Share the library on your network
Share your library with the phones, tablets and computers in the house as web pages, with an optional access code — and keep serving it while Portman2 is closed.
The LAN server pane serves the library as web pages to the other devices in the house — see Phones and the LAN — and gives them the Live view of whatever this app is showing. One server covers every library on this computer that is turned on for it.
Running it
- Run the server on this machine — the main switch. Starting it on a network Windows calls public asks first: Start anyway or Cancel.
- Port — the port it listens on, from 1024 to 65535.
- Require an access code — off by default. On, a code is shown with a button to generate a new one, and the addresses below carry it.
- Let the household browse this library — off, the server does not list this library or open it, even with the code. Other libraries are unaffected.
Changing the port or the access code restarts a running server and drops whoever is watching. If another Portman2 on this computer is already running the server, the pane says so: it serves this library too.
Where to open it
Open on another device lists the addresses, each with a copy button and Open in browser, and how many live viewers are connected. Where it is reachable lists the networks this computer is on. A Tailscale address reaches every device on your tailnet, from anywhere; never turn on Tailscale Funnel for this port.
Windows Firewall asks to allow Portman2 the first time the server starts; declining blocks it silently. Installing the background host writes the rule instead.
Serve when the app is closed
The background host is a service that serves the LAN and exchanges changes with the household's other computers whether or not Portman2 is open — one per computer, covering every library. The pane shows whether it is Registered, Running, has its Firewall rule, is Up to date with this build, and its Last sync. Install…, Repair the registration and Uninstall each need one administrator prompt, and say what they would change first. Show the log shows the host's log.
When the host needs a network share's password to reach a library, the pane offers to give it one, replace it, or forget it.