How to read/write access iOS file systems on Ubuntu/Windows over USB cable

[Arlen Holder]

****************************************************************************
How to read/write access iOS file systems on Ubuntu/Windows over USB cable

Please improve so that all benefit from your efforts.
****************************************************************************
The purpose of this apnote is to test read/write access to non-jailbroken
iOS devices over USB cable using a dual-boot Windows10/Ubuntu18.04 PC.

The goal is read/write access to the iOS device's visible file system
to *both* Windows & Ubuntu, via the Linux file explorer & command line.

Note that the iTunes abomination will *never* be installed on these PCs!

Both Windows and Linux are *native* (i.e., zero additional software is
needed for full read/write access to the entire visible file system of
the iOS device. Everything is on the native operating system!)
============================================================================
Section I: Native Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop
============================================================================
0. Check what's installed natively when the iOS device is NOT connected:
a. Boot to Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios000.jpg>
b. Ensure ifuse and libimobiledevice-utils do not exist
$ which ifuse
(reports nothing)
$ which ideviceinfo
(reports nothing)
c. Note that libimobiledevice is installed, by default
$ sudo updateb
$ locate libimobiledevice
(reports stuff)

Apparently libimobiledevice is native, but not ifuse, nor are the
libimobiledevice-utils such as idevicepair & icevicesyslog, etc.

$ ifuse
Command 'ifuse' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install ifuse

$ ideviceinfo
Command 'ideviceinfo' not found, but can be installed with:
sudo apt install libimobiledevice-utils
============================================================================
1. Plug in an iOS device either before or after Ubuntu 18.04 has booted:
a. When you plug in the iPad for the first time, the iPad will ask:
"Trust this computer?"
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios010.jpg>
Note: You won't see this message again after the first time.
Note that when you plug into Windows, you get a different message:
"Allow this device to access photos and videos?"
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios020.jpg>
b. Notice two new icons show up on the desktop:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios030.jpg>
- iPad [a digital SLR icon]
(DCIM, read only, no thumbs)
- Documents on myipad [a monitor & keyboard icon]
(private space of the "good" apps, read/write, no thumbs)
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios040.jpg>
c. Notice there is no Downloads yet
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios050.jpg>
d. Notice there are no thumbnails yet
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios060.jpg>
e. Notice you can only read from the DCIM directory tree.
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios070.jpg>
f. Notice you can write to the private space of the good apps
(Namely: Adobe Acrobat, Excel, FileExplorer, GarageBand,
iMovie, Keynote, MFExplorer, MinimaList, NewsTapLite, Numbers,
Pages, PowerPoint, QuickSupport, RManager, SMBManager, Topo Reader,
VLC, Voice Recorder, WiFi HD, Word)
<iosxxx>
g. Determine your iOS device 40-hex-character serial number:
$ dmesg|grep SerialNumber:
SerialNumber: 6ee7ab2fa479394be85da7cb4aefc5d8b11b6f82
<iosxxx>
Note:
Rightclick in the VLC directory & select "Open in Terminal".
$ pwd
/run/user/1000/gvfs/afc:hose=<40char>,port=3/org.videolan.vlc-ios
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios170.jpg>

Note: You can now copy any iOS device file over to Ubuntu or Windows.
Caveat: See addendum on Ubuntu mounting of Windows partitions below.
============================================================================
2. Determine the iOS name of the folders that you want read/write access
to:
a. Put your mouse cursor in "Documents on myipad" & press <Control+L>
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios080.jpg>
b. This reports the true path to the "Documents on myipad" folder:
afc://6ee7ab2fa479394be85da7cb4aefc5d8b11b6f82
afc://<40-hex-character-unique-serial-number>:3/
Note: If you put it in VLC you get
afc://6ee7ab2fa479394be85da7cb4aefc5d8b11b6f82:3/org.videolan.vlc-ios
c. Put your mouse cursor in DCIM and press control L
d. This reports the true path to the "DCIM" folder:
gphoto2://%5Busb%3A001,002%5D/DCIM
Note: If you put it in 101Apple you get
gphoto2://%5Busb%3A001,002%5D/DCIM/101APPLE

Note: You can now copy any iOS device file over to Ubuntu or Windows.
Caveat: See addendum on Ubuntu automounting of Windows partitions.
============================================================================
3. Enable write access to both the DCIM & Downloads folders (among others):
a. Remove the ":3/" and put it in the space that Control L was in.
afc://6ee7ab2fa479394be85da7cb4aefc5d8b11b6f82
b. Notice a *new* Desktop icon shows up, named "myipad".
c. Notice you now have read/writeaccess to DCIM & Downloads (plus
others).
Namely: Books,DCIM,Downloads,iMazing,iTunes_Control,MediaAnalysis,
PhotoData,Photos,PublicStaging,Purchases
d. Notice that the "iPad" mount is still read only (which doesn't
matter).
e. Notice that you have no thumbnails anywhere.

Note: Rightclick in the DCIM directory & select "Open in Terminal".
$ pwd
/run/user/1000/gvfs/gphoto2:hose=%5Busb%3A001%2C002%5D/DCIM

Note: You can now copy any iOS device file over to Ubuntu or Windows.
Caveat: See addendum on Ubuntu mounting of Windows partitions below.
============================================================================
Section II: Adding ifuse & libimobiledevice-info to Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop

NOTE: This is optional! Adding these only adds minor capabilities that
wasn't already in the native operating system commands above.
============================================================================
4. Install the ifuse iOS file system to run in the background on Ubuntu:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios100.jpg>
a. Optionally, update and upgrade your system:
$ sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios090.jpg>
b. Install the ifuse iOS file system on Ubuntu:
$ sudo apt install ifuse
c. Look at the ifuse help
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios110.jpg>
$ which ifuse
/usr/bin/ifuse
$ ifuse --help
Usage: ifuse MOUNTPOINT [OPTIONS]
Mount directories of an iOS device locally using fuse.
-o === mount options
-u === mount specific device by its 40-digit device UDID
-d === enable libimobiledevice communication debugging
-- root === mount root file system (jailbroken device required)
-- documents APPID === mount 'Documents' folder of identified app
-- container APPID === mount sandbox root of identified app
============================================================================
5. EXAMPLE 1: Mount the entire iOS visible file system on Ubuntu:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios120.jpg>
a. Create a mount point directory for your iOS files
$ mkdir -p $HOME/data/iosfs
b. Access the iOS device via $HOME/data/iosfs
$ ifuse $HOME/data/iosfs
c. This immediately puts an "iosfs" icon on the Desktop.
d. Notice you have write access to the iOS Downloads & DCIM (& others).
Namely: Books,DCIM,Downloads,iMazing,iTunes_Control,MediaAnalysis,
PhotoData,Photos,PublicStaging,Purchases
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios130.jpg>
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios140.jpg>
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios150.jpg>
e. Notice you now have thumbnails.
f. Notice you have all the power of Linux, on your iOS device now.

To unmount:
$ fusermount -u $HOME/data/iosfs
============================================================================
6. EXAMPLE 2: Mount the iOS device by its unique 40-hex-character UDID:
a. Copy the serial number into your buffer
$ dmesg | grep SerialNumber:
b. Mount the iOS device by that serial number UDID
$ mkdir $HOME/data/ipad
$ ifuse $HOME/data/ipad -u 6ee7ab2fa479394be85da7cb4aefc5d8b11b6f82
c. This immediately puts an "iosfs" icon on the Desktop.
d. Notice you have write access to the iOS Downloads & DCIM (& others).
Namely: Books,DCIM,Downloads,iMazing,iTunes_Control,MediaAnalysis,
PhotoData,Photos,PublicStaging,Purchases
e. Notice you now have thumbnails.
f. Notice you have all the power of Linux, on your iOS device now.

To unmount:
$ fusermount -u $HOME/data/ipad
============================================================================
7. EXAMPLE 3: Mount an iOS application's "documents" folder by its APPID:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios160.jpg>
$ mkdir $HOME/data/vlc_documents
$ ifuse $HOME/data/vlc_documents --documents org.videolan.vlc-ios

This puts an icon named "vlc_documents" on your desktop, which is
read/write access, with thumbnails, to the iOS VLC documents directory.
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios180.jpg>

To unmount:
$ fusermount -u $HOME/data/vlc_documents
============================================================================
8. Install libimobiledevice-utils:
$ sudo apt install libimobiledevice-utils
============================================================================
9. EXAMPLE 4:
$ ideviceinfo -d
REPORTS copious information about that connected iOS device.

$ idevicesyslog
REPORTS the system log of the iOS device (extremely verbose output!).
============================================================================
10. Please suggest further useful examples based on your experiences.
============================================================================
Caveat:

If you leave Windows 10 at the default setting of fast startup,
then Ubuntu will mount the entire Windows file system as read only
(apparently because fast startup is a form of hibernation).

To automatically mount the entire Windows filesystem as read/write,
simply turn off fast startup in the Windows 10 settings:

Start > Settings > System > Power & sleep > Related settings
> Additional power settings > Choose what the power button does >
or (depending on your number of buttons)
> Additional power settings > Choose what the power buttons do >
> Change settings that are currently unavailable

Change from:
[x]Turn on fast startup (recommended)
This helps start your PC faster after shutdown. Restart isn't affected.
[x]Sleep (Show in Power menu.)
[_]Hibernate (Show in Power menu.)
[x]Hibernate (Show in Power menu.)
[x]Lock (Show in account picture menu.)

Change to:
[_]Turn on fast startup (recommended)
This helps start your PC faster after shutdown. Restart isn't affected.
[_]Sleep (Show in Power menu.)
[_]Hibernate (Show in Power menu.)
[_]Hibernate (Show in Power menu.)
[_]Lock (Show in account picture menu.)

And then press the "Save changes" button.
============================================================================
============================================================================

[sms]

On 7/3/2018 2:59 AM, Arlen Holder wrote:
> ****************************************************************************
> How to read/write access iOS file systems on Ubuntu/Windows over USB cable

This would be extremely useful. But I am stuck.


<snip>

> $ sudo updateb


Doesn't work. Do you mean "sudo updatedb"?

<snip>

> 1. Plug in an iOS device either before or after Ubuntu 18.04 has booted:
> a. When you plug in the iPad for the first time, the iPad will ask:
> "Trust this computer?"
> <http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios010.jpg>
> Note: You won't see this message again after the first time.

Yes you will. Every time you plug in the iPad.

<snip>

> Note:
> Rightclick in the VLC directory & select "Open in Terminal".
> $ pwd
> /run/user/1000/gvfs/afc:hose=<40char>,port=3/org.videolan.vlc-ios
> <http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios170.jpg>

This is unclear. Do you mean open the VLC directory on the iPad using
Ubuntu? I don't see it. In Linux, it opens the iPad in "Shotwell." Where
is the VLC directory? Do you mean VLC on the iPad or VLC on Ubuntu?

<snip> (stuck here)

[Arlen Holder]

On 3 Jul 2018 09:59:26 GMT, Arlen Holder wrote:

> 3. Enable write access to both the DCIM & Downloads folders (among others):
> a. Remove the ":3/" and put it in the space that Control L was in.
> afc://6ee7ab2fa479394be85da7cb4aefc5d8b11b6f82
> b. Notice a *new* Desktop icon shows up, named "myipad".
> c. Notice you now have read/writeaccess to DCIM & Downloads (plus
> others).

