Trying to revive 'ubtd' (Bluetooth file transfer)

domubpkm

@phandersson ok. I switched to dev channel and i tried to send a (big) file from my Volla 22 with UT to a Volla with volla OS with your last update : it works now. . But i found the transfer speed was very slow. Could it be improve or not ?

projectmoon

@domubpkm there is only so much data you can push over Bluetooth. Bluetooth file transfer will always be slow (sometimes very very slow).

PhAndersson

@domubpkm said:

@phandersson ok. I switched to dev channel and i tried to send a (big) file from my Volla 22 with UT to a Volla with volla OS with your last update : it works now. .

Excellent news -- thanks for the feedback.

But i found the transfer speed was very slow. Could it be improve or not ?

Could you be a bit more specific, please? From what I read online, typical Bluetooth transfer speeds are between 1 and 3 Mbps.

When I tested the app prior to releasing v0.1.1, I measured 1.3 Mbps when pushing a large file from my (Linux) laptop to the phone (Pixel 3a).

Do you get a comparable bandwidth, or something much lower? (to measure it, I simply time the transfer and divide it by the file size).

domubpkm

@phandersson I transferred a RAR file from UT smartphone to another with Volla OS, because no function to decompress RAR on UT. Did not work directly, extension not recognized. On the other hand, workaround by transforming the RAR extension into mp4: ok, worked. Then I put the RAR extension back in, and unzipped it without any problem. Just tested this. Make Ratatoskr recognize various extensions?

domubpkm

@PhAndersson 9 minutes for 130 MB from Volla 22 UT to Volla 22 volla OS.

gpatel-fr

@domubpkm

Well, if my calculation is correct that means about 2Mbits/s, it seems quite decent for Bluetooth.

PhAndersson

@domubpkm said:

@phandersson I transferred a RAR file from UT smartphone to another with Volla OS, because no function to decompress RAR on UT. Did not work directly, extension not recognized. On the other hand, workaround by transforming the RAR extension into mp4: ok, worked. Then I put the RAR extension back in, and unzipped it without any problem. Just tested this.

Thanks for the feedback.

Make Ratatoskr recognize various extensions?

Well spotted -- the main app will accept incoming files of any type, but the SharePlugin only registers itself as handler for a limited number of file types. For no particular reason, as far as I know.

I've created the following issue to track this: https://github.com/petroniusniger/ratatoskr/issues/34

PhAndersson

@gpatel-fr said:

@domubpkm

Well, if my calculation is correct that means about 2Mbits/s, it seems quite decent for Bluetooth.

Agreed.

PhAndersson

@domubpkm said:

Make Ratatoskr recognize various extensions?

I just wanted to give a quick feedback on this request. I initially thought it would be a simple matter of registering the BT SharePlugin for all file types. It turns out it's not as easy as that: as currently written, the ContentHub component of UT doesn't allow that (although it allows it for "destinations", e.g. when using FileManager to "download" a file). To make a long story short, if I register the BT SharePlugin for all file types, it no longer appears for any file type.

I tried another approach, which was to report unknown file types as Documents. This sort of works, but it has two shortcomings:

it only works from inside Ratatoskr, i.e. you could re-share arbitrary files that are already sitting in the app cache, but you could still not use FileManager to share them directly.
now, when sharing a raw binary file from Ratatoskr, the "share with" dialog also offers unsuitable apps like the editor.

Considering this, I'm rather reluctant to implement this "half-baked" workaround. There is already an enhancement request on the ContentHub's Gitlab to "cover all file types for the Share functionality", but it's open since 2021 and doesn't seem to be getting much traction.

lduboeuf

FYI, on 24.04.2 and 26.04 obexd is now auto started

gpatel-fr

@PhAndersson said:

f I register the BT SharePlugin for all file types, it no longer appears for any file type.

you said in the GH issue (sorry for posting it here, I'm too lazy to login to the MS thingy):
' For files with unrecognized extensions (which map to ContentType.Unknown) '

it's possible to add to the file viewer new relationships between extension and contenttype, see this MR

Don't know if this quite fits your problem, but it never hurts to spread information

gpatel-fr

@lduboeuf said:

on 24.04.2 and 26.04 obexd is now auto started

I think it was backported to stable.

Keneda

@domubpkm
I guess you know but for larger files than few MB, and/or for larger sbandwich, plus all files support, you have wifi transfert.

gpatel-fr

@Keneda said:

sandwich

bandwidth I guess

Keneda

@gpatel-fr
WOW another "autocorrection" that passed my vigilance

PhAndersson

@lduboeuf said:

FYI, on 24.04.2 and 26.04 obexd is now auto started

That's good to know -- thanks!

gpatel-fr

@PhAndersson

I have just switched my phone back to 24.04-1.3 and obex is definitely started automatically.

PhAndersson

@gpatel-fr said:

@PhAndersson

I have just switched my phone back to 24.04-1.3 and obex is definitely started automatically.

Not in my case (Volla Quintus upgraded to 24.04-1.3 from 20.04/OTA-12). obexd is not started by default, but Ratatoskr is still able to start it transparently, so the end result is the same.

But the Quintus is currently unable to successfully connect over BT to my laptop (or another UT phone, for that matter) -- see Noble bluetooth issues -- so I'm a bit stuck in my plans to validate Ratatoskr on Noble at the moment.

gpatel-fr

@PhAndersson said:

(Volla Quintus upgraded to 24.04-1.3 from 20.04/OTA-12). obexd is not started by default,

that's strange.

What's the output of

systemctl --user cat obex

and

systemctl --user status obex

(obviously do this after a phone restart)

PhAndersson

@gpatel-fr said:

@PhAndersson said:

(Volla Quintus upgraded to 24.04-1.3 from 20.04/OTA-12). obexd is not started by default,

that's strange.

What's the output of

systemctl --user cat obex

# /usr/lib/systemd/user/obex.service
[Unit]
Description=Bluetooth OBEX service

[Service]
Type=dbus
BusName=org.bluez.obex
ExecStart=/usr/libexec/bluetooth/obexd

[Install]
Alias=dbus-org.bluez.obex.service

# /usr/lib/systemd/user/obex.service.d/ubuntu-touch-session.conf
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=/usr/libexec/bluetooth/obexd -P ftp,irmc,mas,pcsuite -r $HOME

and

systemctl --user status obex

â obex.service - Bluetooth OBEX service
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/user/obex.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/user/obex.service.d
             ââubuntu-touch-session.conf
     Active: inactive (dead)

I also checked 'journal' for any OBEX-related message, but there aren't any.