Android/Samsung device FTP or SSH servers?
 

Recently my Android 12 Samsung Galaxy S10 FTP drop-down statusbar button options include FTP server so I enabled/activated but desktop (FreeBSD, Slackware) nmap shows no port 21. If I can't enable this I either must use WWW (messier/slower) or poweroff and remove SD card (using paperclip) and load from PC card reader (X11/KDE5 file transfer no longer works).
        I told Samsung.com chat but the person was technically incompetent--or perhaps a Millennial or younger--and said ask my provider (I bought the S10 from Samsung) then said use hostname provided in 'upload "modal" window' (apparently isn't English expert) of 'usegalaxy.org: 'Galaxy FTP'... I don't know what that is but would be much slower--through a middleman (probably monitoring)--and defeat purpose. I don't think he knows what he's talking about and didn't even know (nor check) if Android or Samsung has instructions/manual despite I'll need FTP username (and told me to reboot rather than ever acknowledge I need username).
        I've seen third-party articles say enable FTP server in My Files (Samsung's Android File Manager) but no option appears in My Files.
        It's a bit weird they added this because for a decade or few people who used FTP use SSH & SFTP more though I like telnet, rlogin/RSH, plain FTP. I setup Galaxy Tab S3 SSH server but it's default restricted/broken & non-root chrooted (not even in main storage area and has SD card inaccessible) needing several/many workarounds I have to try next one, which problems include you don't even know your username but get random-sounding ones (like u_nnn for digits n) and in recent Android versions you don't even own your own files you put on your phone--root does (this was an overdone 'security' thing that broke many pre-2020s file readers/viewers.)
        I was happy/amused to see FTP added in 2022... what's the story on this--anyone successfully enabled it (or SSH, which in some cases requires root... of course, RSH would be nicer (with a little less overhead) because this is just at home)?

I've long given up on that.

Unless you're trapped on a desert island with a solar charger, there's bound to be faster ways of file transfer. I have kids of an age where I taught them about ftp, irc, ssh etc while they were under 10 and they're laughing at me now and buried in the latest tech with zero patience. Nobody types if they can point & click; that's the bottom line. Just like nobody spells, when they can type "spell confoosyush" into a browser and get Confucius.

Let's own up and face it: Console jockeys were all the rage in the last millenium.

Nonsense!
Nonsense! (which FTP can be 'point & press' anyway) I stated file transfer using KDE5 no longer works. Now I'd have to compress one or more directories/folders, copy them to my PC's webserver (if it's on) then go to my Android device's web browser, and download it, and move it where I want, and decompress it--if there's even enough space--then delete the archives. That's six steps instead of one.

If you're not going to help at least stop ranting on topics which then makes them look like a useless answer has been an answer.

I had a similar requirement, initially I was using sFTP client on the phone (Samsung s21 ultra) to copy the files to the computer. Which was a pain because the client was extremely buggy.

Nowadays, I use syncthing and have the client installed on both my phone and the computer. You can decide if you want a bi-directional sync or a one way, I do a bi-directional sync as that allows me to delete/rename/copy stuff on my computer and have them reflected on the phone without having to copy files around.

I suggest that you check it out as it makes it extremely easy to copy stuff from the phone to the computer.

I'd rather use rsync, but finally got FTP working: one might have to wait a while then get a notification it's open on a non-standard port.

Hello:

My apologies for resurrecting a rather dated thread.
Just over a hard year for many.
But I digress ...

Great!

I have sort of been forced by circumstances to start using a smartphone for some things. 8^°
But I refuse to let go of my still working BlackBerry 9320.

That said, I would be obliged if you'd let me know how you managed to get FTP working.

I run Devuan Beowulf on a Sun Ultra 24 WS and the phone is a Samsung SM-A02M.

Has a microUSB 2.0 socket, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi 2.4GHz and 5.1 + A2DP/LE Bluetooth but I'd rather a cable connection with a USB/ethernet adaptor, if available or can be hacked.

Thanking you in advance, I wish you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

Best,

A.

ssh ... in the way of sshfs ... i.e. mount a remote folder locally via ssh, as that way the mounted folder can have files dragged from/to that folder using your regular gui desktop/file manager.

termux on my android along with ssh installed and sshd has ssh server started on port 8022 (8000 added to the usual port 22 for ssh).

Personally I prefer to run sshd on the android phone and rather than on the laptop, but you could just as equally run it the other way around.

Hello:
I have managed to solve the problem at hand by just mounting the phone's card via the OS file manager, in this case PCManFM or Thunar via a BlackBerry issued USB cable.

Not having to move huge files or needing any security, it will probably do for now.

Further on I'll study some way to make my 'smart'phone a bit more useful to me eg: some USB/ethernet adaptor plugged into the non-managed switch to ssh into any of the devices I have pugged in ie: my main box, a Devuan Chimaera VM inside (running piHole/unbound) and an Asus 1000HE.

Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.

For file transfer berween pc and phone (Android) I use kdeconnect. Pretty fast. Gnome adopted kdeconnect as I understand. Unfortunately, I don't think that non KDE Plasma/Gnome can do the trick, so the only way to transfer files is over USB.