Pairdropping Directories

… doesn’t work. There are lots of useful websites, such as pairdrop.net that make moving files from one computer to another on the same network very easy. They use WebRTC. But the process is somewhat clumsy. First, you cannot specify the target directory. It sends everything to a directory called Downloads. Second, it does not do directories.
When you open the webpage pairdrop.net it assigns your computer a childish name and suggests you do the same on another computer on your network. When you have done that, the latter appears as an icon on the former. If you click on the former a filer window opens for you to select a file. When you click on a file, the page on the target computer asks whether you want to accept a copy of that file, and if you do, a copy is put in Downloads. So far, so clumsy. But if you click on an item that is a directory instead of selecting it for transfer it opens it and makes no transfer. It is very unfortunate that the words open and select have become confused, because for directories the two actions are rather separate. It seems to me much friendlier to the user if a directory can be manipulated as if it were a single file. With RISC OS we are used to moving or copying selections of filer objects with a flick of the wrist. I suppose these file transfer programs have to cater for every concievable apology for a GUI, so that drag and drop is out of the question. Still, it would be nice to hear about something that does not make such a laborious horlicks of copying a directory and its contents. Maybe it is all down to my lack of experience with Linux.

When I need to get things off my phone, ES File Explorer has a built-in FTP server. I start that up and use FTPc to log into it.

I used to use Samba, but on the 3B+ it just crashes, often in a “stiff the machine” way so I had to come up with a different solution. On my non-RISC OS devices, I just toss the files around using Bluetooth unless they’re BIG in which case a USB stick in OTG mode gets used … but then since I won’t be watching 1080p MTS files on RISC OS this isn’t really an issue.

But if you click on an item that is a directory instead of selecting it for transfer it opens it and makes no transfer.

Oh, you would love my Android portable. Android is a system that depends very heavily on a touch interface, where a single tap “does stuff”. This device has no touch interface, just a little touchpad that moves a pointer around the screen. And touching the pad to move is all too frequently interpreted as a touch to tap, so… yeah… moving the pointer around the home screen does tend to start unwanted apps. Oh, and there is utterly no support for zooming (a pinch action by touch) when using a non-touch device. Oh, and the right button performs a ‘back’, like pressing Escape. Useful!

But, then, some parts of the Android UI are worse than useless. Using a Bluetooth keyboard, the system still can’t handle entering international characters, like the dead keys supported by RISC OS since 1992, and Windows (British International) since 1995. <shrug>

every concievable apology for a GUI

A good description for so many of them. I use XP (just used it earlier to back up my recordings). I don’t know if things have changed in later versions, but there’s still the difference as to whether a file is copied or moved depending on whether or not it’s the same logical drive.

While I am peeving, I would like to express my objection to filers asking me to open a file when what they really mean is selecting a file. There is enough confusion around already. And usually the user is not provided with an easy means of correcting the language which an OS employs. And shouldn’t I have spelled it conceivable ?

When you choose a file, does it hand over to some sort of third party (OS?) file selection gadget? If so, perhaps it is saying “Open” because it doesn’t actually know what you’ll be doing with the file?
But, that said, “Select” or “Choose” would be better words. “Open” doesn’t always make sense (as you have noted), while “Select” and “Choose” can be quite multifunctional.

When I need to get things off my phone, ES File Explorer has a built-in FTP server. I start that up and use FTPc to log into it.

I discovered this fantastic little app called SMBSync for Android. I have a number of sync jobs set up:

\\media\mp3 mirrors to /sdcard/music
/internal/dcimages mirrors to \\server\glenn\My Pictures\Mobile photos

etc etc. The phone has a 256GB microSD card so can basically hold my entire music collection (although I’ll need to upgrade that to 512GB fairly soon).

ObTopic as Android smartphones use an ARM processor. :)