AlaskaLinuxUser's Scratchpad

I would like to start off by stating the obvious. I am not an app expert. I am not an SSH expert. I am a simple guy who just needs simple, functional tools. In this case, both of these tools were well crafted by their designers, and have become indispensable tools to me in my trade.

When it comes to SSH sessions run on the go from my phone, using the onscreen keyboard, JuiceSSH is my go to app. The interface is very slick and user friendly. The font and colors are easy to read, and I love that tapping on the screen brings up the special key bar. This bar has all the regulars, like CTRL, TAB, |, etc., and really comes in handy. The screen rotation works, with scaling, so it will keep everything in view. I like it so much in fact, that it is the only app I use for SSH sessions. Except when I need to download or upload something via SCP.

SCP is of course secure copy, the ability to use the cp (copy) command over SSH to upload or download a file. Obviously, there are better ways to move files, such as SFTP. In some cases, however, it is not feasible because the server in question isn’t set up for that. As long as you can SSH to a Linux server, then you can use SCP to transfer files back and forth.

Thus enter AndFTP. This is the handiest SCP tool I have found for Android! Believe me, I’ve tried several. VX ConnectBot, for instance, does SCP file transfers, but you have to hand type the files FULL path to upload or download. That gets pretty tedious when the path is something like:

/home/alaskalinuxuser/Documents/projects/phones/compile/omni5/external/libgsm/src/rpe.c

So it is much easier to use a tool such as AndFTP. It does all of the typing for you, and presents a graphical browser interface for you to work with. While it still isn’t drag and drop, it sure is handier than typing! The interface has you select files, and then press the upload/download button at the top of the screen. Clicking on a folder opens it, and pressing the “..” buttons at the top of each directory moves you up a level in the folder tree. At the bottom of the screen, you can see it send text commands to the server. Pretty handy for a simple fellow like me.

Linux – Keep it simple.