Paratext Lite on a phone to help teams S/R

Question

KimB suggests that Paratext Lite on a phone can serve as a conduit for Send/Receive.

Working in a location without Internet, a team has their translation setup with solar panels. But instead of lugging the equipment when travelling to town to do a Send/Receive, they can S/R to their phone, and then just take their phone to town to sync with the Internet.
@KimB

Answer 1

I tested this out with two low-end Android phones. With a
Verbatim “Store ‘n’ Stay Nano” flash drive (USB-A with an adapter
for USB-C) I did a USB S/R from PT on my computer. Then I did S/R
from the flash drive to PT Lite on a Samsung Galaxy Express Prime
phone with Android 6.0.1. So this scenario could work! Another
flash drive, double-ended USB-A + USB-C, also worked on this
phone.

I can read the same flash drive with a file manager on my cheap
TracPhone from Walmart, but PT Lite on that phone would not
recognize either flash drive. So perhaps not all phones and all
flash drives will work. Can anyone explain why the cheaper phone does
recognize both flash drives (I can write to the drives), but
PT-Lite on that phone will not S/R to them.

I have some friends who must leave at 3am to walk 3 hours down
the mountain, then stand at the road junction to wait for a
minibus, then transfer to a second bus, to arrive in town by 8pm.
Other friends travel in a small, open speedboat to reach town.
They don’t like to carry their computers due to potential rain and
sea damage. This could be a big help.

KimB

Comments

Thank you for your patience, KimB. We have discussed how to address the issue you found where Paratext Lite failed to Send/Receive to a cheaper cell phone.

In an upcoming version, we would like to add support for wireless Send/Receive between devices that have Paratext Lite installed. At this point, this is just an idea so this capability would not be in the next version—but hopefully in the near future. This type of Send/Receive would allow two devices with Paratext Lite installed to share project data without needing to go to a USB drive or an SD card.

In the meantime, is it possible to Send/Receive to a micro SD card on your tablet that you could put in your phone? Then on your phone, you could Send/Receive to the SD card.

anon938849

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KimB:

Can anyone explain why the cheaper phone does
recognize both flash drives (I can write to the drives), but
PT-Lite on that phone will not S/R to them.

I give some input because I love the idea of send/receive via a special mobile device.

A lot has been written about different versions of Android and the access to external memory for apps, for users, for file-managers. Your question about “why” will lead you to many comments about Google and their evolving policies, and that is not so helpful.

We are at a site where we had a very expensive sat-modem running for a few years because the other option (long-distance dial-in to the capital) was even more costly and had appalling not-performance. I propose that such a special setup, like being off internet and needing to travel by boat etc. should turn the problem around:

Consider not to wait or hope or expect for good ole Paratext to cope with every special case of Android/Memory combination. Just recoice that there is now Paratext Lite and consider purchasing a dedicated PT-travel-phone (not expensive) (and a box of zip-lock-bags) which you have tested with a solid, reliable memory device (USB drive, card).

Again a personal testimony: When / if you manage to root your Android device, you have much better chances of being able to do what you want. Storing your data where you need it. Looking at all your memory. Allowing your apps to do their jobs.

Rooting is strong medication with side effects. But it would work for you, if you had a dedicated phone just for Paratext Lite. You could look at readiness for rooting before you purchase. And no banking app would refuse your phone. And not much personal data or other assets would be exposed to the often-mentioned risk of operating a rooted Android device.

Just some ideas. You guys are a reminder that West Africa has gotten cozy over the last decades… All the best. Please share anything that works for you.

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anon938849:

we would like to add support for wireless Send/Receive between devices that have Paratext Lite installed.

This sounds helpful anon938849. Does that mean one Android device would function as a hotspot and the other would connect to it? Would this also work to/from a laptop? I know that Windows 10 can create a WiFi hotspot, but I believe this only works if the Windows 10 machine is already connected to a network. If there is no network connection, the hotspot option is not available. But this doesn’t work with previous versions of Windows. I don’t know about Linux…

Have you considered a Bluetooth S/R? The idea behind this would be to connect to a computer/laptop with Bluetooth and do S/R that way, without the need for USB, SD card, or setting up a WiFi connection of some sort.

Thanks,

SIL+LSS+PNG

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KimB:

Can anyone explain why the cheaper phone does
recognize both flash drives (I can write to the drives), but
PT-Lite on that phone will not S/R to them.

KimB,

We (Ben P and I) found this to be true even with more expensive tablets/phones: I could access files using a File Manger, but PT Lite couldn’t do a USB S/R. It’s definitely something to test before investing in a phone/tablet for a project. It seems to vary per phone with not much rhyme or reason.

I’m glad that the PT Lite team is working on a solution!

SIL+LSS+PNG

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This type of Send/Receive would use ‘Wi-Fi Direct’ (a peer-to-peer connection) which all Android 4.0 (and later) devices support natively. Wi-Fi Direct doesn’t require an Internet connection but allows creating an ad-hoc network. It can provide secure connections and has a transfer range and speed which is much higher than Bluetooth.

Initially, we were planning on including this on Paratext Lite. If there is interest, it could potentially be added as a way to Send/Receive in Paratext.

anon938849

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Thanks for the further explanation. That does sound better than Bluetooth.

My main question was related to doing S/R between Paratext Lite and Paratext without having to use USB or SD cards. We’ve already discussed USB S/R being problematic on Android. SD cards can also be problematic when they require that you remove the back cover and battery from a phone (and trying to keep track of a tiny micro SD card). I’m concerned that taking apart a phone repeatedly in the village, where there’s lots of dirt and dust, may be detrimental to hardware. Especially if (or rather, when) the SD card, battery, or opened phone gets dropped in the dirt, mud, or water.

If that could be avoided with an ad-hoc network (PT Lite to PT Lite, and hopefully PT Lite to PT), that would be really great!

SIL+LSS+PNG

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Yes. As you mentioned, there are several potential problems with Send/Receive using an SD card or USB drive. At the very least, it makes Send/Receive to another device a two-step process (Send/Receive to an SD card/USB drive and then another Send/Receive from the SD card/USB drive to another device).

I have just entered a case in our issue tracking system for Paratext to also support direct wireless Send/Receive with devices that have Paratext Lite installed. There are others who will need to decide the priority of this case relative to other cases in the Paratext backlog.

anon938849

Answer 2

That’s a capital idea!

Answer 3

I’m just getting back to this topic, now that we’re back in country again and wanting to ease the difficulty of carrying a laptop to town for PT syncing by small boat. I’ve tried these methods:

(1) A colleague’s cheaper Android phone will not recognize either of two USB drives. Perhaps, even though the phone has Android 8.1 installed, it is not OTC-capable?

(2) So I looked at the WiFi Direct option, but realized it just connects between two devices running PT Lite; not between PT Lite and Paratext itself.

(3) This phone can do MTC data connection with a laptop connected by USB, so I tried to S/R that way, between PT (laptop) and PT Lite. In PT on the laptop, the phone did not appear as a USB drive, so I browsed for a network The S/R failed with an error message that I didn’t quite catch. Now when I try again I receive the following error msg.

image1198×174 27.3 KB

And now in PT Lite on the phone I get no S/R options except “S/R to Internet: RTTT”. I can’t see a way to receive the BT project (which the error screen says is locked) or any other project.

So I uninstalled PT Lite and deleted the org.paratext… folders, and received the projects via internet, but this does not accomplish my objective.

Has anyone succeeded or failed in this? I would love it if the Wi-Fi Direct could be extended to include “real” Paratext on a laptop.