This is as days pass by, by Stuart Langridge

And this is Browsing my Android phone over wifi at home, written , and concerning Android

Having to plug my Android phone into my computer via USB so that I can copy new files onto it is a pain. So I thought to myself: it's got wifi, right? Can't I just run an ftp server on it?

And, lo, I discovered On Air. Cool Android app; it's got One Massive Button and that's it. The One Massive Button just turns on a file server and exports it over the network.

(Actually, I lied. There's also one tiny button which toggles the type of server between FTP, WebDav, and AppleTalk. So I set it to FTP, since that's easy to connect to from Nautilus -- Places > Connect to Server > FTP (with login). On Air displays the IP address of the phone, and a randomly generated 4-digit password.)

So, that's all I need; I can now browse my phone without plugging it into the computer.

Then I got to thinking. It'd be dead handy if that automatically got started up when I was (a) at home and (b) the phone was plugged into the mains (because I don't want it being a server while I'm wandering around my house, and the mains plug is near the computer). A bit more poking around led me to Locale, an Android app which lets you watch for certain conditions (like geographical location, charge state, and so on) and then take certain actions when the conditions are triggered. Seemed ideal. But Locale is $10, and the "am I in a certain place" trigger was another dollar, and "am I plugged in" was another dollar, and I thought: yeah, $12 isn't much, but I don't really need this, so maybe I'll do without.

And then @michaelwells pointedout on Twitter that the "Setting Profiles" app might help. So I took a look, and basically, it's Locale, but free. Nice.

So, install Setting Profiles, set up a "rule" with conditions "connected to my home wifi" and "charger is plugged in", and an "action" of "start On Air". Done.

I'm really quite pleased with tying those things together.

Minor complaints, because nothing is perfect (perfection is finality. finality is death. nothing is perfect. there are lumps in it)

  1. I wish On Air had a "start up the server automatically" setting, thus obviating the need to press the One Big Button.
  2. I wish On Air advertised its FTP server with Zeroconf. (Probably it doesn't need to for the author's Mac use case because AppleTalk servers already do that without Bonjour?)
  3. Settings Profiles doesn't show up in my apps list! That's really quite weird. To start it I have to go back into the Market, choose Downloads, and then start it from there. I'd file a bug, but there doesn't seem to be any useful way of doing that. How am I meant to do this? Leave a comment on the app in the Market?

Settings Profiles (website)

On Air

Comments

Dan Ballard

Ha awesome, thank you very much.

One sad point, my LG Eve has pretty terrible battery life and charges off USB so it's rare when it's near my computer and not plugged in :(.

Still, this is cool and totally usable when I'm out and about. Thanks.

Ciaran

Thanks for this. Loved the idea, but had many issues with the software. Luckily I found something I preferred - http://ciarang.com/posts/android-ftp-server

sil

Dan: ah, my Nexus One charges off USB, too, but it charges twice as fast from the mains power charger as it does from the computer's USB port :)

Giacomo

Pityful. On N900, you just install the (free) openssh server, and you have full control of the thing on-air, that can be managed for conditions with a banal bash script.

Marc

Apparently the Settings Profiles application has a Widget instead of an icon. Just put the widget on one of your home screens to access it.

Liz Wong

Awesome, this makes life a lot easier.

Liz Wong

Awesome, this makes life a lot easier.

gnudoc

Thanks for this, aq. Bloody awesome tip. (also thanks for http://shotofjaq.org/2010/02/review-of-jaq-google-nexus-one/ - i got the n1 based almost solely on that!)

As for showing up in the apps list, I hate to ask but are you sure? it shows up in mine as "lite setting", for some reason.

gnudoc

I'd file a bug, but there doesn't seem to be any useful way of doing that. How am I meant to do this? Leave a comment on the app in the Market?

The long-form description of the app in Market says "Please send your feedback via belgianwaves@gmail.com"

Yale

But where is specifications and details. Looking forward

This website belongs to Stuart Langridge. Contact details are available. Don't eat yellow snow. Valid HTML5, at least in theory, except for the bits that aren't because I'm that futuristic that I'm ahead of the spec, oh yes. HTML5 help from Bruce Lawson, among others. Fonts from the superb FontSquirrel. End.