Previously I've showed you how to set up a home network with Ubuntu. Once your network is set up, it's easy to transfer files from one computer to another using Gnome's standard file manager, Nautilus.

Nautilus has a built-in feature to support SFTP. SFTP is a secure file transfer protocol. It's basically a combination of SSH (secure shell) and FTP (file transfer protocol). SFTP is a convenient way securely transfer files from one computer to another over the network.

For example, say you have some files on your laptop that you would like to transfer to your desktop computer. Sure, you could always copy the files to a flash drive and then copy them onto your desktop. However, it's much quicker to just transfer the files directly.

Say your desktop's IP address on your network is 192.168.2.2. Just open Nautilus on your laptop and enter

in the address bar. You may get a warning pop-up at this point. If so, click Log In Anyway. At this point you should get prompted for your userID and password. Enter them and you're in.

Now it's just as easy as cut and paste in Nautilus to transfer files on your network.