this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2026
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101
Decimen Lets You Send Files Through Light, Not a Network (linuxiac.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by new_otters_raft@piefed.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world
30 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm not sure when I'd use this, but its a neat concept

Decimen is an open-source web app that moves files between devices through an animated QR stream, requiring no direct network connection, pairing, account, or native app.

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[–] artwork@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

A relatively similar tech, though no actual graphics are involved like QR-code images, and hence may be more energy efficient, is of course - Infrared Data Association (IrDA).

Some may still recall the Symbian, music/picture/game files transferred slowly but awesomely between friends/partners watching devices carefully aligned on windowsills, tables...

IrDA is a wireless standard designed for data transmission using infrared (IR). Infrared ports for this purpose have been implemented in portable electronic devices such as mobile telephones, laptops, cameras, printers, and medical devices.

The main characteristics of this kind of wireless optical communication are short-range, physically secure and bidirectional data transfer, at serial cable speeds, with a line-of-sight using point-and-shoot principles. IrDA has been made dormant by newer improved technologies like Bluetooth.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IrDA

[–] thehatfox@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

I remember IrDA, I also remember it being frustratingly slow and unreliable.

Visible light data transfer isn’t new either. The Timex Datalink watches were using flashing coloured patterns on a PC monitor to send data to them in the 90s.

[–] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I remember when I learned how to transfer files from my IBM Thinkpad running Windows 98 to my Compaq iPaq pocket pc over the built in IR transmitters. It worked, albeit very slowly.

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 weeks ago

The modern version is called Li-Fi. It's capable of multi gigabit speeds. There doesn't seem to be much that actually uses it though.

[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 4 points 2 weeks ago

There's an app, Petit Computer/SmileBasic, available on Nintendo consoles since the DSi and Wii (then had 3DS, wii U and switch version). It's a programming language that has a lot of features using the target console's input/output capabilities (touch screen, 3D, gyroscopes, etc).

On 3DS there was a feature to share files (code, image...) through the app's server, but some wanted to be able to share their stuff in other ways, so they didn't depend on the app server or so they could share locally with a PC for example.

Someone made a modem kind of program with it to transform the file into a sound sequence, emit it, receive it on another device through mic and retransform it to file. Max transfer rate 92 bytes per second with error checking.