KDEConnect vs MozillaVPN (Kitten)

Sat Sep 11 06:36:40 BST 2021

Hi,

Here are a couple of guides. I don't personally use any of the apps 
mentioned in them, so I can't directly recommend them.
SSH: 
https://askubuntu.com/questions/321187/how-do-i-connect-to-ubuntu-from-android
Ping: 
https://superuser.com/questions/586469/how-to-ping-an-ip-address-from-an-android-device

The SSH instructions suggests to use `ifconfig` to get the IP address. 
`ip -4 addr` will give you (somewhat) clearer output. Either way, it 
will probably return several. Feel free to try each of them in the 
Android app and see if one works.

However, I suspect that we're both correct and MozillaVPN is acting "as 
designed" and preventing local traffic.

The OpenVPN solution described in the wiki is sort of the reverse of 
what you're trying to do... It contains steps to connect two devices 
/using/ the VPN, while you're trying to use your local network to 
connect the devices /in spite of/ the VPN. I don't know much about 
MozillaVPN, but from what I have read it doesn't offer device to device 
connections so probably it can't do the same thing.

Not to speak badly about MozillaVPN, but if it's not treating you well 
you can always try something else. It's an open market :).

Thanks,
Simon

On 9/10/21 10:58 AM, Kitten wrote:
> Simon,
> I'm not sure how to ssh or ping, except from pinging within KDEConnect. If you know what to google to get a tutorial about this, can I ask for direction? I'll also look into it on my own but it may be redundant now. Additionally, I'm not sure which IP Address to plug into KDEConnect. Is there anything I can use to help me identify the correct one? This might be the workaround I need.
>
> I'm almost certain the issue is stemming from MozillaVPN at this point. It's just a nightmare getting support. The VPN does indeed route all traffic through itself, and supposedly has a way to blacklist apps from itself (restricting app permissions) but that either doesn't seem to be enough, or I need to blacklist more programs.
>
> Barking up a different tree, do you know if it's possible to use the OpenVPN solution described on the userbase wiki on top of MozVPN? Even if it's the case that this is possible, I'm somewhat in the dark about how to do that as well.
> Thank you,
> ktn.
>
> Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
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> On Friday, September 10th, 2021 at 4:00 AM, <kdeconnect-request at kde.org> wrote:
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>> Today's Topics:
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>> 1.  KDEConnect vs MozillaVPN (Kitten)
>> 2.  KDE CI: Applications » kdeconnect-kde » kf5-qt5
>>
>>      FreeBSDQt5.15 - Build # 348 - Still Unstable! (CI System)
>> 3.  Re: KDEConnect vs MozillaVPN (Simon Redman)
>>
>>
>> Message: 1
>>
>> Date: Thu, 09 Sep 2021 20:39:11 +0000
>>
>> From: Kitten ktttn at protonmail.com
>>
>> To: "kdeconnect at kde.org" kdeconnect at kde.org
>>
>> Subject: KDEConnect vs MozillaVPN
>>
>> Message-ID:
>>
>> YYc_K4wCHTMDzNWDOtsAlBDxzOYdw0YekE9BTHEdlrBRtyNkPBrfJHBBcb3pRtZGwHPImkvb8zfNRJpo1K67WxsUhKNdZu9Ay7ABHcS1Fwg=@protonmail.com
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>> Hi there. I'm having an issue and I don't know if it's a bug. I'm also talking to reddit (crossposted to a few different subs) and trying to talk to Mozilla.
>>
>> Here's the text of the reddit post:
>>
>>> I'm trying to get KDEConnect to connect my laptop and phone, and it works fine until I turn on MozillaVPN. I've restricted app permissions for KDEConnect in the VPN's settings on both my computer and phone (which is to say, on my laptop, checked everything but excluded KDEConnect). I've also looked into support for both programs without much luck or response, and done what I need to do in the firewall to allow KDEConnect. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm running Linux Mint MATE.
>> Is there any information I can share that would provide a clue about how to troubleshoot this?
>>
>> I have enabled local network access on both devices.
>>
>> Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.
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>> Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2021 01:20:54 +0000 (UTC)
>>
>> From: CI System noreply at kde.org
>>
>> To: kdeconnect at kde.org, kde-dashboard at kde.org
>>
>> Subject: KDE CI: Applications » kdeconnect-kde » kf5-qt5
>>
>> FreeBSDQt5.15 - Build # 348 - Still Unstable!
>>
>> Message-ID: 722582653.6742.1631236854643 at charlotte.kde.org
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>> Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2021 19:14:54 -0700
>>
>> From: Simon Redman simon at ergotech.com
>>
>> To: Kitten ktttn at protonmail.com, kdeconnect at kde.org
>>
>> Subject: Re: KDEConnect vs MozillaVPN
>>
>> Message-ID: c346457c-3810-36a4-d4e1-23ceb86754a0 at ergotech.com
>>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"; Format="flowed"
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have never looked at Mozilla VPN, but:
>>
>> Does Mozilla VPN forward all of your traffic across the VPN? Can you
>>
>> ping your phone from your computer or your computer from your phone when
>>
>> the VPN is connected? Can you SSH?
>>
>> Have you tried adding the devices by IP manually?
>>
>> Based on the materials I've found for Mozilla VPN (mostly marketing
>>
>> material, not terribly informative), I think the answer to the first
>>
>> question is "Yes", meaning for all intents and purposes the devices are
>>
>> on different networks, thus "By Design" KDE Connect won't work.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Simon
>>
>> On 9/9/21 1:39 PM, Kitten wrote:
>>
>>> Hi there. I'm having an issue and I don't know if it's a bug. I'm also
>>>
>>> talking to reddit
>>>
>>> https://www.reddit.com/r/kde/comments/pkiejc/mozillavpn_vs_kdeconnect/
>>>
>>> (crossposted to a few different subs) and trying to talk to Mozilla
>>>
>>> https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1349222.
>>>
>>> Here's the text of the reddit post:
>>>
>>>      I'm trying to get KDEConnect to connect my laptop and phone, and
>>>      it works fine until I turn on MozillaVPN. I've restricted app
>>>      permissions for KDEConnect in the VPN's settings on both my
>>>      computer and phone (which is to say, on my laptop, checked
>>>      everything but excluded KDEConnect). I've also looked into support
>>>      for both programs without much luck or response, and done what I
>>>      need to do in the firewall to allow KDEConnect. Does anyone have
>>>      any ideas? I'm running Linux Mint MATE.
>>>
>>>
>>> Is there any information I can share that would provide a clue about
>>>
>>> how to troubleshoot this?
>>>
>>> I have enabled local network access on both devices.
>>>
>>> Sent with ProtonMail https://protonmail.com/ Secure Email.
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