I bought an MT300N-V2 to use as a NAS in remote areas of East Africa where there is no reliable internet connection.
The goal is to share educational materials in pdf from a USB to someone with a basic smart phone. After a lot of work I’ve managed to acccess it off my android phone but had to download another file explorer which allowed me to connect in through the network. This is too complicated and where there is no internet, they can’t access playstore for a new file manager.
Is there a simple (ish) way of doing this, maybe logging into an open network then accessing the storage through a browser. I saw a GLNET device doing this some time back and assumed it would work without too much difficulty. I was so wrong! Or there again, maybe I’m just going the wrong route
You will note post is in laymans language. There is a reason for that. I’m however not afraid to dig and try. Can anyone help me please?
I recommend using ftp, which is supported by most mobile browsers. Of course, this protocol is not preset in the firmware and requires some work to support it.
I am not an employee of GL iNet, but from my experience, out of the box, GL iNet routers are not designed to be a multiple-platform simple browser based file share. They will do Samba shares, which works with Windows and Mac systems, but this is not always simple for non-Windows systems, like Android.
Although the MT300N-V2 hardware could handle being a simple Web server, using http to deliver files via a WEB browser client, this functionality is not part of the GL iNet firmware. As the MT300N-V2 can also use the OpenWRT firmware which now supports the uHTTPd WEB server, which with some programing could be made into a WEB based file share, and could be a fun project for a student or programmer, it is not something a layman could probably do without help.
By itself, I don’t thing the MT300N-V2 is the solution for your problem.
Hello!
I don’t know for sure, not having internet is quite difficult for everyone.
But you can try to put a USB stick in the USB port of the router, put your files on it and share with samba. From my own experience I know that most xiaomi have an explorer that allows access to remote folders via Wi-Fi, I do it myself with my router (Slate AR750S or AR750 Creta) but I don’t know for other cell phones without a specific application downloaded, such as ES Explorer.
To pass applications you need to have a Zapya type application in yours and go passing Zapya to the others first with bluetooth (slow) and then the browser applications for the other phones with Zapya (fast). It is how we did it in my country that there was no internet a short time ago.
But you need internet connection at least to install samba files for router and download Zapya and ES Explorer. After that internet is not necessary I think.
@luochongjun I think this is the way to go. I’m reaching out to some friends who may be able to walk me through this. @David I like the idea of a bluetooth transfer first, I’ll look into that
If I get a solution I’ll post.
Hi everyone, I got it working as a web based file share on a LAN. After some serious circling I ended up with this.
1) Access through an IP address, I made mine simple and memorable for ease of access.
2) Create a symbolic link from the USB to the /www directory. That way the webserver can find it easily. Having got that far a short html code with a few download links does the rest.
3) Change the landing page
Now anyone with a basic smart phone can download with no other apps required and no slow bluetooth connections!