I should correct a few things that I had forgotten to note:
a. The "myipad" just happens to be the name of my iOS device;, and,
b. The serial number above is scrambled, but that's what it looks like.
(It's 40 hex characters where yours *will* be different!)

Notice with this information you have full access to both Windows & Linux
to the entire visible file system on the iOS device:
1. App storage space (read/write access on both Windows & Linux)
2. DCIM photo/video storage space (read/write on both Windows & Linux)
3. Downloads storage space (read/write on both Windows & Linux)
etc.

Note that *nothing* is non-native on the Windows & Linux operating systems
except for the USB cable and the iOS device!

The only reason for adding ifuse & libimobiledevice-utils was:
A. Adding ifuse simply makes the entire iOS device a convenient directory
B. Adding libimobiledevice-utils gives access to protected iOS syslogs

Note: ifuse is basically iOS running on Linux in the background.

[nospam]

In article <phg7uv$skj$1...@dont-email.me>, sms

<scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:

> > <http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios010.jpg>
> > Note: You won't see this message again after the first time.
>
> Yes you will. Every time you plug in the iPad.

nope. once trusted, it no longer appears.

if it's repeatedly appearing, a pair token was not properly generated.

[Arlen Holder]

On 3 Jul 2018 16:23:57 GMT, sms wrote:

> Doesn't work. Do you mean "sudo updatedb"?

Hi sms,

Ah, yes. That's a typo! (Thanks for catching that!)

I love that you're one of the few people on the iOS ng who is purposefully
helpful so I thank you very much for taking the time to run the tutorial to
find any errors.

I ran the setup steps on two different computers, but you *still* caught
errors of omission (and a typo!) in my writeup, so I very much appreciate
that you *tested* the steps yourself!

Kudos to you for being intelligent and daring!

We posted within *seconds* of each other, where I would have corrected that
at the same time had I seen it.

Yes. You are correct!

Thank you, by the way, for being one of the rare iOS users who is
technically competent enough to set up a dual-boot Linux with Windows.

As for the updatedb, it's the *greatest command on the planet!*.

It's a super-fast "find" command, where it keeps a list of all the files on
your system (you can run the updatedb in the crontab for example).

Then you can "locate" anything, in seconds, where the power of the pipe
shows up as you grep out stuff you don't want.

For example,
locate libimobiledevice | grep -v tmp

>
> <snip>
>
>> 1. Plug in an iOS device either before or after Ubuntu 18.04 has booted:
>> a. When you plug in the iPad for the first time, the iPad will ask:
>> "Trust this computer?"
>> <http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios010.jpg>
>> Note: You won't see this message again after the first time.
>
> Yes you will. Every time you plug in the iPad.

Ah, I forgot to make it clear that *everyone thinks that* but they're
wrong. At least in my experience, they're wrong.

So that's an error of omission that I didn't make clear in the note!

That's one reason I had to start from scratch and put Linux on a second PC
because I was shocked that it only asked that question once on Linux.

I've been using both PCs with the iOS device, and, so far, out of many
scores of connections the "Trust" question comes up only once, which is the
first time you connect the iOS device to that computer.

On the other hand, the message to "Allow" comes up *every single time* you
connect that iOS device to Windows!

Please let me know if your experience isn't the same as mine is, as I was
surprised, since I was very used to the annoying Windows "allow" message
always popping up, that the Linux "trust" message only came up once, like
it should, and then never came up again (thank God).

>
> <snip>
>
>> Note:
>> Rightclick in the VLC directory & select "Open in Terminal".
>> $ pwd
>> /run/user/1000/gvfs/afc:hose=<40char>,port=3/org.videolan.vlc-ios
>> <http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios170.jpg>
>
> This is unclear. Do you mean open the VLC directory on the iPad using
> Ubuntu? I don't see it. In Linux, it opens the iPad in "Shotwell." Where
> is the VLC directory? Do you mean VLC on the iPad or VLC on Ubuntu?
>
> <snip> (stuck here)

Ah. Another great point!

Please do let me know what's "unclear" as I can provide more screenshots
(the screenshots were driving me nuts because I had to edit each one and I
kept testing the steps over and over again, so they got out of sequence).

Plus, some things happen only once and then they become the default.

You are showing me that I need to add a clarification step!

And I need to make it clear that once you accept the "trust" message on the
iOS device, you *never* need to touch the iOS device again for anything in
the tutorial.

I also need to make it clear that some of the apps on the iOS device you
see in the screenshots are not native to iOS. I added them (like the Topo
Map and VLC).

So, on iOS, you have to first install the VLC freeware!
<https://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-ios.html>
(Get it while you can because it disappeared once, as I recall.)

Once you install that VLC freeware on the iOS device, then when you plug in
the iOS device to the Windows, you will *not* have any access to that VLC
storage space - but - when you boot to Linux - you will have full
point-and-click read/write access to that VLC storage space!

So you can just slide huge movies back and forth between Windows/Linux and
the iOS device (you'll note I left the extensions there so people could see
that the various container formats worked fine for me, such as mkv and avi,
as did mp4). Also you'll note I put a bunch of srt subtitle files, which
work just fine simply copying them over to VLC's storage space.

This is *fast* since it's over USB.

And notice that Ubuntu has *full access* to Window's entire file system
(yes Paul, I know that Microsoft recently screwed up the System32 directory
about a month or two ago - but that's a technical detail that won't affect
users here).

If the user has any movie that they want to put into VLC's private space,
then they simply slide that movie from the Windows or Linux file system,
and it goes right into the VLC storage space. I've been doing this for
years, but I just never wrote it up for others to benefit.

The one minor OPTIONAL added step on the iOS device is that I'm extremely
well organized, so, I don't want all my movies at the top level. So once I
have the movies on VLC, I use the VLC "edit" GUI to put them in a dozen
folders, e.g., mainstream, comedy, documentary, action, etc. since most of
the movies are for the grandkids to enjoy (I don't generally watch movies).

BTW, it's my humble opinion to avoid Shotwell like you'd avoid the Bubonic
Plague, so, I'll also make a note about that! :)

I appreciate that you're a fellow SF Bay Area technophile who is one of the
rare folks on the iOS ngs who is technically competent *and* purposefully
helpful!

Thank you for testing out the apnote and for making suggestions, all of
which are fair and reasonable!

[nospam]

In article <phg9ie$haf$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

> As for the updatedb, it's the *greatest command on the planet!*.

it isn't.

> It's a super-fast "find" command, where it keeps a list of all the files on
> your system (you can run the updatedb in the crontab for example).

there are much faster solutions.

[Arlen Holder]

On 3 Jul 2018 16:32:05 GMT, nospam wrote:

>> Yes you will. Every time you plug in the iPad.
>
> nope. once trusted, it no longer appears.
>
> if it's repeatedly appearing, a pair token was not properly generated.

Hi nospam,

Thank you for confirming my observation that the "trust" message appears to
come up only once in the lifetime of the Linux OS (thank God), while the
annoying "allow" message comes up every single time you connect to Windows.

Both Windows & Ubuntu are the latest available, and both are using native
software only (i.e., no iTunes or apple device drivers), so the operation
may or may not be different for those who install Apple software (as you
are aware, Apple software is forbidden on my desktops for good reasons that
go back probably a decade or more in experience).

As you know, this iPad is running 11.2.6, as it's the $300 128GB iPad from
Costco that I wrote up the tutorial for offline routing in Google Maps sans
GPS (using only the internal WiFi access points in the offline Google Maps
database!) throughout San Jose.

(The iPad has so much memory, I use it as a USB flash drive when I want to
transfer huge files from one PC to another - where it's nice that I don't
have to "unmount" it on Windows like normal USB flash drives have to be
unmounted on Windows - which is odd - as I don't understand why we don't
have to unmount an iOS device on Windows but we have to unmount a dumb USB
stick on Windows - and yet - we don't have to unmount either on
Linux??????)
<That's a topic for a different thread as I haven't researched why.>

As you're well aware, I've been connecting my iOS device to Ubuntu for
years, where each iOS update risks breaking everything that was working, as
you're well aware of, since I started doing this way back in ioS 7.0.0 days
where just moving from iOS 7.0.0 to ios 7.0.1 broke connectivity to
millions of Linux computers).

Since I had a working system, I wanted to create a new system from scratch,
so that I could see what happens the first time we connect - which is where
your helpful confirmation matches my observation that the "trust" message
comes up once, and only once (thank God).

It should be noted that I purposefully added a brand new Ubuntu to a brand
new Windows, just so that I could test without "ifuse" (which is basically
iOS running on Linux) and without "libimobiledevice-utils" (which only add
visibility into the iOS private syslogs in the apnote).

It's interesting, but I had more problems getting Ubuntu up and running
than I did getting iOS to work seamlessly with Ubuntu, as these two threads
attest to, given that I tested this on two brand new systems to be sure of
the steps and sequence (one has libimobiledevice-utils installed first, the
other has ifuse installed first - just to test the difference):

PC2 issues installing Ubuntu dual-boot with Windows 10:
Why doesn't Ubuntu 18.04 ask to install next to Windows 10 Pro single HDD as a dual boot?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.os.linux/D7E7FQ1NLNk[1-25]>
PC2 issues installing Ubuntu dual-boot with Windows 10:
Have you ever seen a Grub that wouldn't respond to the keyboard?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.os.linux/yQmtemiHcVk>

Thanks nospam, for the purposefully helpful confirmation on the "trust"
message (which isn't intuitive) - where I'll also add a few lines to the
apnote to explain the version of the operating systems that I'm running on
the three devices (iOS, Windows, and Ubuntu).

[nospam]

In article <phgb12$jh1$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

>
> >> Yes you will. Every time you plug in the iPad.
> >
> > nope. once trusted, it no longer appears.
> >
> > if it's repeatedly appearing, a pair token was not properly generated.
>

> Thank you for confirming my observation that the "trust" message appears to
> come up only once in the lifetime of the Linux OS (thank God), while the
> annoying "allow" message comes up every single time you connect to Windows.

i did not confirm anything you may have supposedly seen.

i explained what the trust alert is for. once the ios device is trusted
and a pair token generated, the alert will no longer appear. until
then, it will.

> Both Windows & Ubuntu are the latest available, and both are using native
> software only (i.e., no iTunes or apple device drivers),

in other words, *not* native software, but rather using an unknown
third party driver that is known to be incomplete and very buggy.

> so the operation
> may or may not be different for those who install Apple software (as you
> are aware, Apple software is forbidden on my desktops for good reasons that
> go back probably a decade or more in experience).

that reason being sheer ignorance.

[William Unruh]

On 2018-07-03, Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
> On 3 Jul 2018 16:32:05 GMT, nospam wrote:

...

> (The iPad has so much memory, I use it as a USB flash drive when I want to
> transfer huge files from one PC to another - where it's nice that I don't
> have to "unmount" it on Windows like normal USB flash drives have to be
> unmounted on Windows - which is odd - as I don't understand why we don't
> have to unmount an iOS device on Windows but we have to unmount a dumb USB
> stick on Windows - and yet - we don't have to unmount either on
> Linux??????)

It is always a good idea to unmount usb sticks as well. That makes sure that
all writes have finished, and the filesystem on the usb stick has been synced
and completed. You can cause damage to what is on the stick if you do not do so.

