Is there a step-by-step guide to transfer files between two Linux computers?

[strixtux]

There is a way for direct ethernet-to-ethernet transfer, what you need is an inverted ethernet cable which put out1 to in2 and vice versa. With a regular cable this ain't gonna work. You can get such a cable for USB as well. Might turn out much easier than readjusting all software...

[Morbius1]

Before you run out and try to find crossover cables how old are these two machines?

From Wikipedia:

Automatic crossover

Main article: Medium Dependent Interface § Auto MDI-X
Introduced in 1998, this made the distinction between uplink and normal ports and manual selector switches on older hubs and switches obsolete.^[4] If one or both of two connected devices has the automatic MDI/MDI-X configuration feature, there is no need for crossover cables.

[Morbius1]

OK, I just did this based on Dennis N's posted link for two reasons:

[1] The procedure sounded very familiar to me.
[2] It is the least disruptive method outlined so far and easily reversed.

** I connected an Ethernet cable between two machines.
** On each machine I disconnected the network - through the network manager - and edited my connection method to Local-Link Only
** Then I enabled the Wired connection again.
** Since both Linux machines use avahi I opened up a terminal on one machine and ran:

thunar smb://xub1710.local

And I was able to connect to that machine, enter it's share, and add a file.

In your case so as to reduce your degrees of freedom I would install ssh of both machines before I started all this and connect to them with ssh not smb:

thunar ssh://xub1710.local

I am a Xubuntu user so replace:

thunar with whatever your file manager is called
xub1710 with whatever your host name is called on the other machine - and don't forget to add the ".local" at the end.

When I was done with transferring files I reset the network method back to where it was before and restarted the network connection.

[sonicking]

Hi. Thank you for everyone's help. I have done what I needed. I am going to provide my own step-by-step guide and hope the next person can benefit.

1) When both of your computers are still connected to the Internet, install openssh-server by typing in the Terminal:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

2) Plug your Ethernet cable to both computers to link them physically.

3) Do the following on BOTH computers:

Click on the NetworkManager icon (the one that indicates you are connected to the Internet), you want to disconnect the Wireless connection*.
Then you click Network Connections and a small window will appear. Select the Wired connection under Ethernet. Click on the Edit button. Another window will appear. Select the IPv4 Settings tab. Choose Manual in the Method dropdown. Under Addresses, click the Add button. For computer 1, enter 192.168.1.1 in Address and 255.255.255.0 in Netmask. Then Save. For computer 2, enter 192.168.1.2 in Address and 255.255.255.0 in Netmask. Then Save.

*I am not sure whether disconnecting the wireless connection is necessary. But I did it.

4) In the Terminal, test things about by pinging each other. On computer 2, you type:

$ ping 192.168.1.1

Then you will should see:

PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.473 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.474 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.779 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.589 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.423 ms

You can stop this by hitting Ctrl and C together.

Similarly, you can ping computer 2 from computer 1.

5) Now you are ready to transfer files by typing this in the Terminal

scp /home/aaron/Downloads/introcast0703.pdf ann@192.168.1.1:/home/ann/Downloads

In my command, aaron is the user in computer2. ann is the user in computer1. This is sending a pdf file from Aaron's computer2 to Ann's computer1. When you enter this command, you will be asked if you want to continue connecting. You type yes and hit enter.
Then you will be asked for Ann's user password on computer2. You enter that password.

This is all.

[sonicking]

To reinstate the computers back to their original states.

On the NetworkManager icon, you want to reconnect the Wireless connection.
Then you click Network Connections and a small window will appear. Select the Wired connection under Ethernet. Click on the Edit button. Another window will appear. Select the IPv4 Settings tab. Choose Automatic(DHCP) in the Method dropdown.

[HermanAB]

Modern ethernet Phi (everything made in this century) will reverse the tx and rx wires and allow two computers to connect when using a 1:1 cable. A cross-over cable is not needed.

[lighthousebeacon]

If it helps, I use a small utility program called FreeFileSync, to move in bulk files and folders from my main rig to backup rig. Works a treat. I know you mentioned nitroshare but just adding my 2 cents worth. Might help. Cheers

[sonicking]

Modern ethernet Phi (everything made in this century) will reverse the tx and rx wires and allow two computers to connect when using a 1:1 cable. A cross-over cable is not needed.

Yes, I can attest to this. I just used the free Ethernet cable from Verizon.

[sonicking]

Ok, this sucks.

The steps I posted before were working.

Then tonight I upgraded one of the computers to Mint 19.1 (Tessa), those same steps do not work again!

Can someone provide any suggestion??? Thanks.

[HermanAB]

Well, the least hassle method, is to ensure that sshd is running on one or both of the machines and then use scp.