[Short Tip] Quickly copy files to Samsung Galaxy S20+ on Fedora 32

Transferring files from a Fedora 32 machine to an Android phone is usually not a problem: plugin in it (via USB), unlock screen, make sure that USB connection is set to file transfer, and open the phone in Nautilus.

However, I recently had to get a new phone, decided to opt for the Samsung Galaxy S20+ – and there I was not able to write files to the device:

rsync: open "/run/user/1000/gvfs/mtp:host=SAMSUNG_SAMSUNG_Android_R58N23ZDCVN/Phone/appdata/2020-04-12_23-38 - foldersync.db" failed: Operation not supported (95)

Note that other phones made no problems so far. And things got even more weird when I realized that I was able to create folders – but not files?!

After the usual tricks (enabling USB debugging, switching cables, etc.) I realized that this might be a special problem with the implementation of mtp by this phone. So instead of using libmtp, wich is used by default by for example gvfs, I tested other mtp implementations – and found simple-mtpfs, which worked like a charm:

$ sudo simple-mtpfs -l
1: SamsungGalaxy models (MTP)
$ sudo simple-mtpfs --device 1 /mnt
# you have to acknowledge access to the phone on the phone screen
# then you have to mount it again
$ sudo simple-mtpfs --device 1 /mnt
$ sudo rsync --verbose --progress --size-only --omit-dir-times --no-perms --recursive --inplace /home/liquidat/backup/ /mnt/Phone/

The performance is good – way better than trying to copy files via gphoto2, btw 😉

Image by Martin Pyško from Pixabay

Current distribution of WhatsApp alternatives [Update]

Many people are discussing alternatives to WhatsApp right now. Here I just track how many installations the currently discussed, crypto-enabled alternatives have according to the app store.

WhatsApp was already bad before Facebook acquired it. But at least now people woke up and are considering secure alternatives. Yes, this move could have come earlier, but I do welcome the new opportunity: its the first time wide spread encryption actually has a chance in the consumer market. So for most of the people out there the question is more “which alternative should I use” instead of “should I use one”. Right now I do not have the faintest idea which alternative with crypto support will make the break through – but you could say I am well prepare.

Screenshot installed instant messengers

Well – that’s obviously not a long term solution. Thus, to shed some light on the various alternatives and how they stand right now, here is a quick statistical overview:

Secure Instant Messengers, state updated 2014-03-11
Name	WebPage/GooglePlay	installed devices	Ratings	Google +1
ChatSecure	Website / Google Play	100 000 – 500 000	1 626	2 620
Kontalk	Website / Google Play	10 000 – 50 000	237	265
surespot	Website / Google Play	50 000 – 100 000	531	632
Telegram	Website / Google Play	10 000 000 – 50 000 000	273 089	97 641
Threema	Website / Google Play	500 000 – 1 000 000	9 368	12 594
TextSecure	Website / Google Play	100 000 – 500 000	2 478	2 589

The statistics are taken from Google’s Android Play Store. I would love to include iTunes statistics, but it seems they are not provided via the web page. If you know how to gather them please drop me a note and I’ll include them here.

These numbers just help to show how fat an application is spread – it does not say anything about the quality. For example Threema is not Open Source and thus not a real alternative. So, if you want to know more details about the various options, please read appropriate reviews like the one from MissingM.

Android 4.4 now *can* sync multiple calendars via ActiveSync

With the release of Android 4.4 called KitKat Google made some interesting changes to their ActiveSync implementation: the code is now set up to sync more than one calender, and the first KitKat user already confirmed that new feature.

In February I described in a blogpost why Android cannot sync multiple calendars via ActiveSync. The problem was that Google did not implement the necessary parts of the ActiveSync specification in Android.

However, that seems to have changed: if you look at the current ActiveSync implementation of Android 4.4 KitKat, the source code (tag 4.4rc1) does list support for multiple calendars – and also for multiple address books:

        MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_USER_CALENDAR, Mailbox.TYPE_CALENDAR);
        MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_USER_CONTACTS, Mailbox.TYPE_CONTACTS);

I had no chance yet to test that on my own, but there are reports that it is indeed working:

Today i flashed a Android 4.4 Rom on my smartphone. After adding the Exchange Profile all my Calendars are there […]
I’ve uploaded a screenshot here:
http://postimg.org/image/5d4u364ub/

Looks like Google actually listened to…erm, corporate users? At least to someone, though 😉

But: Since I have no first-hand-experience in this regard I would like to ask all of my nine readers out there if anyone has a stock KitKat running and if the could check this feature. Please test this and leave a report about your experiences in the comments. I will include it in the article.