[Arlen Holder]

On 3 Jul 2018 19:32:20 GMT, William Unruh wrote:

> It is always a good idea to unmount usb sticks as well. That makes sure that
> all writes have finished, and the filesystem on the usb stick has been synced
> and completed. You can cause damage to what is on the stick if you do not do so

Thanks for explaining that USB sticks "should" be unmounted on Linux as
well as on Windows (where I've had problems on Windows ignoring that step,
and it bit me hard, so I learned to always unmount on Windows).

Since I use the iOS device, essentially, as a 128GB flash drive...

*Does anyone know if the iOS device should be formally unmounted too?*

(I haven't had any problems just pulling the plug, assuming all writes were
done, which is a given.)

For example, I can easily mount the entire visible iOS file system:
$ ifuse $HOME/data/iosfs

But I often don't bother unmounting before pulling the plug or rebooting:
$ fusermount -u $HOME/data/iosfs

Anyone know if that's a disaster waiting to happen?
Or if it's just fine (as it seems to be for me in practice).

[Arlen Holder]

On 3 Jul 2018 17:27:49 GMT, nospam wrote:

>> Both Windows & Ubuntu are the latest available, and both are using native
>> software only (i.e., no iTunes or apple device drivers),
>
> in other words, *not* native software, but rather using an unknown
> third party driver that is known to be incomplete and very buggy.

Hi nospam,

I don't play silly semantic games.

I simply try to learn, and then to help others learn, and then to learn
from what others can help us all learn.

It's really that simple.

The apnote is purposefully divided into two sections, where the first
section very clearly states that NOTHING was added to the native
installation.

Nothing.

How much of nothing are you disputing?
In fact, I went to a lot of trouble to test this out on a brand new Windows
10 and Ubuntu dual boot setup, where NOTHING was added after the initial
installation.

Where are you getting this idea that it's not all native software?
(Are you playing silly semantic games about the word "native" perhaps?)

Note that the second section of the apnote was purposefully tested only
after I tested the first section, where in the second section I added both
ifuse and libimobiledevice-utils to Ubuntu 18.04.

In the first PC, I added libimobiledevice-utils first, and then ifuse; in
the second PC I switched the order (just in case it mattered - but it
didn't).

What I concluded was that you don't need either ifuse nor
libimobiledevice-utils in order to have full read/write access to the
visible file system of the non-jailbroken iOS device.

NOTE: If the iOS device is jailbroken, then that expands what the visible
file system will contain - but all my tests were on non-jailbroken devices.

Notice that, if you don't use ifuse, then you simply need to know the hint
of using "Control+L" and then removing the colon, slash, and port number
from the afc://<40-digit device UDID> descriptor.

I'll repeat since you either didn't understand, or you're just playing
silly semantic games, that NOTHING needs to be added to Ubuntu in order to
have full read/write access to the visible file system as noted in the
apnote.

If you add ifuse, then it's just easier to access since the entire iOS
device becomes a directory on your hard drive, where the command to add
ifuse is so simple that it's not a big deal if you want to add it:

$ sudo apt install ifuse

One advantage of using ifuse (which is said to be the iOS file system
running on Linux) is that you get thumbnails, but I don't find thumbnails
all that useful so the reason you'd want ifuse is that you'd want an easier
path to your iOS device (although it's mounted in /media by default anyway
so, again, ifuse isn't needed - it's just nice to have).

I don't really know all the commands that libimobiledevice-utils provides,
as I tested a few but only found the two I showed to be useful:
$ ideviceinfo -d (reports lots of system statistics)
$ idevicesyslog (reports the running system log)

I'm hoping someone on these newsgroups knows of more power that is inherent
in the optional libimobiledevice-utils because the former command is
useful, once, but after that, it reports the same things and the latter
command is only useful if you're debugging something on the iOS device.

Given that, I have three recommendations:
1. You don't need to install anything to have full read/write access
2. But installing & using ifuse is definitely worth the effort,
3. But I wouldn't install or use libimobiledevice-utils at this point

I did have a problem getting ifuse to mount the "container", so if anyone
knows how to mount a "container" using ifuse, that would be helpful.

This failed (I don't know why yet as I never mounted a "container" before):
$ mkdir $HOME/data/vlc_container
$ ifuse $HOME/data/vlc_container --container org.videolan.vlc-ios

Also, if someone knows more than I do about the versatility of
libimobiledevice-utils, I would LOVE for them to propose some examples of
how to use it to our advantage!

That way, we all learn from the experiences of each other.

[nospam]

In article <phgoh7$9ff$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

>
> Anyone know if that's a disaster waiting to happen?
> Or if it's just fine (as it seems to be for me in practice).

anything you do is a disaster waiting to happen.

[Arlen Holder]

On 3 Jul 2018 16:59:08 GMT, nospam wrote:

> there are much faster solutions.

This is pretty darn fast!

$ locate ifuse | grep md5
Instantly reports: /var/lib/dpkg/info/ifuse.md5sums

[nospam]

In article <phgpnh$bna$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

> I don't play silly semantic games.

yes you do. it's all you do. you also snip to alter context. you also
repeatedly lie about what people said or did not say.

> I simply try to learn, and then to help others learn, and then to learn
> from what others can help us all learn.

bullshit. you aren't interested in learning.

> Where are you getting this idea that it's not all native software?

libimobiledevice is third party software which must be installed by the
user and is by definition is not native.

it is also incomplete and buggy and is very likely to break (again)
with usb restricted mode.

all of the problems you encounter are due to either it and/or your lack
of understanding about what it is you're doing.

meanwhile, the rest of the world has no problems using ios devices with
their computers.

[Arlen Holder]

On 3 Jul 2018 21:32:28 GMT, nospam wrote:

> anything you do is a disaster waiting to happen.

*You are a worthless troll, nospam*

It was shocking that you had one post in this thread which appeared to be
purposefully helpful - even as you provided zero added value - but then you
instantly fell into your old trollish ways (since all you can do, is
troll).

Someday, you may actually provide value - but certainly not today.

Actually, you may never provide any technical value because you don't know
iOS, you don't know Windows, you don't know Android, and you don't know
Linux.

You prove this, since your record is worse than that of the monkey.

You just play make believe.

The proof is that you *never* add any technical value to any thread.
You can't.

There are only about four or five iOS users on the iOS ng that have the
capacity to add value, and you're not one of them (sms is, thank God).

*All you _can_ do, nospam, is troll.*
--
This is my last response to you in this thread because you waste our time.

[nospam]

In article <phgrg5$eqc$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

>
> Someday, you may actually provide value - but certainly not today.

standard boilerplate response when you've been caught.

[William Unruh]

On 2018-07-03, Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

And this rant (30 times longer than his) adds what to the conversation?

[Arlen Holder]

On 4 Jul 2018 00:40:01 GMT, William Unruh wrote:

> And this rant (30 times longer than his) adds what to the conversation?

Hi William Unruh,

You bring up a good point, so I'll ignore nospam as he's always wrong
anyway because he doesn't know iOS, nor Ubuntu, and he always guesses
anyway, so he's less accurate than the monkey is.

Meanwhile, I only speak verifiable easily documented facts.

Moving forward, and always adding value, and noting that documentation is a
bitch, I took the suggestions by "sms" to heart, where I proved just now
that the native Apple GarageBand app works just as well as did VLC.

Here, for everyone to benefit from the tribal knowledge that sms requested,
is what I just proved and documented, using the same techniques on the
native GarageBand software and an add-on free iOS Voice Recorder by Voz:
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voice-recorder-voz/id1336782987>

When you plug in the iOS device to Ubuntu, you get two icons:
iPad (Camera) & "Documents on myipad" (App Space)
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps01.jpg>

The well-behaved apps show up in the "Documents" hierarchy:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps02.jpg>

One of those is the Voz "Voice Recorder" where we will copy a file to:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps03.jpg>

Note that "Control+L" works in Voice Recorder as well as it did for VLC:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps04.jpg>

Let's get an audio file from the Windows 10 partition:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps05.jpg>

We should find audio files in Windows 10 "Windows\Media":
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps06.jpg>

Let's slide the first audio file "Alarm01.wav" from Win10 to Ubuntu:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps07.jpg>

Now let's slide that file into the "Voice Recorder" Document space:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps08.jpg>

Let's slide that file into the Apple "GarageBand" Document space:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps09.jpg>

On the iOS device, let's open up the homescreen "Audio" folder:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps10.jpg>

Let's open up the native Apple GarageBand app in iOS:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps11.jpg>

Notice the Apple GarageBand plays that Windows "Alarm01.wav" file on iOS:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps12.jpg>

Notice the Voz Voice Recorder plays that Windows "Alarm01.wav" file on iOS:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps13.jpg>

In summary, this proves that the well-behaved apps (in this case, Apple
GarageBand, Voz Voice Recorder, and VideoLAN VLC) allow read/write access
to their document space to/from Windows/Linux using the methods outlined in
this thread.

Note: Android file system access "just works" so none of this is needed.

[Arlen Holder]

On 3 Jul 2018 16:28:56 GMT, Arlen Holder wrote:

> I should correct a few things that I had forgotten to note:
> a. The "myipad" just happens to be the name of my iOS device;, and,
> b. The serial number above is scrambled, but that's what it looks like.
> (It's 40 hex characters where yours *will* be different!)

I thank sms for testing the apnote and for asking clarification questions!

In another post in this thread, I just now documented for sms that the
Linux ability to read and write to the iOS file system "just works",
without any need for ancillary software (e.g., there's no need for the
iTunes abomination).

That test worked flawlessly - summarized by:
a. Boot to Ubuntu & connect the iOS device to Linux via USB
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps02.jpg>
b. Slide a test C:\Windows\Media\Alarm01.wav file to the iOS device
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps06.jpg>
c. Play that Windows file in GarageBand & in Voz Voice Recorder on iOS
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps12.jpg>

a. Apple Garage Band
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/garageband/id408709785>
b. Voz Voice Recorder
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voice-recorder-voz/id1336782987>

While documenting that test for sms, I ran a few more screenshots to
improve the original apnote's images.

Here is the trust message when you 1st plug the iOS device into Linux:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_trust01.jpg>

Here is the allow messge you always get when you plug iOS into Windows:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_trust02.jpg>

Here is the output from "dmesg | grep serialNumber:" on Ubuntu:
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_serial01.jpg>

I thank sms as being one of the rare iOS users who has both the skills and
purposefully helpful intent to test out the apnote so that he too can copy
any number of huge files from Windows/Linux to iOS (both ways) over USB
without needing either the iTunes abomination or any additional software
that isn't already installed during the typical installation process.

Note that I only have old desktops, with older USB ports, but even so, a
typical 2-hour 1080p movie takes less than about 60 seconds to copy to iOS.

NOTE: I'm not sure what is a good resolution for an iOS device such as my
$300 Costco 128GB iPad - so if you have advice as to what resolution is
best, let me know as we have plenty of choices where I generally default to
720p or 1080p when ripping DVD/BlueRay discs; but all values are available.

What is the best that the $300 128GB 9.7" 2017 iOS iPad can play anyway?

[nospam]

In article <phh96i$7nq$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

> What is the best that the $300 128GB 9.7" 2017 iOS iPad can play anyway?

