SDB:KDE Connect

KDE Connect is a project that aims to allow intercommunication of all your devices. For example, with KDE Connect you can receive your phone notifications on your computer, receive notifications from your computer onto your phone or just use your phone as a remote control for your desktop. To achieve this, KDE Connect implements a secure communication protocol over the network. KDE Connect has provisions for any developer to create plugins on top of the protocol to further extend its capabilities. Currently there are KDE Connect clients on KDE, Android and Blackberry. iPhone support is forthcoming.

Tested on openSUSE

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Installation

KDE Connect is available for openSUSE Leap and Tumbleweed from the main repository. If you use a desktop environment other than KDE's Plasma, you might also want to install indicator-kdeconnect, that provides a system tray as a GUI for other desktops. Use the following instructions, should you need to install it.

openSUSE Direct Install

https://software.opensuse.org/package/kdeconnect-kde

Terminal Install

Instructions for copy/paste into a terminal such as Konsole.

sudo zypper in kdeconnect-kde

Android Installation

The app for Android can be found in both the Google Play Store and the free store F-Droid.

Firefox Extension

If you are a Firefox user, this extension might be of your interest.

Configuration

In order for the secure communication to take place, ports in the firewall have to be opened up.

openSUSE Firewall Port Modifications

Open the YaST Control Center
Select Firewall
Within the Firewall configuration window, select the zone public
In the services tab, select kdeconnect-kde and then click Add
Finally, click Accept

The Firewall Service settings will save and the service will restart.

Firewalld Port Modification

The easiest way to configure firewalld is through the terminal. The other effective way is to install firewall-config and use that interface.

Terminal

Note the zone of your current interface. With Plasma, this is done within the Network Manager. If you do not specify the zone of the interface, it defaults to public. The example below is adjusting the default zone using the kdeconnect service file for firewalld (/usr/lib/firewalld/services/kdeconnect-kde.xml). This service holds the list of ports required for a proper operation. For most user cases, this is an acceptable default.

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=public --permanent --add-service=kdeconnect-kde
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

GSConnect

If you are using GSConnect gnome extension to connect to your mobile phone you need to the following changes in your firewall setting.

In the YaST2 firewall you need to add your wifi card to the public zone.
Afterwards go to the public zones configuration and open tab Ports.
Add port range 1714-1764 to TCP and UDP.

Graphical Interface

The packaged firewall-config must be installed to make this modification.

sudo zypper install firewall-config

Run the application firewall-config
Enter the root password
The Configuration for modification defaults under Runtime. Any changes you make will only affect the current Runtime of the machine
Note the Zone that the network is running and ensure that the current zone is selected under the Zones tab.
In the Services tab, locate and check kdeconnect-kde in the window.
In the Ports tab, click on Add to add the following ports
- Port/Port Range: 1714-1764, Protocol: tcp
- Port/Port Range: 1714-1764, Protocol: udp
If you would like to make this change permanent under the selected Zone, select Options > Runtime to Permanent
If no further changes to the firewall are required, close the Configuration window, changes are immediate.

The Firewall adjustments are complete.

Reload the Firewall by Selecting Options > Reload Firewalld

Android Configuration

Set the device name to something that makes sense that you will recognize. This is important for the pairing process.

Pairing Devices

Most networks should allow automatic discovery of the devices running KDE Connect. Here are some things you can try if it is not automatically discovering:

From any device, select Request Pair. Note: When pairing from Desktop to Android, be sure you are within the Android KDE Connect application.

Should the device not show up due to services being blocked by the network you can add a device by IP. On the Android device select, from the menu, Add a Device by IP.

Once paired, scroll through the options to determine how much information you want communicated back and forth between devices.

Troubleshooting

Devices are running KDE Connect, but they can't see each other

Ensure that the devices in question are on the same network
Ensure the necessary firewall ports have been opened. If they have been opened, try restarting the firewall daemon using the YaST Firewall Tool
Go to KDE Connect Settings (on Android and/or openSUSE) and manually refresh the devices

KDE Connect crashes or restarts when trying to pair with another device

Some times, a corrupt config file may cause KDE Connect to crash when trying to pair with a device. In that case, deleting the config file might help.

~/.kde4/share/config/kdeconnectrc

~/.config/kdeconnect

The devices suddenly stop communicating

If both devices are on the network and the firewall is properly configured but no notifications are being displayed one or the other may device have fallen asleep. Likely the service stopped or was suspended on the mobile device.

Open the KDE Connect settings on either device and ping the opposite or select Refresh to force connection.

Development

If you are interested in contributing to KDE Connect, please join the mailing list of the project. You might also want to read Albert Vaca's development blog.

You can find the sources in the following repositories:

https://projects.kde.org/projects/extragear/network/kdeconnect-android/repository

https://projects.kde.org/projects/extragear/network/kdeconnect-kde/repository

Mailing list

https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kdeconnect

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