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John Rose
Asked: 2014-02-28 06:51:20 +0800 CST

Getting MTP-enabled Moto G to work with Ubuntu 12.04

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I'm not allowed to comment, so I can't ask why my MotoG phone won't connect with my Ubuntu 12.04 64bit desktop. I've installed Phillip Langdale's ppa & packages for gvfs MTP backend. It didn't pickup my phone when connected by USB. So I followed the advice (given by @Glutanimate) in: Getting MTP enabled devices to work with Ubuntu? i.e. I downloaded & installed the referred-to mtp packages. Still no success. Ideas please.

12.04

2 Answers

  1. The way you can automount your gadget is installing gvfs, using Synaptic package manager, or any other. Most of the made-in-china stuff use the MTP protocol, so you can mount it by installing the add-in supporting that. Try this:

    $ sudo apt-get install gvfs [press enter key, enter sysadmin pwd and enter]
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  2. A few days ago I've got a similar situation in Elive Linux and a Garmin Vivoactive 3. This is my solution (not working for newer Sony Xperia phones so far, but I think you could get lucky with a MotoG):

    Android moved from USB Mass storage to MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). MTP is a successor of PTP, what is used mostly for picture transfer from digital cameras to pc/laptop. With USB Mass Storage you’ll need to mount the filesystem in your operating system. Since the most filesystems are not very great at concurrent read/write operations, you’d need to umount the filesystem from your digicam, mobile phone or other embedded device. With MTP as protocol (interface) you can access files on the device without the umount/mount orgies.

    To use MTP on elive, I’ll suggest to install the packages jmtpfs and mtp-tools.

    ~>>> sudo apt-get install jmtpfs mtp-tools

    Connect your mobile phone via USB and run mtp-detect. In case of a Sony Xperia X, the phone needs to be unlocked (home screen). Else the output is something like:

    ~ ❯❯❯ mtp-detect
libmtp version: 1.1.3

Listing raw device(s)
Device 0 (VID=0fce and PID=01e0) is UNKNOWN.
Please report this VID/PID and the device model to the libmtp development team
   Found 1 device(s):
   0fce:01e0 @ bus 5, dev 4
[...]
usb_clear_halt() on INTERRUPT endpoint: No such device
usb_open(): No such file or directory
LIBMTP PANIC: Could not init USB on second attempt
Unable to open raw device 0
OK.

    If the screen got locked after one connect, it’s no problem. The unlocked screen shows something like:

    ~ ❯❯❯ mtp-detect
libmtp version: 1.1.3

Listing raw device(s)
Device 0 (VID=0fce and PID=01e0) is UNKNOWN.
Please report this VID/PID and the device model to the libmtp development team
   Found 1 device(s):
   0fce:01e0 @ bus 5, dev 5
Attempting to connect device(s)
Android device detected, assigning default bug flags
[.. a lot of lines ..]
MTP-specific device properties:
   Friendly name: Xperia X
   Synchronization partner: (NULL)
   Battery level 58 of 100 (58%)
libmtp supported (playable) filetypes:
   Audio Video Interleave
   Folder
   Text file
   HTML file
   RIFF WAVE file
   ISO MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3
   JPEG file
   BMP bitmap file
[...]
   Abstract Playlist file
   XML file
   Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
OK.

    Now you’ll need a writable directory. /mnt/tmp doesn’t work, so I’m using a directory in home.

    >>> mkdir -p ~/android/
>>> jmtpfs ~/android/

    [.. now do what you want, using a shell or a filemanager ..]

    >>> fusermount -u ~/android/

    (alternative 'sudo umount /home/[user]/android', see 'mount')

    It is also helpful to use the ‘Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music’, that is using MTP to transfer Music via MTP

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