How to Share Folders on Home Network in Manjaro Linux

How to Share Folders on Home Network in Manjaro Linux

My purpose of sharing files or folders over home network is to allow me to move away from the PC desk and watch any PC video files either on a tablet or on a TV. Sitting properly before a PC monitor to watch a large video file is sometimes quite tiresome and cannot be compared to the comfort of sitting on a sofa and watch it on a tablet or TV.

Previously, sharing a folder using Samba in Linux was quite troublesome, not as easy as that for Windows. But as time goes by and technique evolves, it is now just an easy job, particularly on Manjaro Linux with a Gnome desktop environment. The procedures are like these.

In the Gnome desktop of Manjaro, goto Settings and select Sharing. Turn on the sharing function by clicking the button at the top right corner.

To share a media folder, choose Media Sharing. You will see there are default shared folders: Music, Pictures and Videos. You may copy and paste your videos to these default shared folder, say Videos, then you can start watching. If you want to share files other than these, scroll down the menu until you see the Add(+) sign.

Clicking on the + sign, a window will pop up allowing you to browse through your computer to choose the folders that you want to share. If you want the folder, say, “Violin and Cello Sonata” to be shared, select it. After that, turn on the Wired connection 1 Button to enable the sharing process.
 

Done!

How to watch a video with a tablet (VLC Player)

Launch the VLC Player in an android device (say, Samsung Tablet), tab on the Menu icon (三）and choose Local Network

The following screen will appear

Choose kai’s media on kai-ms7a74, the following screen will appear

Choose Files & Folders, two shared folders appear

Open any of the folders, and click on any item (video) inside the folder, the video will be played on VLC as below

How to watch on a TV

To watch it on TV, I need a TV Box because my TV is not a smart one. Nowadays, TV Boxes are very chap on Taobao, with no more than a 100 bucks, you can get a quite good one:

On the TV Box, just install the VLC Player and follow the procedures as that a tablet above, then you can view the video clips your TV.

Note:

I have found that sharing folders other than the defaulted ones, Music, Pictures and Videos, is not a once and for all business. That is, if you share a folder this time, the next time you reboot your computer, you will not find your shared folder. A way to get around this, is to delete the shared folder and add it again to the shared list before watching it.