[SOLVED] Kubuntu to android file transfer via usb cable

[wtb32141]

I bought a smartphone and terminated my landline. My desktop PC lacks wireless capability. I need to be able to transfer files between my Linux machine and my android phone using a usb cable. I have found some guidance on the web, but it's 3 or 4 years old. I also read about KDE Connect, but it requires wireless transfer, which I lack.

Any guidance you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

[claydoh]

You should just be able to plug it in and go...you should see the phone pop up in your device notifier in your system tray, and appear in Dolphin's side bar. Also, you may get a prompt on your phone about the usb connection. You may have to tap that and select MTP as the connection mode.

For my phones, both LG, it takes some moments for it to get there, as they try to act as a cdrom it first, to allow windows device drivers and update software to load.

If you are having problems, post your device model and what version Kubuntu you are running.

[jlittle]

... My desktop PC lacks wireless capability. I need to be able to transfer files between my Linux machine and my android phone using a usb cable...

Those two sentences imply you are concluding that because the PC lacks wireless, you have to use a USB cable. This is false if the PC is connected to the internet, especially if they're on the same local network.
Your PC is likely connected to your home network using an ethernet cable, and your phone likely connects wirelessly to that same network. KDEconnect should work, or you can use an app called Airdroid which I think is brilliant. (Send SMS using the PC keyboard...)

Regards, John Little

[wtb32141]

John, I am no network guru; so let me describe my current setup. I have 2 items, a desktop PC and a smartphone, which receives the internet. I ran a usb cable from the phone to the PC. So the PC also gets the internet signal (from the phone). That's all I have. I have no home network beyond those 2 items (PC + smartphone). No ethernet cable is plugged into my PC.

[wtb32141]

John:

I just put my PC's cursor on what I suppose is a network icon in the system tray. It says, "usb0--Wired Ethernet Connected to Wired connection 2." That so-called Ethernet connection is simply the usb cable that I previously described. So I'm beginning to believe that my current thinking about Ethernet connections is faulty.

[jlittle]

That's all I have... nothing beyond PC + smartphone.

Sounds expensive, using mobile data all the time.

I wonder if the USB tethering interferes with the file transfer. However, a major reason that people suggest alternatives to file transfer over USB cable is that Android now uses MTP, a Microsoft protocol that gives lots of problems and on some phones is flaky or doesn't work at all.

You could use Airdroid as I suggested but it would be quite inefficient and expensive. (It works, I just tried it.) There's other apps that would be better.

I started typing this in Tapatalk, I'm not at home. I've found a PC, so I'm going to post this and attempt to edit it from the PC, so that I can cut and paste links easily.

[Edit] I found this link at Android Stack Exchange. MTP works so badly that people have found alternatives using USB tethering, which would suit you, since you already do that. The second and third methods use adb (android data bridge, a tool for android app developers) and are very long and complicated, but the first method is simple: install the app "MTP-Alternative USB Drive", then follow the instructions for Ubuntu given by the app to set up a network drive in dolphin. I might give this a try when I get home, a couple of days from now.

My phone has removable SD card support, and I have a cheap USB SD card reader, so I can transfer files that way.

Regards, John Little

[claydoh]

I do not believe that you can use usb tethering and file transfer at the same time. At least I can't with the 4 different phones I have here to check with, and another I just recently parted with was the same.

I don't believe that MTP at all terrible for most, but at least that app seems to fill a gap for those that need it. Great find!

[woodsmoke]

Is there any chance that people are not using congruent terminology?

A) When I do a "tether", it uses a wire that plugs into the "charge / data transfer" jack on the bottom of the phone and thence to a usb on the other end that goes to the computer usb.

B) That process uses, or used to use, "MTB" which was obvious two releases ago and now, although hidden, seemingly, seems "to just work".

C) There is, indeed, a "cell phone company" here in the midwest which has a "setup" wherein the phone "could" talk to a satellite, because there is no "cable --- system" where people live "out in the country". The cable companies DID NOT LIKE THAT a few years ago. That is now "mixed" in that cell phone company provides a "plugin" "cellphone" which plugs into the "usb" port to provide internet access using the "thing" directly and apparently there is some form of quiet agreement with the local cable company.

APPARENTLY, the people "could" STILL use their normal cell phone today, although I am not sure about that, so, people can, and do, use a "cell phone or a plugin cell phone hooked to a computer" which provides internet access.

I don't know about "data plans", the people that I talked to about two years ago said that it was "slow".

D) MTB does, indeed, produce problems on some distros, but I have not seen it lately in Kubuntu.

So, the whole mess of wires etc, could be used to "transfer" data between the cell phone and computer.

A SUGGESTION OUT IN THE WEEDS.

a) Bluetooth dongle. Such dongles are cheap and a way to transfer files from the phone using the built in bluetooth.

b) KDE Connect which uses "wifi", It is FASTER than using a tether, at least for me, and I can do it from across three rooms in my apartment FROM THE COUCH! lol It is presently for the Android and the Blackberry, soon for Iphone.

woodsmoke

[wtb32141]

Here I am again. Yesterday I reinstalled Kubuntu 15.10 with a dedicated home directory. I have tried several times to tether my phone (an LG G Stylo) to my PC. Each attempt has failed. Must a network manager program be running to get tethering to work? If so, which one do you recommend?

[wtb32141]

Let's distinguish 2 issues: (1) transferring the phone's internet signal to the PC and (2) transferring files from the PC to the phone (or vice versa). I want to focus now only on issue 2. I'm now running Kubuntu 15.10, and my phone is an LG G Stylo. As soon as I connect the Phone to the PC, Dolphin adds a line to the Devices list to show the phone (LGA Android phone). When I click on that line, my phone's file system appears on the PC's screen. Suppose I want to copy file X from the PC to the phone's Documents folder. Using Dolphin, I go to file X and I right click the mouse. I then click on "Copy to". At that point, I then select "Browse" so as to find the directory on the phone to which I want file X copied. Here's the problem: I cannot find the Phone's file system when I browse the directory tree. Where is the phone's file system mounted?

[sithlord48]

your phone is never mounted its using the MTP protocal, you must use MTA:/ to see it this should work in programs that support KIO.
browse your phone in dolphin and take note of the address . use that address to find the phone later.. (mine for example has a path of Mtp://nexus4/)
if you trying to copy files be sure the phone is not locked .

[wtb32141]

Thanks for your post, but you and I seem to be speaking different languages. Your knowledge of the subject is far beyond mine. Please see if you can dumb it down to a point where I may be able to understand you. Pretend that you are the professor, and I am the student. Explain it so clearly that a grade-school student can understand you. Thanks.

[sithlord48]

Using Dolphin, I go to file X and I right click the mouse. I then click on "Copy to". At that point, I then select "Browse" so as to find the directory on the phone to which I want file X copied. Here's the problem: I cannot find the Phone's file system when I browse the directory tree. Where is the phone's file system mounted?

dont do that.. instead do this

open dolphin browse to your phone..hit F3 , the window will split in half and you will have two file browsers. on the new side browse to the folder with the file you want. drag them to the side with your phone . you dont need to use split window you can just use two dolphin instances . also be sure the phone is unlocked other wise you may have problems copying the files.

[wtb32141]

Thank you very much for your guidance. I now can transfer files from phone to PC and vice versa.