ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Dmitrijs Ledkovs <xnox@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 1 August 2013 13:42, Robert Park <robert.park@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 1, 2013 at 2:40 PM, Greg W <mttbrnsmls@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> ***Just to have a phone that I can USB into Ubuntu with and have it be
>> seen a mass storage device would be a big step forward in mobile phone
>> tech--even if it isn't capable of being a Desktop.
>
>
> There are phones that don't show up as mass storage when you plug them into
> computers? What do they do when you plug them in?
>

To show up as mass storage device, the phone must provide exclusive
access to storage and therefore shutdown apps  / unmount.

With devices like nexus4, where there is no separate sdcard this may
not be at all possible. Therefore instead of showing up as mass
storage device, it uses MTP to provide a way to browse, download,
upload, delete files. But it has limitations and things may not show
up where one expects them to. (e.g. upload .mp3 file into Documents/
folder, it shows up in Music/ folder once uploaded on some Android
phones. Magic =) )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Transfer_Protocol

Regards,

Dmitrijs.