By the way, the above mentioned source code snippet also tells quite exactly which other ActiveSync functions are not yet supported in Android:

        //MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_TASKS,  Mailbox.TYPE_TASKS);
        //MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_NOTES, Mailbox.TYPE_NONE);
        //MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_JOURNAL, Mailbox.TYPE_NONE);
        //MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_USER_TASKS, Mailbox.TYPE_TASKS);
        //MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_USER_JOURNAL, Mailbox.TYPE_NONE);
        //MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_USER_NOTES, Mailbox.TYPE_NONE);
        //MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(Eas.MAILBOX_TYPE_UNKNOWN, Mailbox.TYPE_NONE);
        //MAILBOX_TYPE_MAP.put(MAILBOX_TYPE_RECIPIENT_INFORMATION_CACHE, Mailbox.TYPE_NONE);

I guess syncing tasks could come in handy in corporate environments. Combined with support for multiple task folders you could even design your own Kanban “board” that way.

Nevertheless I’d like to add that ActiveSync is no big deal for me anymore because I am very happy with a – albeit 3rd party and not yet Open Source – CalDav implementation, which can even sync multiple task folders.

Google continues CalDav support for everyone, now also adds CardDav

Yesterday Google announced that it will not restrict the CalDav access to their calendars to registered partners only, but that they will continue to provide it for everyone. Additionally, Google now offers CardDav support.

A couple of weeks ago Google announced that they would restrict CalDav access to their calendars to registered developers only. That resulted in a huge uproar among developers, users and open standards advocates and made many people wondering if Google will become a closed standards/software company in the future.

However, the pressure (and most likely the bad press and reputation) Google got worked, and they announced that the CalDav API will be continued as an API open for everyone:

In response to those requests, we are keeping the CalDAV API public.

And it becomes even better: CardDav support is added as well, meaning the address data can be accessed via open protocols as well:

And in the spirit of openness, today we’re also making CardDAV – an open standard for accessing contact information across the web – available to everyone for the first time.

This way CalDav and CardDav have an even better chance to become THE royalty free and open alternative to Microsoft’s ActiveSync protocol. Additionally, application developers don’t have to worry to add special code to support Google calendars and address books: they just add CalDav and CardDav support and they automatically support almost all groupware servers and services available.

This is good news and gives me back some trust in Google’s policies and priorities. There is still no CalDav or CardDav support in Android, yes – but at least the server side is better now.

[Howto] Installing Owncloud News, a self hosted RSS reader

Owncloud News, a RSS news reader for the self hosting cloud service Owncloud, is available in an Alpha version. That comes right at the time Google Reader is bound to see its end soon.

I must admit that I do not understand why Google decided to shut down the Google Reader service. Social media with their unstructured news areas are nice, but no match to a well structured news feed full of read and unread news. But, there are replacements, and one pretty wise choice would be to not depend on yet another web service, but to host it yourself.

In comes Owncloud: it can already host your addresses, calendars, files and musik and can be integrated with your desktop as well. Now a RSS reader app, Owncloud News was released as an Alpha version, and indeed already looks promising:

The installation is pretty smooth as well. The requirements are a running Owncloud 5 version, so 4.5 won’t do it. The installation itself basically consists of two steps: installing and activating the so called App Framework, which is supposed to be the foundation for other Owncloud apps in the future, and afterwards installing the news app itself:

# cd /var/www
# git clone https://github.com/owncloud/appframework.git
Cloning into 'appframework'...
[...]
# git clone https://github.com/owncloud/news.git
Cloning into 'news'...
[...]

I choose /var/www here because it is recommended in the manual and because there the appropriate user has the necessary access rights. But it could be any dir, since you only link the plugins anyway:

# ln -s /var/www/appframework /var/www/owncloud/apps
# ln -s /var/www/news /var/www/owncloud/apps

Speaking about rights, make sure the web server can write cache files:

# sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/news/cache

Afterwards, login to your owncloud, and active the plugins: first the framework, followed by the actual application. Add feeds, play around, as you will see it works pretty nice.

What is still missing right now is an Android news reader which could sync with the server. When that is available as well, Owncloud News might become *the* Google Reader descendant.