Hi, I'm not a total noob, but I haven't done FTP in years and I've never done it locally (i.e. decice to device) so I really don't know where to begin.

I busted my USB a while ago and I've been using Remote Desktop to transfer files, but the interface is so fricking tiny! Then I realized I could probably use FTP.

My PC is running XP. I have installed the N900FTP app and I downloaded TotalCommander on the advice of one of the threads here.

But I don't know how to proceed to get the devices connected! So any help would be appreciated. Thanks a lot to all you N900 gurus out there!

I would recommend that you install openssh on the N900 and look for an ssh/sftp client for Windows (I'm sure there are many, but I don't have one in my head at the moment).

WINSCP is the one I was thinking of!

You can install openssh and openssh menu applet on n900 (applet is usefull for on/off), on windows even filezilla supports sftp, and i would recommend that on n900, you may want to install rootsh, set root password and connect via sftp as root (so you will have full access to filesystem).

I wouldn't recommend sftp if you want higher speeds, because it's also not really fast. Ftp isn't much better to be honest... what speeds (more or less) did you get when using remote desktop?

Well I did eventually discover info on the whole SSH thing, using WinSCP (used the Big G on the open web, the maemo.org search function is just awful).

About the "on/off" applet, is that helpful? Is SSH always on by default until you turn it off, or something? I need to conserve power now that I am USB-less and on battery-only.

My remote-desktop speeds? I have no idea, because it was so unbearably difficult to transfer files, I only did it in the direst of emergencies, and then only one at a time, so I really couldn't say.

My first use of SSH I dumped about a hundred pictures in under 5 minutes, so I'm satisfied! Kills the battery, though.

Thanks to all who replied just the same, and possibly in advance if I need to come back for some tweaking advice.

@oldpmaguy,

Glad that SSH is working. Even though I seldom connect to my N900 via ssh I leave it always running. Battery consumption is essentially zero unless you actually connect (otherwise it's just sitting idle waiting for the kernel to wake it up when an incoming connection comes).

Obviously when transferring lots of files via WLAN the battery will take a hit, but that's just how things are.

Theoretically you could save battery by using ftp instead of ssh (basically: avoiding the encryption). No benchmarks at hand though.

But I would avoid that unless really necessary. With SSH you have both file transfer *and* shell access, so you can e.g. comfortably hack around your N900 using a standard screen and keyboard. Plus if you set a sufficiently complex root password it should be much safer than any ftp server you can find (obviously openssh has had, and has, vulnerabilities, but its security is infinitely more thoroughly checked than that of *any* ftp server in existance, so it's still the safest bet).

I am having a few hiccups. For one, I can't seem to acces the memory card from the SSH connection I've set up. I know that when connecting via remote desktop, the card is listed as a seperate drive letter. So I suppose I'd have to set up a new connection just for the card? I wouldn't know how to do that, any suggestions?

Also, it seems like every other time I try to connect to SSH, I get connection errors. Then I make a few random adjustments and I connect. I can't discern any pattern yet, whet might I be doing wrong? Is there some preordained order of operations I must follow?

I'm a very low-level user, so encryption levels and hacking are things I never concern myself with unless I am following someone else's instructions on how to accomplish a specific aim I have in mind. It's good to know that SSH is better that FTP though - FTP was just an idea, it got me going in the right direction at least.

The SD card is usually mounted under /media/mmc1.
MyDocs is on /home/user/MyDocs

If you connect per WLAN the connection may fail if the N900 is too "asleep" and doesn't notice the incoming connection. Normally it shouldn't happen but some routers are better than others.

In such a case, just wake the N900 up by browsing a little or provoking some network activity..

when i'm connecting to my n900 using ssh via local wlan, i do it that way (in order to not get connection error):

1. let's assume pc's ip is 192.168.1.1, n900's ip is 192.168.1.2
2. on n900, open terminal and run 3. connect from pc to n900, leaving ping on n900's still running in background

it may be quite battery-hungry though.