As you can tell by my user name, I prefer the GUI route. In this case, I was wondering why some distros have the option to share a folder across a network and some don’t. I think that it has to do with the file manager, maybe? Maybe samba is involved in the process? I would like a small footprint distro that has the ability to right click on a folder, go to permissions, and check share and be done. Can someone explain and/or give some suggestions for a distro?
More experienced voices may chime in but here’s my go,
Distro and DE maintainers include only the software they anticipate their users will want pre-installed. Depending on the target audience that may be a fully comprehensive and configured GUI or something more barebones.
Most software that isn’t pre-installed should be available in the software repositories that were chosen during installation. There’s also Appimages, Flatpaks, Snaps, PPAs, pip install, ect as popular methods to obtain software from alternative sources.
On sharing folders i’m very terminal centric so I don’t know of a GUI method off-hand (I’d personally be using SSHFS though Samba has advantages). It sounds like you’re looking for an extension of whatever file manager you’re using (Thunar, Dolphin, ect).
The GUI sharing app I know of is Teleport which is drag and drop:
Flatpak: Teleport | Flathub
Snap: Install Teleport on Linux | Snap Store
Knowing your Distro, DE (Gnome/XFCE/KDE/ect) would help for a recommendation.
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So, I’ve done some file sharing on my home network. Gnome has an option that needs to be enabled (seems like I remember it was off by default). MATE and Pop_os were similar.
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I currently have a Plex server installed on an old HP machine. It has MX Linux on it. I have a ton of movies on a separate portable hard drive. The HP has a 300gb hard drive. I need a small footprint distro for the space (getting the most movies and shows on it without using up all of the space). I haven’t figured out how to get a separate drive (usb) to be able to share via the HP so I’m stuck with the installed hard drive and it’s capacity. Keep in mind, I can copy and paste into the command line. I have even done some basic BASH scripting, but I would like to keep it command line (I’m learning, but I believe the future and expansion of Linux is going to have to be GUI based programs). I would like to explain to someone in the future on how to do this without telling them to open up a terminal. Anyways, that is my predicament. Any help would be appreciated. Even links to tutorials would help.
I really just need a small footprint distro with SAMBA (GUI) installed that is Debian/Ubuntu based. I guess other distros would work, but I’m more familiar with apt in terminal if need be.