A regular USB-C cable cannot link two USB hosts directly — the only way a plain USB-C cable works host-to-host is when both ports are USB4 or Thunderbolt 3/4, which Linux supports through the thunderbolt-net driver (it appears as an Ethernet-like interface, e.g. thunderbolt0) (kernel.org, ThunderboltNet docs).
Good news for your sender: every Framework Laptop 13 has Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 ports (Intel models: all four expansion slots; AMD models: the two rear slots) (Framework KB). So everything depends on the receiver: it needs a USB4/TB3/TB4 port too. Debian 13's kernel ships thunderbolt-net out of the box.
USB-C host-to-host file transfer (sender → receiver)
Confirm the receiver has a USB4 / Thunderbolt 3+4 port (mandatory for a direct cable link)
Connect the two machines with a certified USB4 / Thunderbolt 40 Gbps cable
On sender (Framework 13): use one of the USB4/TB4 ports
On receiver: use its USB4/TB port, not a USB 3.2-only port
Check that a thunderbolt network interface appeared (lsmod | grep thunderbolt_net, then ip link — look for thunderbolt0)
If missing, load the driver on both machines: sudo modprobe thunderbolt-net
Give both ends an IP (NetworkManager usually auto-configures link-local, otherwise: sudo ip addr add 10.0.0.1/24 dev thunderbolt0 && sudo ip link set thunderbolt0 up on sender, 10.0.0.2 on receiver)
On receiver: make sure openssh-server is running (sudo systemctl enable --now ssh)
On sender: transfer the file: scp /path/to/file <user>@10.0.0.2:/destination/ (or rsync -P for large files)
Practical notes:
Use a certified 40 Gbps USB4/TB4 cable (e.g. the one Framework bundles with the laptop) — a cheap USB-2/charging cable will enumerate nothing.
GNOME/NetworkManager usually auto-configures the new thunderbolt0 interface with a link-local IPv4 (169.254.x.x) on both sides; you can also just set static IPs as in the checklist, then scp or rsync the file.
Expect roughly 10–20 Gbit/s of real throughput — a file that would take minutes over Wi-Fi transfers in seconds.
If the receiver has no USB4/TB port: a direct USB-C link is not possible. Options then are a USB "data transfer" bridge cable (chip like PL27A1 — appears as a network adapter on both ends), a USB stick, or just the local network/WLAN (easiest with GNOME's built-in file sharing).
Oct 26, 10:08pm
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