Unfortunately it doesn’t, Localsend relies on a WiFi hotspot or AP to transfer files, what I am trying to build uses WiFi Direct (aka WiFi P2P), these two are not interchangeable nor interoperable.

you are right, linux does support wifi aware although the problem is that afaik Wi-Fi chipset and driver support is still lacking behind so most people can’t really create aware networks (I just tried on my machine, I can’t)

idk about other distros but on ubuntu I can’t send or receive files using Bluetooth without a 3rd party tool (unless there is a pre installed cli tool that I am not aware of:)

but anyway, if the transfer speed doesn’t bother you or isn’t a deal breaker for you then fair enough… have a nice day.

Well, I guess I would need to add an option in the app to share clipboard content.

You know what? You just gave me an idea, a very good idea. Sometimes there are things that are not in file managers, maybe in a particular app, maybe in a browser, and you just want to drag and drop it. I don’t like the idea of opening the app, right-clicking on the corners of the window just to enable “keep this app on the top” so that you can drag and drop whatever you want.

Instead, what I would like to see is a keyboard shortcut where a small window opens that stays on top of all the other windows. That you can drag and drop anything to it, or maybe copy-paste anything into it. Maybe a photo, maybe a video, maybe anything. This would work for clipboard content, for video files from other apps that are not file managers.

Well, it is far from complete and far from usable right now, so right now it is not better. But when it is done it will be because of two things:

1. Wi-Fi direct, instead of using the local network. Wi-Fi direct is P2P, which potentially will make the transfer much faster and the whole thing of setting up a hotspot or requiring the two device being connected to the same network won’t be necessary.
2. Deep integration with file managers and desktop environments

Bluetooth is slow as hell

Yep I am aware of it but The thing is Linux doesn’t support it yet and most android phones still don’t support it yet unlike WiFi Direct, so until that day comes WiFi Direct it is

Sure thing!

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.

Yes actually I have tried it and I use it to share text between my devices and receive notifications.

The file sharing feature though is unbearably slow.

you are right that it does make it look like nothing more than an idea but honestly that’s fine by me and maybe I should mention that p2p peer discovery works right now and yeah that’s might not be much but well… we all start somewhere, don’t we!

I should preface this by saying I didn’t try any of the handheld gaming PCs, I watched a review of the AyaNeo 2S, it uses the same APU as the Ally and still outperform it, especially at low wattages and if I remember correctly even the steam deck at the same power level maybe you wanna check that out!

I would choose a gaming laptop over a handheld just for the versatility and upgradability, I have my eyes on the framework 16 it is very intriguing, to say the least