iLiad Access to all your iLiad files, without USB

[narve]

I think it is too much trouble using the USB cable, and besides then I can't access any other files (e.g. in /media). This functionality has been promised by iRex, but not in 2.8 it seems. So I was thinking of installing an ftp server or something like that. I tried the PureFTPd server for zaurus, but some libraries were missing.

Have anyone done some research in this area?

- Why doesn't scp work? Can I install scp on the iLiad? I get an error "sh: scp not found" or something like that

- Does anyone now about a zaurus (s)ftp server that works?

- Perhaps I can drop dropbear and use openssh instead, I believe that one supports scp?

[Antartica]

Originally Posted by narve

I think it is too much trouble using the USB cable, and besides then I can't access any other files (e.g. in /media). This functionality has been promised by iRex, but not in 2.8 it seems. So I was thinking of installing an ftp server or something like that. I tried the PureFTPd server for zaurus, but some libraries were missing.

Have anyone done some research in this area?

I use netcat (have it installed in both ends, the PC and the iliad, for the examples with IP 192.168.1.1 and the iliad, for the examples with IP 192.168.1.13):

1.In the iliad, bring up the ethernet interface (using a script, I use wired ethernet, so I call wired.sh with the apropiate parameters)
2. In the destination, you launch netcat in listen mode (for example in the PC):
$ netcat -l -p 11111 | tar -xf -
3. in the source, you change to the directory and pipe it to a socket (for example in the iliad)
$ cd /mnt/free
$ tar -cf - documents | netcat -q 1 192.168.1.1 11111
4. wait until it finishes :-)

NOTE: to have netcat accesible from all places when in the iliad, make a symlink to it. For example, if netcat binary is installed in /mnt/card/netcat/netcat (fix the paths for your netcat install):
# ln -s /mnt/card/netcat/netcat /usr/bin/

Originally Posted by narve

- Why doesn't scp work? Can I install scp on the iLiad? I get an error "sh: scp not found" or something like that

The dropbear installation in the iliad seems to be partial. I've dropbear in the zaurus (I'm using pdaXrom), and scp works.

Originally Posted by narve

- Does anyone now about a zaurus (s)ftp server that works?

- Perhaps I can drop dropbear and use openssh instead, I believe that one supports scp?

Openssh has scp, and is a more complete implementation, that's right. In fact, what I cannot get to work is ssh'ing from one dropbear (the zaurus) to another (the asus router), while I can ssh from dropbear (the zaurus) to the PC (linux w/ openssh).

Anyway, if you want to give it a try, I attach to this message wu-ftpd compiled for the iliad (vanilla, I've not changed anything in the sources; just patched the binaries to change the configuration directory from /etc to ./cf). I've not tested it, so the usual caveats apply ;-).

Instructions: untar it into the iliad and launch run.sh :-). It's possible that you have to edit the files in the cf directory for it to be usefull (the ones there are the ones of a default debian installation, I've not even edited them so if they have paths, they'll be wrong).

[k2r]

Originally Posted by narve

- Perhaps I can drop dropbear and use openssh instead, I believe that one supports scp?

The commandline is your friend:
You can just do this (from the head, my iLiad is at home):

user@desktop: cat FILE_TO_TRANSFER | ssh root@YOUR_ILIAD_IP "cat - > /WHERE_THE_STUFF_GOES/FILE_TO_TRANSFER"

for a directory you could use something like this:

user@desktop: cd WHERE_YOUR_STUFF_IS
user@desktop: tar cO -C . DIRECTORY_TO_TRANSFER | ssh root@YOUR_ILIAD_IP "tar x --no-same-owner -C /WHERE_THE_STUFF_GOES -f -"

SINCE YOU ARE ROOT ON THE ILIAD YOU HAVE ABSOLUTE POWER AND YOU CAN REMOTELY OVERWRITE THE COMPLETE FILESYSTEM AND BRICK IT!

Thank you for observing all safety precautions
#!chris

[narve]

Thanks for lots of info! Unfortunately, I don't have windows and I am not a commandline-guru, and besides I am extremely lazy, so I think I will go for a more n00b-friendly solution

Originally Posted by Antartica

Anyway, if you want to give it a try, I attach to this message wu-ftpd compiled for the iliad (vanilla, I've not changed anything in the sources; just patched the binaries to change the configuration directory from /etc to ./cf). I've not tested it, so the usual caveats apply ;-).

Instructions: untar it into the iliad and launch run.sh :-). It's possible that you have to edit the files in the cf directory for it to be usefull (the ones there are the ones of a default debian installation, I've not even edited them so if they have paths, they'll be wrong).

Thanks, I'll try this out asap!

[k2r]

Originally Posted by narve

Thanks for lots of info! Unfortunately, I don't have windows

You seem to have a very own definition of "unfortunate" :-)
If you happen to have a Mac, you have all you need on the commandline of the terminal. (Of course, it's the same for most other unixoid systems)

#!chris

[jæd]

Originally Posted by k2r

If you happen to have a Mac..

If you have a mac you could enable the webserver and use wget to transfer the files *to* the Iliad. I'm surprised no-one has ported apache so you can do it the other way...

[narve]

Originally Posted by k2r

You seem to have a very own definition of "unfortunate" :-)
If you happen to have a Mac, you have all you need on the commandline of the terminal. (Of course, it's the same for most other unixoid systems)
#!chris

Let us not start a OS flame war here
I have all the tools I need on Windows too, including netcat etc. I just don't use the commandline enough to use netcat and the other commandline approaches efficiently. Scp would do it for me, but...