4k, which can also be shot and edited on the device.

of course, that only matters with an external 4k display.

[Jasen Betts]

On 2018-07-03, Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

> On 3 Jul 2018 17:27:49 GMT, nospam wrote:
>
>>> Both Windows & Ubuntu are the latest available, and both are using native
>>> software only (i.e., no iTunes or apple device drivers),
>>
>> in other words, *not* native software, but rather using an unknown
>> third party driver that is known to be incomplete and very buggy.
>
> Hi nospam,
>
> I don't play silly semantic games.
>
> I simply try to learn, and then to help others learn, and then to learn
> from what others can help us all learn.

I suggest drop this thread, and try again without crossposting
to different operating system newsgroups.

--
ت

[JF Mezei]

On 2018-07-03 17:06, Arlen Holder wrote:

> For example, I can easily mount the entire visible iOS file system:
> $ ifuse $HOME/data/iosfs

I get how you can have a linux driver/app that creates a Linux disk that
provides access to a remote device.

But you provide no explanation on how the IOS device provides access. An
app on IOS is essentially rooted to its own file system and does not
have access to the rest of the device unless it uses APIs to access
stuff it has been specifically authorized to access,

And if you jailbreak your iPhone, you could use NFS or another standard
file access protocol. So what protocol does this "ifuse" thing use ?

[Arlen Holder]

On 4 Jul 2018 06:46:55 GMT, Jasen Betts wrote:

> I suggest drop this thread, and try again without crossposting
> to different operating system newsgroups.

The goal of every tutorial is to improve our combined knowledge, mine
included, where, in a cross-platform problem set, there are purposefully
helpful people (like sms on iOS & Paul on Windows) who can add value.

To that end, for example, sms (from the iOS ng) has already improved the
tutorial, simply by reading it with a purposefully helpful critical
intelligent mindset (whereas the trolls like nospam can't do that).

And JF Mezei, also from the iOS ng, asked great questions, also showing
purposefully helpful intent and critical thought processes.

The fact is that this issue is a cross-platform issue, and there's no way
around that.

The overall goal, of course, is simplicity & power:
a. You connect an iOS device via USB
b. And that "mounts" everything you need
c. So you can slide anything between the iOS device & Windows & Linux

The problem with multiposts on cross-platform issues is that you end up
with half the thread being about the multipost concept itself.

That is, many people deplore multiposts, where the worthless trolls & huge
numbers of worthless chitchatters have a field day the instant they notice
any header anomaly (since they can't ever add any on-topic technical value
but they still feel the urge to post their worthless drivel).

I work a lot on cross-platform issues, where sometimes, purposefully
helpful *&* knowledgeable people suggest better methods and commands (as
you have done with mtools in your linux-only post).
<http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/precise/man1/mtools.1.html>

IMHO, in order to *improve* our skills in linking Ubuntu + Windows + iOS,
the fact is that we'll *need* the combined skills of the purposefully
helpful & knowledgeable folks on each group.

For example, these are three areas of potential improvement:

1: I can't seem to mount an iOS-app-based "container" using ifuse, so I
don't have any experience with what a container even means to iOS - where
maybe that confers some kind of advantage (what's an iOS container
anyway?).

2: And, I can't find anything exceptionally useful out of
libimobiledevice-utils, so, it just seems like it's not needed - and yet -
the net is full of people using it (admittedly mostly on older Linuxes).

3: And, there may be other neat things you can do with the keyboard,
besides Control+L (which immediately gives you write permission - so -
that's pretty neat but maybe other neat stuff exists!).

4: And, maybe there's a Windows/Linux cross-platform expert who can give us
a way around having to turn off the fastboot default on Windows in order to
get Ubuntu to mount all the Windows partitions as read/write.

All I'm asking of the combined Linux + Windows + iOS experts is:
a. Test the tutorial to ensure it works, for you, and,
b. IMPROVE the tutorial using the skills that you currently have.

[Lewis]

In message <phj26j$v4s$1...@news.mixmin.net> Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
> The fact is that

You are a nym-shifting (or is that nymshitting?) troll who has no
interest in learning anything and continues the same pattern of "asking"
a question you have no interest in answering, simply using it as a prybar
to spew your rabid crap.

> this issue is a cross-platform issue, and there's no way around that.

No, it is not. iOS does not support Linux of any kind.

> The overall goal, of course, is simplicity & power:
> a. You connect an iOS device via USB
> b. And that "mounts" everything you need

That will never ever happen on any platform.

--
Love is strange and you have to learn to take the crunchy with the
smooth I suppose

[B...@onramp.net]

On Wed, 4 Jul 2018 18:04:06 -0000 (UTC), Arlen Holder
<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:


>The goal of every tutorial is to improve our combined knowledge, mine
>included, where, in a cross-platform problem set, there are purposefully

>helpful people.

But you aren't one of them.

>The fact is that this issue is a cross-platform issue, and there's no way
>around that.
>

Sure there is....read below.

>For example, these are three areas of potential improvement:

There's one that would help immensely;
Your posts are massive, worthless crap and should be, and probably
are, ignored.

I have my own method.
PLONK

[Arlen Holder]

On 4 Jul 2018 16:16:41 GMT, JF Mezei wrote:

> I get how you can have a linux driver/app that creates a Linux disk that
> provides access to a remote device.

Hi JF Mezei,

You're usually reasonable, and not a troll, so I appreciate whatever input
you can provide, as you're purposefully helpful, and hence, absolutely
nothing like nospam (who doesn't understand Linux, nor Windows, and he only
knows a little about iOS).

You (and sms) are also nothing like Lewis or BKatOnRamp (thank God), where
that moronic Lewis hilariously just posted 10 minutes ago that we can't do
what we obviously can do - which is just about as funny as it gets - but
it's also sad that iOS users like Lewis are really that stupid.

Meanwhile, BKatOnRamp likewise felt the need to prove that he didn't even
comprehend in the last what we've accomplished - since he too is a classic
unfathomably stupid iOS user like Lewis and Jolly Roger are.

BTW, nospam is different. He's stupid - but smarter than those three utter
morons, which isn't saying much - but what's similar about nospam is that
he too can't fathom anything that isn't already scripted for him by Apple).

In this thread, we're doing what Apple likely never wanted us to do,
which is we're *seamlessly & simultaneously* integrating Windows, Linux,
and iOS file systems, without installing a single bit (literally) of
non-native software on any of those three file systems!

That's a big deal worth repeating:
- It's seamless and simultaneous!
- And requires nary a single bit of additional software!

The trolls (Lewis, BK@OnRamp, nospam, etc.) can't comprehend the power!

So I concur that this is easily possible using the method shown:
1. You add *nothing* that the OS install didn't already put there!
2. You plug in the non-jailbroken iOS device into your dual boot setup.
3. Voila! You have read/write access to iOS, Linux, & Windows file systems!

It's that simple!
And it's fast!

a. No need for the iTunes abomination
b. No need for adding *any* additional software
c. You have *simultaneous* read/write access to each OS's visible files

NOTE: By visible, I mean whatever is available based on whatever
permissions you have, where jailbreaking increases what is visible on iOS,
just as being root on Linux or admin on Windows increases what is visible
to those file systems.

> But you provide no explanation on how the IOS device provides access.

Just as nospam explained that the iPad in the Apple Map Van is the front
end to a lot of things, the Ubuntu operating system is the front end to
both read and write to the iOS file system.

So, for example, if you want to use the iOS device as a "USB stick", you
simply plug it in, and voila, the 128GB iPad is now a "USB stick".

If, for example, you want to slide a Windows audio file to the iOS Voz
Voice Recorder document space via the Linux file explorer, you just use
your mouse to navigate to, select, and then slide that Windows file into
the iOS Voz Voice Recorder document space, and then the iPad plays that
file without any problems whatsoever.

a. Boot to Ubuntu & connect the iOS device to Linux via USB
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps02.jpg>
b. Slide a test C:\Windows\Media\Alarm01.wav file to the iOS device
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps06.jpg>
c. Play that Windows file in GarageBand & in Voz Voice Recorder on iOS
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_apps12.jpg>

Do you see that we accessed all three file systems, Windows, Linux, and
iOS, from the Ubuntu file explorer, simultaneously and seamlessly?

For small files, it's no big deal how you transfer them, but I can easily
populate the VLC iPad document space with scores upon scores of gigabytes
of movies from both Windows and Linux, for example, very quickly, over USB
using this simple point-and-click method.

Likewise, using this exact same method, I can slide scores upon scores of
gigabyes of iOS-based files to Windows and Linux, all simultaneously.

If I want to, I can even script the transfer easily, where Linux
command-line scripting is super powerful and super easy to do and where
synchronization tools abound on Linux if I want to automate the process.

> An
> app on IOS is essentially rooted to its own file system and does not
> have access to the rest of the device unless it uses APIs to access

> stuff it has been specifically authorized to access.

I'm not sure why you said the above, which is obvious to everyone, so you
might need to clarify what your question is, since we're talking about
accessing *files*, not apps.

The files just happen to be in the App's "documents" folder, but we're not
executing the iOS apps. We're just taking their files frop the app storage
areas, and also putting files into those app storage areas.

It's no secret, for example, that desktops have powerful apps that can
obtain and store many thousands of gigabytes of large files far easier than
can the iOS devices, so, you can, for example, obtain, say, 100GB of movies
on either Linux or Windows, and then seamlessly transfer them to and from
the iOS device, as noted in the original apnote.

That's powerful indeed!
- It's fast (what's faster than USB?)
- It's seamless (just plug it in and it just works)
- It's simultaneous access to all three file systems
- It can easily be scripted and automated (if that's what you want)
- It requires zero additional software (just the typical OS install)
etc.

This power is not something that Apple will tell you about though.
- It needs no iTunes abomination
- It's completely unrestricted
- It makes your iPad just another "disk" on your network

Hmmmmm.... network?

I just realized, this great idea might work over the network also, where
you can plug in your iPad to PC1, and then on PC2, PC3, and PC4, you can
access the iOS file system. (I'll have to think about that since I don[t
generally do a lot of networking.)

> And if you jailbreak your iPhone, you could use NFS or another standard
> file access protocol.

AFAIK, if you jailbreak your iOS device, then you will simply have more
access (i.e., more visibility) to the iOS file system using the methods
proposed here.

(I'm sure you get other things from jailbreaking iOS - but why do you need
them if you already have full read/write access to the visible iOS file
system using this method?)

> So what protocol does this "ifuse" thing use ?

Let's remind everyone that I found out, by testing, that ifuse is optional.
You have full read/write access to the visible iOS file system sans ifuse.

I only see two advantages of ifuse:
- You get a simpler iOS mount point than the ephemeral /media automounts;
- And you get thumbnails.

Other than those two niceties, I don't see what ifuse adds that you don't
already get with the native libimobiledevice drivers that come with any
typical Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop install process.

ifuse: <https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?topic=ifuse>

"Mount directories of an iOS device locally using fuse.

By default the media directory is mounted, options allow
to also mount the sandbox container of an app, an app's
documents folder or even the root filesystem if jailbroken"
Example: $ ifuse /media/iPhone --root

Basically, with or without ifuse, the entire visible file system on your
iOS device can be "attached" to your network by USB cable so that you can
simultaneously copy files back and forth between Windows, Linux, and iOS.

