform and works on Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS. It’s what I use for sharing files from my phone to my computer and vice versa. It supports a lot more than just file sharing though.

  • SatyrSack@quokk.au
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 hours ago

    why should I care?

    if you care about speed and deep integration with the OS this project might be of interest to you.

    what?

    Python

    • SatyrSack@quokk.au
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      6 hours ago

      That is for two devices that are both connected to the same network. If I understand what this program is doing (without actually trying it), it allows two devices to directly connect to one another via Wi-Fi to transfer a file.

      With KDE Connect, to send a file from Device A to Device B, your file travels from Device A to a network router (and any number of network switches, etc. in between), then from the router to Device B. It has to make several hops across a number of devices to reach its destination. And both endpoints have to be connected to the same external network.

      With this program, Device A and Device B create a direct Wi-Fi connection to each other and just send the file. One hop. Two devices. Direct. The devices are establishing their own ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection for the purpose of the file transfer.

      • dadarobot@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 hours ago

        i couldnt figure that out, but i didnt try much. kde connect works fine for me with gnome

    • Im28xwa@lemdro.idOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      5 hours ago

      Through 2 things:

      1. The answer is partly in the name, but there is no magic involved. Direct Share uses Wi-Fi Direct (also known as Wi-Fi P2P), which bypasses the middleman and connects the two devices directly to each other, potentially increasing the file transfer speed. However, it is only as fast as the slowest networking stack of the two connected devices. This is in contrast to almost all other solutions (like localsend) that rely on the two devices being connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

      2. The other thing is deep integration with most file managers and desktop environments. For me personally, I believe that you should not need to open an app to send a file to your other device. You should be able to simply right-click on any file on your system, and there should be an option that says “Send to”. It should not open the whole app. It should only open a mini window or a small window with only the necessary things you need to send the file, which is:

        1. Select the device you want to send to
        2. (Optionally) Click Send

      That’s all.

      • Taasz/Woof@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        4 hours ago

        For 2 that’s neat to have, but how do you send the clipboard or something thats not in a file manager?