On each computer install the ssh package.
Then you can mount the filesystem over SFTP (stands for Ssh File Transfer Protocol) in nautilus and copy that way just like you would between drives. To access files on the other computer, open nautilus and Clik the File -> Connect to server... menu. Pick ssh from the menu/list. Put in your username for the other computer and the IP for the other computer and click connect. It should ask for your password for the laptop username you put in and then it should show the files on the laptop. (You can do this in either direction.)
This method encrypts the whole thing both ways so it is safe even over open wifi (or if you use strong passwords) even over the internet.
You can find out the IP of a computer by running ifconfig
on it. It will give you something like this:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:11:9e:58:57
inet addr:192.168.1.15 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: 2001:2038:243:de16::f4d1/64 Scope:Global
inet6 addr: fe80::237:41ff:fe9d:5237/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2874340 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:317014 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:348505532 (348.5 MB) TX bytes:127490351 (127.4 MB)
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:68246 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:68246 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:35179159 (35.1 MB) TX bytes:35179159 (35.1 MB)
Look for a line that says 'inet addr:192.168.###.###' (that does not start with 127.0.) and that is the IP address. So for the example ifconfig
output I listed, it would be 192.168.1.15 This would be the address I would use to connect to the computer I ran ifconfig
on.