Originally Posted by jæd

If you have a mac you could enable the webserver and use wget to transfer the files *to* the Iliad. I'm surprised no-one has ported apache so you can do it the other way...

This is what I do right now -- tar the files, put them on my webserver, wget and untar them on the iLiad. But I will try the other ftp-server instead. Using e.g. FileZilla to view/put files on the iLiad would really be handy. Will post if I succeed, but it will probably be some days until I have time

[Sergeij2000]

Originally Posted by k2r

The commandline is your friend:
You can just do this (from the head, my iLiad is at home):

user@desktop: cat FILE_TO_TRANSFER | ssh root@YOUR_ILIAD_IP "cat - > /WHERE_THE_STUFF_GOES/FILE_TO_TRANSFER"

...snip

k2r, you're probably much more experienced with the ssh implementation of the iLiad than me, but if there's a ssh server running on the device, couldn't you use a tool like Fugu on the Mac - or WinSCP on a Windows machine - and simply scp the files to and from the iLiad?

cu/

Sergeij

[narve]

Originally Posted by Sergeij2000

k2r, you're probably much more experienced with the ssh implementation of the iLiad than me, but if there's a ssh server running on the device, couldn't you use a tool like Fugu on the Mac - or WinSCP on a Windows machine - and simply scp the files to and from the iLiad?

cu/

Sergeij

that is the problem -- it doesn't seem to work. Dropbear is probably a very simple ssh-implemeentation.

I tried to install wu-ftpd. The installation seems to work, but now I have to understand the totally incomprehensible config files to allow anonymous access as root...

[Sergeij2000]

Originally Posted by narve

that is the problem -- it doesn't seem to work. Dropbear is probably a very simple ssh-implemeentation.

I tried to install wu-ftpd. The installation seems to work, but now I have to understand the totally incomprehensible config files to allow anonymous access as root...

I found a 'hack' to enable scp on a Fritz!Box (which is using dropbear as well) in a German news group:

To use scp with dropbear (copy files using WinSCP) an extension to debug.cfg is necessary:

cp /etc/profile /var/tmp
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/var/tmp/bin" >> /var/tmp/profile
mount -o bind /var/tmp/profile /etc/profile
mkdir /var/tmp/bin
ln -s /var/tmp/dropbear /var/tmp/bin/scp

dropbear must exist in /var/tmp

Of course this is an example for another device, but it shows a way to convince dropbear into acting as a scp substitute.

cu/

Sergeij

[Matthijs]

For me scp works without problems on the device...
I have this symlink:
/usr/bin/scp -> /usr/sbin/dropbearmulti

Do you guys want the dropbear IPK file I use?
Install with "ipkg install"

[Sergeij2000]

Originally Posted by Matthijs

For me scp works without problems on the device...
I have this symlink:
/usr/bin/scp -> /usr/sbin/dropbearmulti

Do you guys want the dropbear IPK file I use?
Install with "ipkg install"

Thank's Matthijs,

i didn't install dropbear yet - because i'm using the iLiad for my daily work - and i don't want to brick it.

BTW: Thanks for that great device - the iLiad is really stunning. One question: can you see the full text search within pdfs on your radar?

Cheers

Sergeij

[narve]

Originally Posted by Matthijs

For me scp works without problems on the device...
I have this symlink:
/usr/bin/scp -> /usr/sbin/dropbearmulti

Do you guys want the dropbear IPK file I use?
Install with "ipkg install"

Thanks, Matthijs, but I have a (possibly stupid) question: You use this to issue scp-commands on the iLiad, right? My problem is that I don't usually have ssh-servers on my (windows) computers, so I need scp to work from my workstation _to_ the iLiad... does that work for you?

Or perhaps I should install a ssh-server on all my windows stations... sigh

[Sergeij2000]

Originally Posted by narve

Thanks, Matthijs, but I have a (possibly stupid) question: You use this to issue scp-commands on the iLiad, right? My problem is that I don't usually have ssh-servers on my (windows) computers, so I need scp to work from my workstation _to_ the iLiad... does that work for you?

Or perhaps I should install a ssh-server on all my windows stations... sigh

Hi Narve,

you only need the ssh/scp-server running on the iLiad. If you use the ipkg supplied by Mathijs to install dropbear you are on the sunny side of life, because the installer even creates the links for scp and ssh.

To copy files onto your iLiad - or to remote login into the device from your client - you need a 3rd party client software, which is available on the internet for free. For a Windows computer try to find a download location for WinSCP and PuTTY. For an Apple (Mac OS X) try to find Fugu.

WinSCP and Fugu are filemanagers very similar to the windows explorer or Apple finder, except the fact that they are accessing the files on the remote machine, e.g. the machine which is running the ssh server (which is roughly similar to a machine running a ftp server).

Once you have Mathij's dropbear running on the iLiad - and the network interface has been brought up - you can enter the ip number of the iLiad into WinSCP or Fugu on your Computer - and after providing the login password a connection is established through ssh - and you're able to access all the files inside the iLiad from your remote computer.

Take care

Sergeij

[Matthijs]

Indeed: try WinSCP. Works great.

I have ipkg install-ed this particular dropbear.ipk onto my device dozens and dozens of times, it will definately not brick your iLiad
You must of course first enable the wired or wireless interface on you iLiad before you can connect to it