[Peter Köhlmann]

Well, it isn't difficult to find that you are lying. You are like a Snit.
You lie even if the truth would benefit you much more

[JF Mezei]

On 2018-07-04 17:17, Arlen Holder wrote:

> So, for example, if you want to use the iOS device as a "USB stick", you
> simply plug it in, and voila, the 128GB iPad is now a "USB stick".

No. the IOS devices does not provide, out of the box, USB storage
interface. It does provide a USB camera interface, and even that is
someowhat crooked because you need permissions.

> I'm not sure why you said the above, which is obvious to everyone, so you
> might need to clarify what your question is, since we're talking about
> accessing *files*, not apps.

Since IOS does not provide USB file access, you would need a cooperating
app on IOS to emulate the USB disk protocols. As an App, it would not
have access to files outside its own sandbox.

> Let's remind everyone that I found out, by testing, that ifuse is optional.
> You have full read/write access to the visible iOS file system sans ifuse.

Nop. Unless you have reverse engineered the iTunes protocols, there is
no read/wrirte access to a visible IOS file system. preriod.

Just because something has a USB interface does not mean it will hnour
USB disk access protocols.

[sms]

On 7/5/2018 8:44 AM, JF Mezei wrote:

> Since IOS does not provide USB file access, you would need a cooperating
> app on IOS to emulate the USB disk protocols. As an App, it would not
> have access to files outside its own sandbox.

The workaround to transferring files into an iOS device is to ZIP up the
files, change the extension on the file name to NEF (Nikon raw format).
iOS will allow the importing of NEF files as it's a supported format for
importing. Once it's in the iOS device you change the extension back to
ZIP and unzip it. It's rather a pain, but for occasional use it's fine.

[nospam]

In article <phlf14$mi3$1...@dont-email.me>, sms

<scharf...@geemail.com> wrote:

> The workaround to transferring files into an iOS device is to ZIP up the
> files, change the extension on the file name to NEF (Nikon raw format).
> iOS will allow the importing of NEF files as it's a supported format for
> importing. Once it's in the iOS device you change the extension back to
> ZIP and unzip it. It's rather a pain, but for occasional use it's fine.

nonsense. there is *no* need to do anything of the sort.

[nospam]

In article <o1r%C.372684$ll2.3...@fx35.iad>, JF Mezei

<jfmezei...@vaxination.ca> wrote:

> > So, for example, if you want to use the iOS device as a "USB stick", you
> > simply plug it in, and voila, the 128GB iPad is now a "USB stick".
>
> No. the IOS devices does not provide, out of the box, USB storage
> interface. It does provide a USB camera interface, and even that is
> someowhat crooked because you need permissions.

no permissions are needed for it to be seen as a camera, other than
initially trusting the device itself, which is *any* usb communication.

> > I'm not sure why you said the above, which is obvious to everyone, so you
> > might need to clarify what your question is, since we're talking about
> > accessing *files*, not apps.
>
> Since IOS does not provide USB file access, you would need a cooperating
> app on IOS to emulate the USB disk protocols. As an App, it would not
> have access to files outside its own sandbox.

there are many hundreds of such apps, perhaps even thousands, most of
which use wifi rather than usb since wifi is *much* more convenient and
faster than fussing with cables.

> > Let's remind everyone that I found out, by testing, that ifuse is optional.
> > You have full read/write access to the visible iOS file system sans ifuse.
>
> Nop. Unless you have reverse engineered the iTunes protocols, there is
> no read/wrirte access to a visible IOS file system. preriod.

unless it's jailbroken.

there is also no need to see the entire file system just to transfer
files. some people insist on doing things in the most obtuse convoluted
ways possible.

[Arlen Holder]

On 5 Jul 2018 15:44:19 GMT, JF Mezei wrote:

>> So, for example, if you want to use the iOS device as a "USB stick", you
>> simply plug it in, and voila, the 128GB iPad is now a "USB stick".
>
>
> No. the IOS devices does not provide, out of the box, USB storage
> interface. It does provide a USB camera interface, and even that is
> someowhat crooked because you need permissions.

Hi JF Mezei,

I don't understand why you just said "no" to an obvious fact.

Perhaps you misread what the original post, so let me just repeat the facts
for everyone to agree on.
1. If you dual boot to Linux & plug in the 128GB iOS device,
2. You can use whatever space you have left (say, 100GB or so).
3. To transfer any "visible" file to/from any of the 3 operating systems.

*So, "in effect", this method turns the iOS device into a "usb stick".*

By saying "no", are you implying that you dispute what I'm saying?
(NOTE: You can't dispute the facts - so you might only be disputing the
"words" but semantics isn't my shtick so you can give me better semantics
if you like). :)

The fact is, that if you have, say, 100GB of "storage" available on the iOS
device, then you just plug that iOS device into your dual-boot desktop sans
the iTunes abomination - and voila - the 100GB of remaining storage is
instantly available for you to slide files onto or off of.

Those files are unrestricted.

They can be Windows files. They can be iOS files. They can be Linux files.

So, "in effect", the iOS device is a USB stick.
Do you dispute the facts as stated or just the semantics?
(I'm just trying to figure out why you said "no" to this obvious fact.)

>> I'm not sure why you said the above, which is obvious to everyone, so you
>> might need to clarify what your question is, since we're talking about
>> accessing *files*, not apps.
>
> Since IOS does not provide USB file access, you would need a cooperating
> app on IOS to emulate the USB disk protocols. As an App, it would not
> have access to files outside its own sandbox.

I think you misinterpret what I said, since I am only speaking facts, and
I'm not playing any semantic games.

What I'm saying is very clear, as it's outlined in the OP.
1. Plug in the iOS device to a dual-boot Windows/Linux desktop, and,
2. Voila. You can slide files back & forth between the 3 operating systems.

This is a fact.
Do you dispute that fact?

>> Let's remind everyone that I found out, by testing, that ifuse is optional.
>> You have full read/write access to the visible iOS file system sans ifuse.
>
> Nop. Unless you have reverse engineered the iTunes protocols, there is
> no read/wrirte access to a visible IOS file system. preriod.

*Are you just playing silly semantic games with me, J.F. Mezei?*

Normally that's the purview of Jolly Roger, Lewis, nospam, and BK@OnRamp.
Also, on Windows, that's the game of Diesel, Nil, Jackson, Lamontagne, etc.

The fact is:
a. You install Ubuntu 18.04 desktop selecting the normal settings.
b. You plug in the iOS device.
c. Voila. You have read/write access to the "visible" iOS file system.

What on earth do you dispute about those obvious clear & valid facts?

Bear in mind that I went to a lot of trouble to prove that is the case,
since I installed Ubuntu three times (And proved I did).

Meanwhile, you simply play silly semantic games like all the trolls do.
You trolls don't actually do any tests whatsoever, whereas I did.

What on earth do you have against facts?
(All you 'can' do is play silly semantic games.)

> Just because something has a USB interface does not mean it will hnour
> USB disk access protocols.

The facts are as stated:
1. Plug in the iOS device into dual-boot Ubuntu USB, and, voila!
2. You can slide files back & forth between the 3 operating systems.

You can dance all you want with your silly semantic games, but those are
facts nonetheless.

Just because you don't happen to like facts, doesn't make them not facts.

[nospam]

In article <phlft8$qq0$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

> Just because you don't happen to like facts, doesn't make them not facts.

that applies to you far more than it does *anyone* else.

[Arlen Holder]

On 5 Jul 2018 15:55:14 GMT, sms wrote:

> The workaround to transferring files into an iOS device is to ZIP up the
> files, change the extension on the file name to NEF (Nikon raw format).
> iOS will allow the importing of NEF files as it's a supported format for
> importing. Once it's in the iOS device you change the extension back to
> ZIP and unzip it. It's rather a pain, but for occasional use it's fine.

Hi sms, (or anyone else who is sane who reads this),

Can you clarify something for us here?

As you know, I state valid verifiable facts.
I don't play the silly semantic games that nospam-like trolls love to play.

The fact is that I can plug my 128 GB iOS device into the dual-boot
desktop, and, voila!, instantly, I can use whatever file space is left
(let's say that's 100GB) for any file I want to put there or take from
there.

That is, I have full read/write access to the visible file system on iOS
simply by plugging that iOS device into the desktop USB port.

It seems that J.F. Mezei is somehow disputing that fact, but he can't
dispute it since it's an easily verified fact.

Can you help clarify what his issue is?
Is his issue just the semantics of what I *call* that fact?

I'm not beholden to any specific term, so if J.F. Mezei doesn't like the
term "usb stick in effect", then what term is more appropriate to describe
that fact?

[joe]

On 7/5/2018 11:22 AM, Arlen Holder wrote:
> On 5 Jul 2018 15:55:14 GMT, sms wrote:
>
>> The workaround to transferring files into an iOS device is to ZIP up the
>> files, change the extension on the file name to NEF (Nikon raw format).
>> iOS will allow the importing of NEF files as it's a supported format for
>> importing. Once it's in the iOS device you change the extension back to
>> ZIP and unzip it. It's rather a pain, but for occasional use it's fine.

Doesn't work for me.

>
> Hi sms, (or anyone else who is sane who reads this),
>
> Can you clarify something for us here?
>
> As you know, I state valid verifiable facts.
> I don't play the silly semantic games that nospam-like trolls love to play.

You don't play semantic games, but...
What about "dual booting" the PC is germane to this discussion? Is a
dual boot PC really required?

Why the constant use of "visible file system"? Can't you be clear about
just what this means; like, which folder(s) do you see?

What about you calling opinions, rumors, and observations as "facts"?
You must have your own definition of the word.

>
> The fact is that I can plug my 128 GB iOS device into the dual-boot
> desktop, and, voila!, instantly, I can use whatever file space is left
> (let's say that's 100GB) for any file I want to put there or take from
> there

When I plug an iOS device into a Linux machine, all I can see is the
DCIM folder and it is read-only. I can copy files from the iPad, but not
to the iPad.

Significantly different than what you claim.

.
>
> That is, I have full read/write access to the visible file system on iOS
> simply by plugging that iOS device into the desktop USB port.

You may have access, as a result of something you did in the past, but
that does not mean it is true for all.

>
> It seems that J.F. Mezei is somehow disputing that fact, but he can't
> dispute it since it's an easily verified fact.

Since I can't verify your claims, JF's doubts seem appropriate.

>
> Can you help clarify what his issue is?

He sees different results than you do. You can't handle that as even
possible.

[Arlen Holder]

On 5 Jul 2018 22:45:19 GMT, joe wrote:

> You don't play semantic games,

As you know, those who have nothing of value to add, but who still feel the
urge to respond to a factual post, always find *something* that they can
"play" with, where the nospam-like trolls (e.g., nospam, Lewis, BK@OnRamp,
Jolly Roger, etc.) always play their silly semantic games since that's all
they 'can' do.

They have zero on-topic technical knowledge to add to the discussion, so
they play their silly semantic games instead.

The fact is that J.F. Mezei usually doesn't play the silly semantic games
that nospam loves to play, so I'm curious why he disputes the obvious
facts.

Maybe he just doesn't like what I call the read/write file transfer over
USB? What would you call it?

> What about "dual booting" the PC is germane to this discussion? Is a
> dual boot PC really required?

I'm not sure why you ask that question because the answer was obvious
already.

So I will simply repeat that the iTunes abomination is out of the question.

