link2linux 0.4.0

Photos, screen mirroring with control, ARM64 builds and a Flatpak.

Added

• Photos. The Photos page shows the newest 200 photos the phone's camera
  took and its screenshots. Open one to see it large and save it into your
  Pictures folder. Photos is off on the phone until you turn it on, and it
  asks for access to your photos only then; on Android 14 and later you
  can share only the photos you pick. The computer keeps thumbnails and
  photos in memory only, never on disk, until you save one.
• Screen mirroring. The Screen page shows your phone's screen. The phone
  asks you each time before it shares, and you can stop it from either
  device. With an H.264 decoder for GStreamer installed, such as
  gstreamer1.0-libav, the video is smooth; without one it comes as a
  series of still pictures, about 12 a second.
• Control your phone from the computer. Turn on "Allow control from your
  computer" in the phone's screen settings, and link2linux control in
  Android's accessibility settings when it asks, to
  tap, swipe, scroll and type on the phone from the Screen page, and to
  use Back, Home, Recents and the notification shade. It works only while
  you share the screen with that computer.
• Desktop builds for 64-bit ARM computers: a .deb, an .rpm and an
  AppImage. The install script picks them by itself on an ARM computer.
• The desktop app as a Flatpak bundle, for x86 and ARM. Install it with
  flatpak install --user ./link2linux.x86_64.flatpak, or with the install
  script's --flatpak. It runs in Flatpak's sandbox, where it can reach
  only your Downloads and Pictures folders. It keeps its own pairing, so
  pair your phone again after switching to it from a package.

Known limitations

• Photos, screen mirroring and control have not been tried on many phones
  yet.
• Photos lists still pictures only, not videos.
• Screen mirroring carries no sound.
• On Android 13 and later, Android blocks the accessibility service of an
  app installed from a file until you allow its restricted settings: open
  the app's info, then the three-dot menu, then "Allow restricted
  settings". The phone's screen settings explain how.
• Typing into a password field from the computer works only into an empty
  field, or one holding just what you typed from the computer.
• The Flatpak, like the AppImage, comes without the firewalld and ufw
  profiles that the .deb and .rpm install. Where a firewall blocks the
  phone's announcements, allow mDNS (UDP 5353) and UDP port 27381 yourself.

Install

Linux desktop, 64-bit x86 or ARM

Install this version in one line. It picks the .deb on Debian and Ubuntu, the
.rpm on Fedora and openSUSE, and the AppImage elsewhere, for your computer's
architecture:

curl -fsSL https://codesensei-tushar.github.io/link2linux/install.sh | L2L_VERSION=v0.4.0 sh

Or download a package below. For x86 PCs: link2linux_amd64.deb,
link2linux.x86_64.rpm, link2linux-x86_64.AppImage (which needs FUSE 2) or
link2linux.x86_64.flatpak. For ARM computers: link2linux_arm64.deb,
link2linux.aarch64.rpm, link2linux-aarch64.AppImage or
link2linux.aarch64.flatpak. Install a Flatpak bundle with
flatpak install --user ./link2linux.x86_64.flatpak; it takes the GNOME
runtime from Flathub.

Android phone, 8.0 and newer

Download link2linux.apk on the phone and open it. If Android asks, allow your
browser to install apps.

Then open link2linux on the desktop and scan the QR code it shows with the
phone.

Verify

sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing
gh attestation verify link2linux_amd64.deb --repo codesensei-tushar/link2linux

What's Changed

• Point the website at 0.3.0 by @codesensei-tushar in #239
• Add the photos and screen protocol by @codesensei-tushar in #240
• Build ARM64 packages and Flatpak bundles in releases by @codesensei-tushar in #241
• Share the phone's recent photos with the desktop by @codesensei-tushar in #242
• Show and control the phone's screen on the desktop by @codesensei-tushar in #243
• Share and control the phone's screen from the Android app by @codesensei-tushar in #244
• Fix the photos review findings on the phone by @codesensei-tushar in #245
• Fix the screen review findings on the desktop by @codesensei-tushar in #246
• Show the phone's recent photos on the desktop by @codesensei-tushar in #247
• Fix the screen review findings on the phone by @codesensei-tushar in #248
• Fix the photos review findings on the desktop and remember saved photos by @codesensei-tushar in #249
• Release 0.4.0 by @codesensei-tushar in #250

Full Changelog: v0.3.0...v0.4.0