Charlie, Not want you want to hear... read interleaved response... > Isn't it reasonable that somewhere I haven't looked there is a small, > efficient application to solve this one really simple issue?
Probably not as you are wanting to run CLIENT to CLIENT. But a really small efficient application does exist that works on all platforms and uses standard TCP/IP: FTP. BUT, it requires a server on the machine that you need to SERVE the files from. > If you use ICQ, > you can transfer a file to anyone while chatting with them...I want to do the > same thing between two machines without the chat or the central icq.com > server. Operative word SERVER. > If you use IRC, you can transfer a file directly (DCC)...I want to do > the same thing without the central IRC server to coordinate the initial > request. There's that word SERVER again. > Think _really_ simple - both guys open the VNT (Virtual Network > Transfers, with apologies to AT&T) application, Joe pics the file from a > picklist, and Sam has it. Both quit the app, and move on. Is this "VNT" application both a CLIENT and SERVER? Why not use FTP? You want maximum transparency with minimum configuration (or security). All your machines of various flavors should be Java enabled (Win any (except XP), Linux, Unix, Mac). Check out a pure Java FTP server, jFTPd, at http://jftpd.prominic.org/. Run it on all of your machines. I have no personal experience with this server but could not find any that where simpler and less platform-centric. > > (Wasn't P2P supposed to be the hot new thing? Why do all P2P schematas > _require_ a central server? Doesn't that kinda defeat the purpose?) Not really, the SERVER brings CLIENTS together and allows them to communicate. > > Oh, I will answer one specific point you raised: > > At 18:00:06 -0500 3/22/02, John Roland Elliott is rumored to have typed: > > > For my own idle curiosity, why do you prefer a little peer-to-peer utility > > to a file service on one of the boxes that has interfaces usable by all your > > platforms? > > Because it's clean in situations when machines don't need to mount an > entire filesystem. Forget the internal network with central fileserver, and > look at my friends Joe and Sam...or think about the large number of small > home networks being cobbled together today as newbies connect their machines > with wired and wireless networks _without_ fileservers. All windows -- use MS file and printer sharing. Add in Unix/Linux boxes -- run Samba and share disks to the network. Macs in the mix -- run Dave and share disks to the network. BTW - FTP between the various Unix/Linux's is trivial as they run FTP servers by default (I think Mac OSX also). > This small, simple, > impossible-to-screw-up-the-setup-since-you-just-double-click utility is so > obvious in this world I can't _believe_ I'm the first guy to see the need. Sounds like the Holy Grail. Do some research into networking and tcp, operating systems, and file systems. You will be amazed just how complicated a simple thing can really be. > (Trust me, I ain't that smart.) (Don't worry, we trust you!) > It almost _has_ to exist somewhere I haven't looked yet. Good hunting! --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the line: 'unsubscribe vnc-list' in the message BODY See also: http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/intouch.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------