Also, I will simply repeat that *zero software* was added after the initial
installation process. Zero.

Given that the iTunes abomination is out of the question, and given that
zero additional software is to be added, how would you boot to Windows and
get full read/write access to the entire visible iOS file system?

HINT: If you can accomplish that feat, then you know more than I do, where,
I don't expect you to play the nospam & Jolly Roger game of saying they can
do it but they wont' tell us how because it's a secret only known to those
two self-described geniuses (which is a silly hubris game both play just
about every day of their worthless lives).

My direct question to you is thus:
Q: How are you going to accomplish what we accomplished, with just Windows?

> Why the constant use of "visible file system"? Can't you be clear about
> just what this means; like, which folder(s) do you see?

Ah. I see that you didn't comprehend even the original post.*
And, clearly, you didn't comprehend any subsequent post.

*Please re-read the original post for comprehension first.*

Then realize two very clear facts that were also stated in the OP:
1. The trolls like nospam constantly play silly semantic games around what
files you can and cannot see on iOS, where I don't play their silly
semantic games; hence I simply refer to the files that you 'can' see, as
the "visible file system".

2. I listed very clearly exactly what folders and files were visible in the
visible file system, where I went to great pains to actually redact the
names of the files, but I left the filename extensions.

I provided a score of screenshots in this thread of the "visible file
system", so for you, Joe, to ask that question only means one (or both) of
two very simple facts:

A. You didn't comprehend a single thing in this thread, or,
B. You're just playing silly games with us.

There are no other logical conclusions since you are asking questions that
are so obvious that they had already been answered many times *before* you
asked them.

If you seriously have a question, then let's start anew, but your questions
can't possibly be serious since the answer is so obvious that repeating the
answer twenty, thirty, or forty times won't decrease your admittedly
stellar lack of comprehension.

> What about you calling opinions, rumors, and observations as "facts"?
> You must have your own definition of the word.

Now I know that you're just trolling.
You can't add any on-topic value to *any* discussion.
And yet you feel the innate inbred urge to "argue" silly semantics.

*Please go away Joe, and troll some other thread for your amusement.*

> When I plug an iOS device into a Linux machine, all I can see is the
> DCIM folder and it is read-only. I can copy files from the iPad, but not
> to the iPad.
>
> Significantly different than what you claim.

What operating system and version are you using?

> You may have access, as a result of something you did in the past, but
> that does not mean it is true for all.

Your lack of comprehension is actually stellar.
I said, many times, that I specifically tested this apnote on three
sequential Ubuntu systems, where the latter two were recent builds, and
where I changed the order of libimobiledevice-utils and ifuse in the latter
two clean builds.

On the linux groups, where adults reside (unlike the iOS groups), we
covered in detail these issues, by the way - so it's a fact that the linux
builds are clean:

How to install a clean Ubuntu on PC1 to test an iOS apnote from scratch
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.os.linux/5Xl7DPopNnE>

Have you ever seen a Grub that wouldn't respond to the keyboard?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.os.linux/yQmtemiHcVk>

Installing a clean Ubuntu on PC2 to test integration with iOS from scratch
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.os.linux/D7E7FQ1NLNk[1-25]>

BTW, the contrast of those purposefully helpful responses in those threads
to the silly semantic games you iOS users play in this thread is an
astoundingly difference showing that you iOS man-children completely differ
from Linux adults on Usenet when it comes to responding to technical
issues.

> Since I can't verify your claims, JF's doubts seem appropriate.

What operating system and version are you using?

>> Can you help clarify what his issue is?
>
> He sees different results than you do. You can't handle that as even
> possible.

Are you really so sure that J. F. Mezei has a dual boot setup installed?

I didn't see any proof from you or him that you have that knowledge.
All I see is both of you just making this shit up sans a shred of proof.

For example, both of you ask questions that were already answered, many
times, in this thread.

So that shows a stellar lack of comprehension on your part.

[nospam]

In article <phmc2u$81f$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

> Also, I will simply repeat that *zero software* was added after the initial
> installation process. Zero.

in other words, you added software, so *not* zero.

> Given that the iTunes abomination is out of the question, and given that
> zero additional software is to be added,

except during 'the initial installation process', along with any other
exemption you happen to decide.

> how would you boot to Windows and
> get full read/write access to the entire visible iOS file system?

there is no need to 'get full read/write access to the entire visible
ios file system', or on android for that matter.

unless you're trying to write malware.

[Arlen Holder]

On 6 Jul 2018 00:59:23 GMT, nospam wrote:

> except during 'the initial installation process'

*Why do you always prove, nospam, that all you _can_ do, is play silly games?*

[Arlen Holder]

On 5 Jul 2018 16:22:42 GMT, nospam wrote:

> that applies to you far more than it does *anyone* else.

Why do you always have to prove, nospam, that all you _can_ do, is play
your silly fifth-grade games?

[nospam]

In article <pho0ei$ros$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

>
> > except during 'the initial installation process'
>
> *Why do you always prove, nospam, that all you _can_ do, is play silly games?*

translated:
you were caught in yet another lie, which triggered the usual responses.

[JF Mezei]

Your fantasy relies on the USB mass storage device class (MSC) being
implemnented on IOS. It isn't.

It is NOT implemented on the iPhone out of the box.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_mass_storage_device_class

If you wrote an app on IOS, assuming the IOS APIs give you access to
USB, your app would only see its own file system, it would not see files
belonging to other apps or the operating system files.

You would have to write an app targetted to a jailbroken IOS device and
side loaded via Cydia and make use of the Unix core frameworks to get
your USB protocol class enabled and then you'd be able to see the full
file system.


IOS implememts the Picture Transfer Protocol. Access to the DCIM folder
to download and optionally delete puctures.

Also note that Microsooft developpted an extension of PTP called Media
Transfer Protocol (MTP) which gives MSC functioanlity. Certain Android
devices (such as Samsung) have implemented MTP instead of MSC so the
standard MSC doesn't even work for those either.


Like PTP, MTP does not give access to the disk. It gives access to
pecific directories.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picture_Transfer_Protocol#Extensions

[Arlen Holder]

On 6 Jul 2018 22:58:20 GMT, JF Mezei wrote:

> Your fantasy relies on the USB mass storage device class (MSC) being
> implemnented on IOS. It isn't.

JF Mezei,
*Please stop playing your fourth-grade childish silly semantic games.*

The fact is that, of the 128GB storage on the iOS device, if the operating
system and apps use, say, 28GB, then the rest of the iOS device is
available via the USB port to both Windows & Linux.

I realize almost all you iOS users are man children.
So you *hate* that people can do things that you can't figure out.

And that you act like a little man child when you can't do it yourself.

If you don't comprehend that the 100GB of my iOS device are available via
USB by now, then you're just proving how stupid you are by playing your
silly little semantic games.

You can "call" it any silly semantic name you want.

The fact is that if your OS & apps take up, say, 28GB, then you have the
rest of your 100GB of access to the iOS file system via USB cable.

The fact that you're obviously too stupid to comprehend that fact,
does not make that fact, not a fact.

Almost all you iOS users act like little fourth-grade man children.

[joe]

On 7/6/2018 7:18 PM, Arlen Holder wrote:
> On 6 Jul 2018 22:58:20 GMT, JF Mezei wrote:
>
>> Your fantasy relies on the USB mass storage device class (MSC) being
>> implemnented on IOS. It isn't.

His fantasy is based upon having a Linux distribution that includes
libimobiledevice. Or, installing libimobiledevice post-installation.

libimobledevice implements the AFS protocol which is what allows the
access. If the distro used does not include the package, then there is
additional installation work to allow more than just read-only access to
the DCIM folder.

Rather than point out that it is AFS support that is what the PC needs
(not MSC), Arlen chooses to berate folks that dispute his statements.

[Arlen Holder]

On 7 Jul 2018 02:00:37 GMT, joe wrote:

> His fantasy is based upon having a Linux distribution that includes
> libimobiledevice. Or, installing libimobiledevice post-installation.

It's amazing how you iOS users are immune to even the simplest of facts.
*It's as if your iOS religion doesn't allow for the existence of truth.*

What is truly amazing about you iOS man children is that you can't
comprehend fact - so you call fact a fantasy - simply because you can't
comprehend facts.

*Facts seem to bother you iOS man children immensely*

Your entire belief system is built upon a foundation based on 0 facts!

> libimobledevice implements the AFS protocol which is what allows the
> access. If the distro used does not include the package, then there is
> additional installation work to allow more than just read-only access to
> the DCIM folder.

It's amazing how you iOS users are immune to even the simplest of facts.
*It's as if your iOS religion doesn't allow for the existence of truth.*

Just because you iOS man children can't comprehend that a typical Ubuntu
18.04 installation installs everything needed, doesn't mean it's not a
fact.

Even so, installing libimobiledevice is a single simple rock-solid command.

> Rather than point out that it is AFS support that is what the PC needs
> (not MSC), Arlen chooses to berate folks that dispute his statements.

Berating you ignorant morons for being ignorant morons is valid.

The fact is that a typical Ubuntu 18.04 installation installs everything
necessary to accomplish the facts stated in this tutorial, and, even if it
didn't, adding a single app is, to you iOS man children, a big deal, but
it's nothing to the rest of us who have progressed far beyond your prven
stunted fourth-grade level of technical comprehension.

It seems the average iOS user who posts here is a fourth-grade man child.

None of you iOS man children appear to be capable of comprehending adult
facts such as the fact that plugging your iOS device into Ubuntu 18.04
typically configured, will instantly allow read/write access to, say, 100GB
of the 128 GB (the rest being used by the OS & apps) over the USB cable to
*both* the Windows & Linux file systems.

*That you can't comprehend such facts does not make them not facts.*

It's amazing how you iOS users are immune to even the simplest of facts.
*It's as if your iOS religion doesn't allow for the existence of truth.*

[nospam]

In article <phqc6o$k0o$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

> Even so, installing libimobiledevice is a single simple rock-solid command.

maybe so, but installing *anything* violates your requirement for zero
software to be installed.

so much for your 'facts'.


In article <phmc2u$81f$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

[JF Mezei]

On 2018-07-06 22:00, joe wrote:

> libimobledevice implements the AFS protocol which is what allows the
> access. If the distro used does not include the package, then there is
> additional installation work to allow more than just read-only access to
> the DCIM folder.

IOS does not support AFS. If you jailbreak your iPhone, you can install
an AFS deamon on the iphone to allow these file exchanges (something
which I had done in the days I jailbroke the iPhone).

[JF Mezei]

On 2018-07-07 08:37, Arlen Holder wrote:

> Just because you iOS man children can't comprehend that a typical Ubuntu
> 18.04 installation installs everything needed, doesn't mean it's not a
> fact.

Nobody has debated your claim of what comes with your flavour of Linux.

However, you fail to specify what protocol is used by your Ubuntu
software to gain access to an IOS device's storage device.

None of the standard protocols for disk access are supported by IOS,
unless you jailbreak and install open sourced versions of those protocols.

So instead of accusing others of being children, why don't you put your
money where your mouth is, and tell us exactly what USB protocol is used
by your solution to access the file system on an IOS device.

