OS X <==> Debian file transfer via USB cable?
 

I don't have a computer with OS X to test this out, but will need this in future: Is transfering files back and forth between OS X and Debian fairly easy to accomplish? ie. Will a folder pop up on both desktops, as soon as they are both plugged in, to transfer files into? Debian computer has USB 1.2 the other I assume whatever 3-year old OS X laptops have. No risk to damager the machines? No imcompatibility with filesystems? (Debian has ext3).

While I can't say for sure, as I have not tried, I really doubt it is going to be as easy as plugging in a cable and having folders pop up on the machine's desktops.

From my understanding, you need to configure TCP/IP over USB, and then transfer the actual files with conventional protocols (SMB, FTP, SSH, HTTP, etc, etc).

In terms of drivers, both operating systems should pick up the cable as a USB networking device immediately, but the rest is likely going to be manual.

if you don't have a hub/router, maybe connect the two using a crossover cable and samba?

or maybe it would be easier to just use a cheap USB keychain drive.

I would recommend using OpenSSH's secure copy program, since that is the simplest and most secure method for moving files between Unix boxes. Another option would be to use NFS. Mac OS X and Debian both have full support for it. If you use NFS or SSH, they will handle all translation, so filesystem type won't be an issue. I'm assuming you have some way of networking these machines, right?