KDE Connect

WetGeek

Since I use Plasma on almost every computer here, I'd often noticd KDE Connect listed in the Internet menu, but I knew only vaguely what it could do. My curiosity finally got the better of me, and I wanted to learn more. Turns out that KDE Connect can be installed on Apple and Android phones and tablets from the App Store or Play Store, and it comes installed by default on computers running the Plasma DE. I suspect it can be used on DEs other than Plasma, but I haven't felt the need to check that yet. (I'm only just now learning about KDE Connect.)

This is what the UI looks like on my laptop. You can see that it's joined with my Samsung smartphone, and it notices that another computer upstairs is available -- Alpine, my Plasma workstation. Alpine is untrusted so far, because my laptop so far hasn't connected with it and shared information. The smartphone was likewise untrusted until the first connection was made

Here's a screen shot on my Plasma laptop, showing it connected to my Samsung smartphone to create, read, and manage text messages. No need to type with my thumbs anymore.

In short, KDE Connect can join all sorts of devices that are on the same network, which includes laptops and desktops, smartphones, and tablets. (Dunno about refrigerators and other appliances, because mine aren't that smart, but I wouldn't be surprised.) Devices can share their file systems, issue commands, and so on.

If you use Plasma, KDE Connect is already installed. If you use another Solus DE, I'm betting that you can probably install it from the repository (but I haven''t tried doing that yet). And if you use either an Apple or Androit phone of tablet, you can find KDE Connect in the App Store or Play Store, respectively.

WetGeek

WetGeek In short, KDE Connect can join all sorts of devices that are on the same network,

KDE Connect settings are available in the Plasma System Settings page. What's available depends on the capabilities of the device that's connected. Here are some of the actions that are available when my laptop is connected to multimedia, the server that streams to my TV.

I suspect that my Samsung TV can also install and use KDE Connect, so that's on my list to check out next.

brent

WetGeek In short, KDE Connect can join all sorts of devices that are on the same network, which includes laptops and desktops, smartphones, and tablets.... Devices can share their file systems, issue commands, and so on.

Big LIKE for the research and heavy lifting you did. It's a unified connecting 'dock' if you will, and it lets you 1) see a bunch of connected devices from the comfort of one location (your laptop)? and 2) and access their filesystems.

Pretty cool. Does it have more functions than letting you view a device's filesystem without touching the device?
If the answer is yes it could be a powerful tool especially---as you speculated--- you unify all the IOT stuff like fridges....that's why I was thinking it has to do more then filesystem access? Interesting all the same.

WetGeek

As I continue to learn ...

KDE Connect actually consists of two applications that I've found so far. They show up in the Internet menu as KDE Connect and KDE Connect SMS.

These can be run concurrently, as shown above

The other thing I confirmed is that KDE Connect isn't limited to running only on the Plasma desktop. In the list of available devices for pairing you see above, you may notice that one of those defices is named server-solus-4-3-budgie. Indeed I can connect my laptop to the machine that's serving Solus torrents just by virtue of their being on the same network and both running KDE Connect.

At this time I'd like to thank @tomscharbach for reawakening my interest in cross-platform communication. RDP was a way of life for me when I was working as a software engineer, but this goes much father than RDP.

I now have my phone, several tablets, and various computers talking and sharing resources with each other, and I'm now thinking of things I'll now be able to do easily. Most of those are things I didn't realize I wanted to do until now.

The next adventure: finding out if KDE Connect is available on my Ultramarine Budgie laptop.

WetGeek

I answered the question of whether KDE Connect is available on my Ultramarine laptop. It's the only non-Solus hardware on my network. (Besides phones and tablets, of course.)

It's available to install as a Dolphin add-on. So far I haven't done anything with it, but I soon will. (This sent from Vivaldi on my Ultramarine Budgie latop.)

Girtablulu

brent Iirc our Maintainer @joebonrichie is using a script with kdeconnect which checks for failed builds on our buildserver and rings an alarm on his phone 😃

Brucehankins

brent Yes, you can view the devices filesystem, but this has some caveats. For my phone, Galaxy S10e, I have to manually add the folders I want it to have access too, you can't just one-click entire system.
While it does work well with SMS, if you're using a chat app, iMessage, or have enabled RCS features on your android device, you won't see the full benefit of those features. I'd really like to see the KDE team update this app for RCS compatibility, it would give it almost full feature parity with iMessage from an mac book at that point.
Another note, if you use a firewall on your system, you need to allow incoming, otherwise your phone and your pc won't see each other even on the same network.

WetGeek

Brucehankins I have to manually add the folders I want it to have access too, you can't just one-click entire system.

I saw for the first time that my 128GB SD card was empty. All these years, I guess I just never ran out of the original storage space. I created a folder there, called Downloads, in preparation for making some use of it.

My Panasonic compact cameras have Leica zoom lenses, so it's never occurred to me to use my phone in their place, but I'm now thinking that it might be convenient to use the phone as a portable viewer to show others some of my work. There's room on that SD card to store lots of it, and its screen is much bigger than the ones on the back of my cameras.

I'm just starting to think of all kinds of ways that phone can be more useful to me, now that I know how easy it is to connect it to the rest of my network. I might even start carrying it with me.

brent

Brucehankins Another note, if you use a firewall on your system, you need to allow incoming, otherwise your phone and your pc won't see each other even on the same network.

thanks bruce for the extended answer. far out.

olivir

I used to use it but it causes Gnome MPV to crash.

WetGeek

This adventure has caused me to develop a new respect for my smartphone. Now, when I get a call, a notification show up on my laptop. If my phone rings while I'm out of the room, I now see the notification when I come back, and I can return the call if it's a number I recognize.

I even figured out how to connect LastPass with Vivaldi on my phone. It turns out that LastPass on the phone has an option to start the browser (default is Vivaldi), and when I launch a web site that way, LastPass logs me on, just as if I'd done it from my laptop.

I used to think that there was no way to make that work, so I seldom used my phone to browse the web.

WetGeek

WetGeek Now, when I get a call, a notification show up on my laptop.

Hah ... I guess there's a downside to everything. My smartphone connects to my email, in case I need that for an emergency, but otherwise I don''t use it for email. That "typing with thumbs" thing, ya know.

Now, every time my phone sees a new email arrive, a notification shows up on my laptop, even if I've already answered those emails on the laptop. Now I need to figure out if there's a way to fix that (and still leave the phone connected to email), or just learn to put up with all those notifications.

Brucehankins

WetGeek you could disable the notifications on your phone entirely. Or you could set up a routine using Google Assistant, Bixby, Alexa, or the digital assistant of your choice on your device to disable certain notifications or features based on certain parameters.

WetGeek

Brucehankins you could disable the notifications on your phone entirely

I guess I should have realized that notifications could be turned off for a phone, just like any other computer. Thanks for suggesting it ... I can't think of any reason I need them on.

I looked in Settings, and Notifications was the third item in the list. That led to another list of toggles, and I was able to turn off just Email notifications. Thanks again for the suggestion.