[nospam]

In article <Ma80D.250845$IF4.1...@fx14.iad>, JF Mezei

<jfmezei...@vaxination.ca> wrote:

>
> > Just because you iOS man children can't comprehend that a typical Ubuntu
> > 18.04 installation installs everything needed, doesn't mean it's not a
> > fact.
>
> Nobody has debated your claim of what comes with your flavour of Linux.

several people have.

[Arlen Holder]

<http://www.libimobiledevice.org/>

libimobiledevice is a cross-platform software library that talks the
protocols to support iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Apple TV devices. Unlike
other projects, it does not depend on using any existing proprietary
libraries and does not require jailbreaking. It allows other software to
easily access the device's filesystem, retrieve information about the
device and it's internals, backup/restore the device, manage SpringBoard
icons, manage installed applications, retrieve addressbook/calendars/notes
and bookmarks and (using libgpod) synchronize music and video to the
device. The library is in development since August 2007 with the goal to
bring support for these devices to the Linux Desktop.
Latest Release: 1.2.0

Tested with iPod Touch 1G/2G/3G/4G/5G/6G, iPhone
1G/2G/3G/3GS/4/4S/5/5C/5S/6/6+/6S/6S+/7/7+, iPad 1/2/3/4/Mini/Mini 3/Mini
4/Air/Air 2/Pro and Apple TV 2G/3G/4G running up to firmware 10.3 on Linux,
Mac OS X and Windows.

As I said, libimobiledevice comes with the typical Ubuntu 18.04
installation while ifuse is optional, but here's an ifuse description
anyway.

<https://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/ifuse>
IFuse is a FUSE filesystem driver which uses libiphone to connect to iPhone
and iPod Touch devices without needing to "jailbreak" them. iFuse uses the
native Apple AFC protocol over a normal USB cable in order to access the
device's media files.

<https://pedanticdevs.com/2009/09/ifuse-mount-your-iphoneipod-touch-in.html>
iFuse is a simple app that lets you mount your Iphone or Ipod in Ubuntu and
other Linux distros using the USB cable. iFuse does not require
"jailbreaking" or voiding your warranty and works without needing extra
software installed on the phone (such as 'ssh').

[Arlen Holder]

On 7 Jul 2018 19:25:08 GMT, nospam wrote:

> several people have.

*The nospam troll has the mentality of a fifth grade iOS user.*

His record is worse than that of the monkey.

[Arlen Holder]

On 7 Jul 2018 19:06:19 GMT, JF Mezei wrote:

> Nobody has debated your claim of what comes with your flavour of Linux.

Good.

Because only the iOS morons like Jolly Roger, nospam, Lewis, BK@OnRamp,
SavageDuck, etc, try to rebut simple proven facts.

I plug it in - and the entire visible file system (say, 100GB if the OS and
apps themselves use up, say, 28 GB) is available to me, read and write, to
use as I see fit over USB.

You play your silly fourth-grade semantic games on what you wish to call
that power.

> However, you fail to specify what protocol is used by your Ubuntu
> software to gain access to an IOS device's storage device.

You're so used to being *restricted* on the Orwellian iOS device that you
can't even *comprehend* the power I have simply by plugging in my iOS
device to my desktop over USB.

> None of the standard protocols for disk access are supported by IOS,
> unless you jailbreak and install open sourced versions of those protocols.

What part of about the fact that you plug the IOS device into the desktop
USB port which makes the entire visible file system is available,
read/write, don't you understand JF Mezei?

> So instead of accusing others of being children, why don't you put your
> money where your mouth is, and tell us exactly what USB protocol is used
> by your solution to access the file system on an IOS device.

It's so simple, even you should be able to understand it.
1. You plug the iOS device into the desktop USB port.
2. Voila!

The entire visible file system on iOS is available to you, read write.
What you put or take from that visible file system is up to you.

On my iOS device, that's over 100GB of storage that I can access read write
over USB.

You call it whatever you want to call it as you're the one playing the
silly fourth-grade semantic games.

I only speak facts.

[Arlen Holder]

On 7 Jul 2018 14:15:35 GMT, nospam wrote:

> maybe so, but installing *anything* violates your requirement for zero
> software to be installed.

You iOS man children can only play silly fourth grade semantic games.

You prove that fact in every post.

[Arlen Holder]

On 7 Jul 2018 02:00:37 GMT, joe wrote:

> His fantasy is based upon having a Linux distribution that includes
> libimobiledevice.

You're just another iOS idiot if you don't think Ubuntu isn't a common
Linux distribution.

What's hilarious is that nospam the troll says plugging in an iOS device to
your desktop USB port for unrestricted read/write access to the entire
visible file system is "too complicated" for him.

*Your entire belief system is built upon what Apple MARKETING feeds you!*

And, you're just another iOS idiot if you think that libimobiledevice isn't
installed on the typical system simply by virtue of running the typical
installation steps from this very CDROM.
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_dualboot87.jpg>

Those installation steps are well known, and documented in the a.o.l
archives anyway so there are is no need to explain the obvious to you iOS
man children, nospam, J.F. Mezei, and the nospam troll.
<http://tinyurl.com/alt-os-linux>

> Or, installing libimobiledevice post-installation.

You iOS man children can't comprehend anything I said above, and yet, even
if libimobiledevice wasn't installed by the normal OS installation process,
it's still only a single well-known command to install it.

You iOS man children just play your silly semenatic games.

Why?
I don't know why.

You're all man children who can't comprehend facts.
*Your entire belief system is built upon what Apple MARKETING feeds you!*

> libimobledevice implements the AFS protocol which is what allows the
> access. If the distro used does not include the package, then there is
> additional installation work to allow more than just read-only access to
> the DCIM folder.
>
> Rather than point out that it is AFS support that is what the PC needs
> (not MSC), Arlen chooses to berate folks that dispute his statements.

*Your entire belief system is built upon what Apple MARKETING feeds you!*

I already provided references that explain what libimobiledevice does, and
what the optional ifuse does.

Here are some more, but the lack of reading comprehension of you iOS man
children is so stellar that I don't think any facts will matter to you.

<http://babyish.wikia.com/wiki/Libimobiledevice>
ibimobiledevice is a library that talks the native Apple USB protocols that
the iPhone and iPod Touch use. Unlike other projects, libimobiledevice does
not depend on using any existing libraries from Apple.

<http://www.libimobiledevice.org/>
libimobiledevice is a cross-platform software library that talks the

protocols to support iPhone®, iPod Touch®, iPad® and Apple TV® devices.

Unlike other projects, it does not depend on using any existing proprietary
libraries and does not require jailbreaking. It allows other software to
easily access the device's filesystem, retrieve information about the
device and it's internals, backup/restore the device, manage SpringBoard®
icons, manage installed applications, retrieve addressbook/calendars/notes
and bookmarks and (using libgpod) synchronize music and video to the
device.

While ifuse is completely optional, here's a description...
<https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/trusty/+package/ifuse>

Here's a manpage for the wholly optional ifuse...
<http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/trusty/man1/ifuse.1.html>
iFuse is a FUSE filesystem driver which uses libiphone to connect to iPhone

and iPod Touch devices without needing to "jailbreak" them. iFuse uses the
native Apple AFC protocol over a normal USB cable in order to access the
device's media files.

I repeat the following facts because you iOS moronic man children
apparently are allergic to facts (you only believe Apple MARKETING).

1. libimobile devices is installed during the typical Ubuntu 18.04
installation process
2. Even if it wasn't, it's a trivial command to install it after the fact
(where only you iOS man children play your silly semantic games)
3. The use of ifuse is optional, and basically doesn't add much value if
you just want to move files around over USB - but the optional ifuse does
get you thumbnails (and other things, if that's what you want).

That you moronic iOS man children can't comprehend facts does not make
facts not facts. Go ask Apple MARKETING how they suggest you just plug in
your iOS device to your desktop USB port to use the iOS device essentially
as a "usb stick" if you can't comprehend these facts.

What's hilarious is that nospam the troll says plugging in an iOS device to
your desktop USB port for unrestricted read/write access to the entire
visible file system is "too complicated" for him.

[nospam]

In article <phr874$va6$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

>
> As I said, libimobiledevice comes with the typical Ubuntu 18.04
> installation while ifuse is optional, but here's an ifuse description
> anyway.

nope. that's *not* what you said.


In article <phgpnh$bna$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder
<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
> Note that the second section of the apnote was purposefully tested only
> after I tested the first section, where in the second section I added both
> ifuse and libimobiledevice-utils to Ubuntu 18.04.
>
> In the first PC, I added libimobiledevice-utils first, and then ifuse; in
> the second PC I switched the order (just in case it mattered - but it
> didn't).


In article <phgb12$jh1$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder
<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
> It should be noted that I purposefully added a brand new Ubuntu to a brand
> new Windows, just so that I could test without "ifuse" (which is basically
> iOS running on Linux) and without "libimobiledevice-utils" (which only add
> visibility into the iOS private syslogs in the apnote).
>
> It's interesting, but I had more problems getting Ubuntu up and running
> than I did getting iOS to work seamlessly with Ubuntu, as these two threads
> attest to, given that I tested this on two brand new systems to be sure of
> the steps and sequence (one has libimobiledevice-utils installed first, the
> other has ifuse installed first - just to test the difference):

[Jolly Roger]

On 2018-07-07, nospam <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> In article <phr874$va6$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder
><arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
>
>> As I said, libimobiledevice comes with the typical Ubuntu 18.04
>> installation while ifuse is optional, but here's an ifuse description
>> anyway.
>
> nope. that's *not* what you said.
>
> In article <phgpnh$bna$1...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder
><arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
>> Note that the second section of the apnote was purposefully tested only
>> after I tested the first section, where in the second section I added both
>> ifuse and libimobiledevice-utils to Ubuntu 18.04.

"Oops. Caught in yet another lie. Guess I'll resort to my standard ad
hominem attacks now... Maybe I'll mention Jolly Roger or some other
names while I'm at it to try to drag them into it while I'm at it..."

He's a fucking pathetic old fart troll.

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

[Arlen Holder]

On 7 Jul 2018 22:56:31 GMT, Jolly Roger wrote:

> He's a fucking pathetic old fart troll.

Jesus.

I was wondering when Jolly Roger the premier iOS troll would infest this
thread.

Now that the thread is infested, I leave it to you trolls since not one of
you even understood the solution, and none of you can comprehend that it
works.

All you can think of is what Apple MARKETING told you, where Apple
MARKETIGN didn't mention that this works simply by plugging the iOS device
into the USB port of your desktop.

The trolls can have this thread, as the value is only in the first post
anyway - since not a single iOS user who posted has *any* technical skills.

[JF Mezei]

On 2018-07-07 16:35, Arlen Holder wrote:

> <https://community.linuxmint.com/software/view/ifuse>
> IFuse is a FUSE filesystem driver which uses libiphone to connect to iPhone
> and iPod Touch devices without needing to "jailbreak" them. iFuse uses the
> native Apple AFC protocol over a normal USB cable in order to access the
> device's media files.

Finally. Recall the first question I asked which you refused to answer
was which protocol was being used. A question whcih you evaded till now.

AFC is what iTunes uses. So you are correct that it is in every IOS
device out of the box, no addition needed.

Cool that someone reverse engineered it.


