Question about file transfer to Android device

[Bret Busby]

On 23/9/25 21:21, Colin Law wrote:
> On Tue, 23 Sept 2025 at 14:08, Bret Busby <bret at busby.net> wrote:
>>
>> What I am complaining about, is that the file management is going to the
>> hardware level, when I believe that it should be operating at the
>> operating system level.
> 
> What makes you say that?  It isn't the file management that is
> failing, it is libmtp recognising the device that is the problem. It
> is the same problem that arises if a new chip is designed for wifi,
> which needs modified wifi drivers.  The new wifi chip will not work
> with an old version of the OS.  Note that the error in the log you
> posted occurred when the device was plugged in, it is nothing to do
> with file management.
> 
>>
>> If we use filezilla, or wget, they do not care what CPU or what brand
>> and model of HDD's or whether the HDD's are mechanical or electronic, at
>> the other end - they do their file operations, as far as I am aware, at
>> the operating system level, and they do not care whether the network
>> administrator at the other end, is wearing pantyhose or woollen socks,
>> or leather soled footwear or rubber soled footwear.
> 
> But the OS must understand the hardware of the HDD, or the wifi interface.
> 

The operating system at the other end, should interface with its 
hardware, not the operating system that is the remote operating system.

Does wget or filezilla contain all of the hardware drivers for all 
possible hardware components of all possible computers?

The wifi interface is irrelevant.

The connection was attempted via USB tethering - hardwired.

An operating system should be concerned with hardware drivers only for 
the hardware with which it directly interfaces.

When the operating system connects via communication protocols, it 
should not need to be concerned with hardware drivers for hardware on a 
remote device with which the initiating device is communicating, through 
its operating system, to the operating system on the remote device.

The communication between the two devices, should be solely at the 
operating system level, unless the initiating device is attempting to 
perform a direct hardware operation on the remote device, like changing 
the processing speed of the CPU on the remote device, or, checking the 
HDD on the remote device, for bad blocks.

File transfer operations between devices that have independent operating 
systems, should be dependent on only the interface between the operating 
systems, not, on the hardware of the remote device.

If you check in at an airport, to board a flight, it should not matter, 
and, the carrier airline should have no need to know, what size, brand, 
or model, of tyres are on the vehicle that conveyed you to the airport, 
or, whether the driver of the vehicle that conveyed you to the airport, 
has false teeth or permed hair. What should matter, is that, at the 
airport, you follow the correct protocols for checking in, to board the 
flight.

The need for hardware drivers for remote devices, simply for file 
transfer operations, when both devices  have independent, standalone 
operating systems, is simply an obstruction to the file transfer 
process. The file transfer process should be solely at the operating 
system level, and, not at the hardware level.

PC-DOS had a switch for its formatting command, that enabled a character 
to be written to every byte position on a HDD. For something like that, 
okay, the driver for the HDD, is needed. For remote file transfer 
operations, between independent, standalone computers, with independent, 
standalone operating systems, hardware drivers, and, machine level 
communications, should be not needed, between the devices - it should be 
done solely by communication between the operating systems of the 
devices, and, the operating system of each device, should alone, deal 
with the hardware communications for the device, unless, as stated 
above, the remote operation is a direct hardware operation, and, not 
simply a data transfer operation.

..
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
(UTC+0800)
..............