SMB support

[Matthew Exon]

Ubuntu Touch really should have the ability to access network filesystems. There's a bunch of different protocols you might want of course, but SMB is the obvious one. Typically this would be done within the File Manager, but a separate application would make sense - if the core system is extended to support that.

My particular case: I have a Seagate Wireless Plus so that I can carry a full-size hard drive around with all my data, one less reason to lug around my laptop. In practice though, it turns out there's no way to actually access it from Ubuntu Touch. iOS and Android are fine because Seagate develops specific apps for those platforms. See Bug #1521827.

[Pat McGowan (pat-mcgowan)]

Interesting in the converged world for sure

[Pat McGowan (pat-mcgowan)]

Just double checked and file manager already includes samba and smb support
Is that sufficient? Should make all files available via the content hub

[Matthew Exon (ubuntubugs-mexon)]

Can you point me to some documentation on how to use it? I can't see anything there that looks like SMB. I did try "Go to" and typing smb://172.25.0.1, which works on my Macbook, but it just keeps the "Go" button disabled.

[Matthew Exon (ubuntubugs-mexon)]

Also want to comment, this isn't really anything to do with convergence. The Seagate Wireless Plus is specifically designed for and marketed to people who want access to large media libraries on their phones. That's exactly why I bought it, as a way to cope with moving from a 32GB N900 to a 16GB MX4 Ubuntu Edition. It's a good idea and they're not the only company trying it.

Now that I come to think of it though, it does also support DLNA and maybe that's the more appropriate protocol to use. New bug?

Still want both though :-) For example, DLNA won't allow me to free up space by dumping photos to the hard drive.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

From the filemanager, I can browser the network and find smb shares, but cannot see the content and there is no way to authenticate. The implementation in the filemanager seems incomplete.

[Matthew Exon (ubuntubugs-mexon)]

I was going to ask how you're browsing the network, and then I just realised that there's an icon of a folder with a network cable being plugged into it. How did I not notice that? Duh!

But... well it's not working for me. At least not as well as for you. I have "Unlock full access" switched on. There's an orange swirly thing and then it just says "No files". My Macbook is able to browse the network fine.

I'd like to get things working as well as they are for you because my share doesn't require authentication. So it might be implemented enough for me to get access to my stuff.

The first thing to implement is allowing smb:// notation in the "Go" dialog. That would make it at least possible to enter credentials, and get some people up and running without the need for complicated UI work.