[Solved] ZTE Z558VL phone as camera – can’t retrieve images in Linux.

[Member scruffyeagle]

I have a ZTE Z558VL cell phone, which I only use as a camera. It takes excellent pictures… But, for some reason, Linux apps can’t connect with its filing system.

When I link it to my computer via USB, zzzfm filing manager doesn’t recognize its existence. Inside the phone’s settings re. “connect to PC”, there are options for charge only, install driver, media device (MTP), & camera (PTP). None of these work for connecting to the allow retrieving images from the phone.

By contrast, when I select MTP (PTP too?), Windows 10 Pro can register the phone as an external device, and allow me to retrieve pix.

I’ve tried other file managers in Linux, and none of them seem to be able to recognize & work with this phone’s filing system. So, I always end up rebooting into Windows, for retrieving my pix from the phone. It’s an effective workaround, but it does put wear & tear on the computer’s components; also consuming extra electricity, and time.

Does anybody have any better ideas, how to get around this problem in Linux?

The 2 OS on each of my laptops are Windows 10 Pro, and AntiX (v19.4 on one, & v21.4 on the other). My main machine is the Dell Precision laptop, having the v21.4 Antix on it.

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Here’s the output from inxi -Fxxxrz:

System: Kernel: 5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 Desktop: IceWM 2.9.6 vt: 7 dm: N/A
Distro: antiX-21_x64-full Grup Yorum 31 October 2021 base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Machine: Type: Portable System: Dell product: Precision M6300 v: N/A serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 8 serial: <filter>
Mobo: Dell model: 0JM680 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A14 date: 12/06/2011
Battery: ID-1: BAT0 charge: 65.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 65.7/73.3 Wh (89.7%) volts: 12.4 min: 11.1 model: PS2 DELL 00
type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Full
CPU: Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core2 Duo T7250 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Core Merom rev: D cache: L2: 2 MiB
flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 bogomips: 7977
Speed: 1902 MHz min/max: 800/2001 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1902 2: 1553
Graphics: Device-1: NVIDIA G84GLM [Quadro FX 1600M] vendor: Dell driver: nouveau v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:040d
class-ID: 0300
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa resolution: 1400×900~60Hz
s-dpi: 96
OpenGL: renderer: NV84 v: 3.3 Mesa 20.3.5 direct render: Yes
Audio: Device-1: Intel 82801H HD Audio vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:284b
class-ID: 0403
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.57-antix.1-amd64-smp running: yes
Network: Device-1: Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5756ME Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express vendor: Dell driver: tg3 v: kernel port: df00
bus-ID: 09:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:1674 class-ID: 0200
IF: eth1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: Local Storage: total: 1.2 TiB used: 7.71 GiB (0.6%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD3200BPVT-75JJ5T0 size: 298.09 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s type: HDD
rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: 1A03 scheme: MBR
ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD My Passport 0748 size: 931.48 GiB type: N/A
serial: <filter> rev: 1019 scheme: MBR
Partition: ID-1: / size: 38.15 GiB used: 7.7 GiB (20.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda6
Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 9.77 GiB used: 3 MiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda5
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 66.0 C mobo: N/A sodimm: SODIMM C gpu: nouveau temp: 71.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0
Repos: Packages: apt: 1948
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/antix.list
1: deb http://mirrors.rit.edu/mxlinux/mx-packages/antix/bullseye bullseye main nosystemd nonfree
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bullseye-backports.list
1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-backports main contrib non-free
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
1: deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
1: deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ bullseye main contrib non-free
2: deb http://security.debian.org/ bullseye-security main contrib non-free
No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list
Info: Processes: 169 Uptime: 4h 44m wakeups: 2 Memory: 3.84 GiB used: 2.16 GiB (56.1%) Init: SysVinit v: 2.96 runlevel: 5
default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 alt: 10 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 running-in: roxterm inxi: 3.3.06

• This topic was modified 1 year ago by scruffyeagle.

[Member PPC]

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antiX comes with “Android Device USB Connect” isn’t it working with your android device?

P.

Edit: that particular app may not exist in your Operating System- I know antiX 19.4 includes it, so does antiX 21. I do not know any antiX 21.4 – I assume it’s a typo- From your system’s info, I noticed one of your OSes is “Distro: antiX-21_x64-full Grup Yorum 31 October 2021 base” – I do not know if “Android Device USB Connect” is installed in antiX base. If it isn’t, you’ll have to install that package, it’s probably included in the package “antix-goodies”

P.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by PPC.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by PPC.

[Member scruffyeagle]

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PPC wrote:

antiX comes with “Android Device USB Connect” isn’t it working with your android device?

P.

Edit: that particular app may not exist in your Operating System- I know antiX 19.4 includes it, so does antiX 21. I do not know any antiX 21.4 – I assume it’s a typo- From your system’s info, I noticed your OS is “Distro: antiX-21_x64-full Grup Yorum 31 October 2021 base” – I do not know if “Android Device USB Connect” is installed in antiX base. It it isn’t, you’ll have to install that package, it’s probably included in the package “antix-goodies”

P.

Re. v21 vs. v21.4 – I checked, and I stand corrected. Thank you!

Yes, I have that in my menu. It’s in Menu/Applications/antiX. I wasn’t sure about that program’s purpose. I’ll try it.

Update: FANTASTIC! It worked like a charm.
The only glitch was that I needed to have the phone in MTP connection mode. But, the program informed me of that need – and, was able to patiently wait while I made the adjustment, reconnect the cable, and then retry.

Thanks for your help!

IMO, We can mark this thread as “solved”.
Update: Done.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by scruffyeagle.

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