Looking at some info. (found interesting dociument on iPhone Forensics)

##
By default, iTunes does not have the privileges to access the entire
iPhone, but is placed in a jailed environment. A jailed environment is
an environment subordinate to the administrative environment of a
system, generally imposing additional restrictions on what resources are
accessible. In other words, iTunes is permitted to access only certain
files on the iPhone—namely those within its jail rooted in the
/private/var/mobile/Media folder on the device (or
/private/var/root/Media for older versions of the firmware).
##


So you don't get access to full file system, only a window on certain
files, so similar to what the micosoft extended PTP does.


But just mentioning AFC means you gained much credibility. Had you done
this right of the bat, you wouldn't be fighting naysayers.

[Jolly Roger]

On 2018-07-07, Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
> On 7 Jul 2018 22:56:31 GMT, Jolly Roger wrote:
>
>> He's a fucking pathetic old fart troll.
>
> Jesus.
>

> Since I am the premeir iOS troll, I was wondering when Jolly Roger
> would infest this thread.

FTFY. And you've been practically *begging* me to join this thread by
mentioning my name over and over again for *days* even though I haven't
made a single fucking post in this thread until now, which is on record
for all to see. You're a lousy piece of shit troll. You can't even lie
effectively. You just spout trollish bullshit. You emulate Trump in more
ways than one.

> I'll tuck my tail between my legs like the dog I am and run away now.

FTFY2.

Bye, Felicia.

[Arlen Holder]

On 8 Jul 2018 01:34:39 GMT, JF Mezei wrote:

> But just mentioning AFC means you gained much credibility. Had you done
> this right of the bat, you wouldn't be fighting naysayers.

Hi JF Mezei,

The fact you didn't read the OP and that you don't comprehend what
you did read, doesn't constitute a lack of credibility on my part.

You'll note that I'm almost never wrong since I only speak facts.
(Facts are funny that way.)

Utter morons like nospam, Jolly Roger, Lewis, BKonRamp, etc., just
make everything they say up - so you're just used to dealing with
those uneducated imbeciles.

Everything I say is a valid verifiable fact.
I'm not an iOS man child like most of you moronic imbeciles are.

You're the one who lacks credibility simply because you can't seem
to comprehend *anything* that is told to you - all of which are
basic facts.

For example, always remember, ifuse is completely optional.

You can make this thread about ifuse, but it's completely irrelevant
unless you want optional power (e.g., thumbnails) when accessing
the iOS device over USB on the desktop.

What is already bundled into Ubuntu 18.0 is libimobiledevice.

Hence, you plug in the iOS device over USB and the entire visible
file system of that iOS device is available, simultaneously, to
your Windows and Linux disks - even without ifuse.

Didn't you even *look* at the photos showing that means the entire
DCIM hierarchy, the entire Downloads hierarchy, the entire internal
space for the well-behaved apps such as VLC or GarageBand or
Voice Recorder, etc.?

Since ifuse is entirely optional, what you should be looking at
is the description for libimobiledevice version 1.2.0 which is
bundled with Ubuntu 18.04 and which is typically installed on
the desktop during the OS installation process.
<https://askubuntu.com/questions/1030200/how-to-install-libimobiledevice-latest-version-on-ubuntu-18-04>

Here are the related header files for libimobiledevice:
<http://www.libimobiledevice.org/docs/html/files.html>
*Access the filesystem on the device* (afc.h)
*Communicate with debugserver on the device* (debugserver.h)
*Request iOS diagnostic information from device* (diagnostics_relay.h)
*Access app folders and their contents* (house_arrest.h)
*Backup and restore of all device data (mobilebackup2, iOS4+ only)* (mobilebackup2.h)
*Backup and restore of all device data* (mobilebackup.h)
*Capture the syslog output from a device* (syslog_relay.h)
*Definitions for the PropertyList service* (property_list_service.h)
*Device/Connection handling and communication* (libimobiledevice.h)
*Generic basic service implementation to inherit* (service.h)
*Initiate restore process or reboot device* (restore.h)
*Manage applications on a device* (installation_proxy.h)
*Manage device preferences, start services, pairing and activation* (lockdown.h)
*Manage provisioning profiles* (misagent.h)
*Manage SpringBoard icons and retrieve icon images* (sbservices.h)
*Mount developer/debug disk images on the device* (mobile_image_mounter.h)
*Observe and post notifications* (notification_proxy.h)
*Retrieve a screenshot from device* (screenshotr.h)
*Retrieve compressed CPIO archives* (file_relay.h)
*Send "heartbeat" to device to allow service connections over network* (heartbeat.h)
*Synchronize data classes with a device and computer* (mobilesync.h)
*WebKit Remote Debugging* (webinspector.h)

Here again is the canonical description for libimobiledevice:

<http://www.libimobiledevice.org/>
"libimobiledevice is a cross-platform software library that talks

the protocols to support iPhone®, iPod Touch®, iPad® and Apple

TV® devices. Unlike other projects, it does not depend on using
any existing proprietary libraries and does not require jailbreaking.
It allows other software to easily access the device's filesystem,
retrieve information about the device and it's internals,
backup/restore the device, manage SpringBoard® icons, manage
installed applications, retrieve addressbook/calendars/notes
and bookmarks and (using libgpod) synchronize music and video
to the device."

The source code for the version of libimobiledevice that is bundled
with Ubuntu 18.04 is located here:
<https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libimobiledevice/releases>

[Arlen Holder]

On 8 Jul 2018 04:09:18 GMT, Jolly Roger wrote:

> FTFY. And you've been practically *begging* me to join this thread by
> mentioning my name over and over again for *days* even though I haven't
> made a single fucking post in this thread until now, which is on record
> for all to see. You're a lousy piece of shit troll. You can't even lie
> effectively. You just spout trollish bullshit. You emulate Trump in more
> ways than one.

I love when you post Jolly Roger because your every post proves what
moronic imbeciles you iOS man children really are.

Not a single one of you iOS man children has any technical acumen
whatsoever.

No wonder you iOS man children are almost all allergic to facts.

It scares the shit out of you that intelligent people can just plug in
their iOS device into their desktop to obtain, instantly, for free, adding
zero additional software, *simultaneous* access to the entire available
file system on Linux, Windows, and iOS.

For iOS imbeciles like you and nospam, that's *too easy*.

You prefer the Orwellian Apple-mandated convoluted and extremely restricted
approach instead of just plugging in the device and using it, in effect, as
a "USB stick" with complete read/write access to the visible file system.

[Jolly Roger]

On 2018-07-09, Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
> On 8 Jul 2018 04:09:18 GMT, Jolly Roger wrote:
>
>> FTFY. And you've been practically *begging* me to join this thread by
>> mentioning my name over and over again for *days* even though I haven't
>> made a single fucking post in this thread until now, which is on record
>> for all to see. You're a lousy piece of shit troll. You can't even lie
>> effectively. You just spout trollish bullshit. You emulate Trump in more
>> ways than one.
>
> I love when you post Jolly Roger

...which is why you *beg* me to post for days on end by mentioning my
name over and over and over again in threads I haven't even
*participated* in, which is again on record for all to see. Your
childish obsession is clear for all of the world to see, you pathetic
old fart. You lead a shitty little life, constantly *begging* for
attention and belittling complete *strangers* for *hours* on end every
single *day*. I'd feel sad for you, but your pathetic life is purely of
your own making. Eat shit.

[JF Mezei]

On 2018-07-09 07:04, Arlen Holder wrote:

> The fact you didn't read the OP and that you don't comprehend what
> you did read, doesn't constitute a lack of credibility on my part.

I asked what protocol your software used to echcnage files on the IOS
device. You didn't answer. You alluded to using the iPhone as a USB
stick (whcih means mass storage protocol, which is NOT available on IOS).

It took a long time before you released that it used AFC, the iTunes
protocol.

[Arlen Holder]

On 9 Jul 2018 22:26:06 GMT, JF Mezei wrote:

> I asked what protocol your software used to echcnage files on the IOS
> device. You didn't answer. You alluded to using the iPhone as a USB
> stick (whcih means mass storage protocol, which is NOT available on IOS).
>
> It took a long time before you released that it used AFC, the iTunes
> protocol.

I explained in the original post *exactly* how to reproduce my success.
You just install Ubuntu 18.04 the normal way, which comes with
libimobiledevice, and you plug in the iOS device.

If you don't bother with ifuse, I explained that you use the "Control+L"
command to modify the string so that you have full read/write access to the
entire visible iOS file system (all 100 GB or so of the 128GB of the
typical 128GB iOS device).

In effect, the iOS device is turned into a "usb stick", by which I mean you
plug it into the desktop and, voila! You have instant *simultaneous* access
to the Windows, Ubuntu, and iOS visible file systems.

You can play your silly semantic games as to what the 'visible' file system
means, but I already provided pictures galore and descriptions galore in
the original post of exactly what I meant by that.

Essentially, it's the entire set of Windows + Linux disks (assuming you're
admin, which usually you are on a personal desktop), and it's a whole bunch
of directories on iOS (e.g., DCIM and the document storage space of the
well-behaved apps such as VLC, GarageBand, Voice Recorder, etc.).

In addition, you have real-time read access to the iOS device system logs.

You can play your silly semantic games all you want - but it doesn't change
those empirical facts one bit.

[Arlen Holder]

On 9 Jul 2018 16:27:29 GMT, Jolly Roger wrote:

> Eat shit.

It's the truth, Jolly Roger.

I do very much love when you post, Jolly Roger.

*You give me excellent insight into the mind of the average iOS user.*

[dablakmark8]

ok lets say i have a ssh ramdisk and i boot into the rmdisk
i ssh and i land up in localhost:root.
what do i type in the teminal to go to applications folder to see the setup.app and delete it

[Andy Burnelli]

dablakmark8 wrote:

>> I do very much love when you post, Jolly Roger.
>>
>> *You give me excellent insight into the mind of the average iOS user.*
> ok lets say i have a ssh ramdisk and i boot into the rmdisk
> i ssh and i land up in localhost:root.
> what do i type in the teminal to go to applications folder to see the setup.app and delete it

Hi dablakmark8
I know nothing about you so I will assume you are an adult and not an iKook
who is just wasting everyone's time because you hate that iOS is crippled.

Also, I no longer see the entire set of referrer IDs you've quoted (e.g.,
Jolly Roger, Alan Baker, Bob Campbell, and a ton of others are plonked).

Hence, I see your post in the middle of what appears to be nothing.
So I don't know what exactly led up to your query other than your words.

Graciously assuming your question is faithful (which it probably isn't
since the people you're responding to are starting with "eat chit" for
saying facts about Apple, then you need to do two simple things to even
begin to arrive at the point where you can _ask_ that question of me for me
to work with you on that specific task (because I have to load Ubuntu to
test it again with that specific scenario for you).
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios070.jpg> If you know a trick
<http://img4.imagetitan.com/img.php?image=18_ios080.jpg> This is the trick!

Here's what you need to do, if you are an adult and if you're sincere.
STEP 1: Do those steps
STEP 2: Post a screenshot of your results

Then we can proceed as adults (and not as the child-like Apple iKooks).
--
PS: An example of how well we work together as a team on the adult
operating system newsgroups is this thread below, which once you have
iKooks involved, it turns into a food-throw because, well, because iKooks.

Quick Tutorial: How to seamlessly integrate a mobile phone with your desktop using webdav, adb & scrcpy freeware
<https://groups.google.com/g/alt.comp.microsoft.windows/c/M4QMk2u6k2c>

[Ryker Zion]