Synchronizing

[keaft]

Snip

 

[Pickle]

theres a problem called rsync on linux that does file syncronation, but ive never used it.

 

[lulzfish]

If the Pandora and the computer are on the same network, you could do this wirelessly through SSHFS. I don't know much about sharing a folder over USB connection, though. If the Pandora can mount the computer into its filesystem, accessing anything attached to the computer would be pretty easy.

 

[javaJake]

You plug your flash key into your Pandora and the computer starts looking for drivers for it and then the computer can access the memory of the flashkey and vice versa.
You'll be able to access your SDHC cards when you plug in the Pandora... I think. Don't quote me on that.

Or you plug a printer into your computers usb port and you print through your Pandora.
This will require CUPS, and I doubt that'll be installed by default. Should be an easy add, though.

Or you have a GPS USB dongle, camera, Wifi USB dongle (could increase your Pandora's Wifi distance), in either your Pandora or your computer and both could use them.
Here's a tricky one. This would require some sort of USB fake hub drivers or something similar on the host PC. I guess you could have the PC act like a big USB hub, except the PC's USB ports are all set up to receive USB connections (host mode) by default, not request them (gadget mode) from other devices. Yea, this would require some major hacking.

Would that be possible? Maybe this could be some sort of plugin for VNC...
VNC is meant to allow you to access a PC's screen. If you're talking about file transfer, it'd be easier to set up an sshfs connection (Linux) or a network share (Windows).

 

[sindbad]

Hardware in general is not designed to be used by two computers (or two OSes in the case of VMs) at the same time. You could make the computer a router for the pandora and the other way around though.

 

[bzar]

Sounds like a "usb over ip". I'm no expert by any means, but I see two ways this could be done, and both have big problems.

1) Low-level, raw usb data transported over a network. Many devices would work funky because of the added delay (greater latency and lower bandwidth).

2) High-level, devices would be shared as abstractions and the host system would handle the device-level communication. New devices would need explicit support from the system, which would hinder the systems usefulness. Lower bandwidth would still make many devices work badly.