Exploring the JDS Linux Desktop

Different Networking Protocols Available in JDS

Suppose you edited a chapter in a book and wanted to transfer the file from one computer to another. You look at the file and see that it takes up 15 megabytes. You can’t put the file on a floppy disk and walk it over to the other computer. The file is too big. You can’t email the file because your Internet Service Provider only lets you send files up to 10 megabytes. What do you do?

The first researchers on the Internet asked similar questions as the one above. Linux, the underlying operating system for the Java Desktop System, embodies some of the best and most advanced solutions to these questions. You will find numerous tools in JDS to accomplish tasks associated with network protocols.

Let’s examine the situation of transferring the file from your computer to another. People have used File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to move documents from one computer to another for years. JDS provides Secure FTP (SFTP) in the event you want to move a file from one computer on your network to another.

In Figure 4-19, one person uses SFTP to transfer a file from a Mac OS X to a home directory on JDS.

Figure 4-19. Using SFTP to transfer a file