Why do we need SAMBA

[lordmayo]

With every other device in my home network I can simply connect to their ip address, provide their login info and bookmark the entire setup giving me unlimited access to their directories. Why isn't this the case with Alpine? Whenever I try to reach its ip through either of my Linux boxes or from my android, all connected to the network either via ethernet or wifi, theres no response. Why is SAMBA the only way to create 2 way communication between the Alpine and any other device?

[snappy46]

Are you trying to establish communication from the PBO Alpine to other devices or Other devices to the PBO??? Either way when dealing with communication between 2 devices on a network you need two things a server (Make content of the device accessible to the network) and a client (Read content of device which has the server running). In a lot of cases devices have both (server/client) and in a lot of cases Samba/CIFS(newer version) is available on those devices. That being said you are not limited to the Samba server/client but being readily available on windows OS it is the most common. For example you can enable Android devices Android Bridge Debugger (adb server) by simply stating in your setting that you want to enable USB Debugging in the application menu. Once the Android Bridge Debugger server is on you can easily log on to your Android device using the adb client on a PC. The PBO Alpine is a little different because you can not connect it to a PC using USB (No host port) therefore you need to connect using the PBO Alpine IP. Also if you have many Linux machine in your house then since the Android is build on top of linux in theory you should be able to use NFS for file sharing. Enable NFS server on your linux machine and you should be able to mount that share on the PBO Alpine .... in theory I haven't try it. Unfortunately I don't think that the PBO Alpine has a NFS server available so you will need to install an app or ARM9 compatible nfs server to enable the PBO to do the same.

Anyhow the reasons all those other devices can communicate without any issues is probably because they have a samba server/client enable. For the PBO Alpine if you want to share the resources you have to install the samba application (Server); it does however already have a Samba client application (Network Shares). Hopefully in their great wisdom Patriot will make a samba server application available ready out of the box on further firmware update. In the meantime we are left to fight on our own.

Cheers !!!

[lordmayo]

...probably because they have a samba server/client...

Cheers !!!

ah snappy46, snappy as always and well versed. thanks. alpine really ought to hire you - no kidding.

i had no idea that that i had enabled a server component on my phone, causing it to be able to serve up files - it makes a lot of sense. the default samba app included with patriot has never once worked for me, for some reason. it'd be great to enable a server on the alpine and then make my connected HD available through the internet through alpine port forwarding but alas it sounds like a REAL HEADACHE hunting down an app that will actually install on this whittled down version of android that we have on our hands.

hopefully when matrix is commercially ready in my grandchildren's time (my kid is only 2 months right now) they will be able to do it. :-/

i couldn't resist that last jab.

[snappy46]

ah snappy46, snappy as always and well versed. thanks. alpine really ought to hire you - no kidding.

They can't afford me .... .

Cheers !!!!

[lordmayo]

They can't afford me .... .

Cheers !!!!

Hehehehehe i hear ya!