Xubuntu FTP LAN server help

[BRoughley488]

So i have an old computer that was just lying around, doing nothing and i got bored and wanted to try and make a FTP server with it. I put Xubuntu, because normal ubuntu is too laggy and it just breaks it. I have got it set up so it works with file explorer in windows, but i want it to display the amount of storage it has, and has left, you know, like it does when you plug a USB stick in, or with  your internal HDD/SSD, as shown in the picture that is hopefully going to attach if i can remember. As you can see in the image, the server does not show the blue bar thing and or the storage. 

 

Issue #2:

When i try and view say, a video or picture off the server, it re-downloads it onto the device, is there anyway i can get it to just stream to the device?

[Jarsky]

10 hours ago, BRoughley488 said:

So i have an old computer that was just lying around, doing nothing and i got bored and wanted to try and make a FTP server with it.

Why not just create a CIFS share since its on LAN? its far more user friendly than FTP and more secure (since i assume you arent doing SFTP)

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I put Xubuntu, because normal ubuntu is too laggy and it just breaks it.

Literally the only difference between Xubuntu and Ubuntu is the XDesktop environment. It uses the Gnome IDE vs XFCE. Not sure why it would be laggy of breaking

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I have got it set up so it works with file explorer in windows, but i want it to display the amount of storage it has, and has left

FTP doesnt do that

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Issue #2:

When i try and view say, a video or picture off the server, it re-downloads it onto the device, is there anyway i can get it to just stream to the device?

 

No, because FTP doesn't do that. It is only a file transfer. 

 

In summary - set up a SMB/CIFS share. 

Heres how to do it from the GUI, i imagine its similar for the latest versions: http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2015/02/share-a-folder-in-ubuntu-14-04/

They have this tutorial as well which uses the terminal: https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/install-and-configure-samba#1

[jake9000]

If you want a dead simple setup consider using Turnkey. Just grab the ISO and install it like any other OS. Has sensible defaults and can be configured from a GUI. 

https://www.turnkeylinux.org/fileserver