How can I transfer large files from Linux to iPad over a cable or wifi?

I am looking for a way to transfer large files to the iPad without using iTunes or pushing to and pulling from a remote server. I run an Ubuntu laptop as my only OS at the moment and want to be able to transfer movies to my iPad. I currently transfer most of my files by way of the dropbox app which works well for small files but is quite slow for larger files and eats up my bandwidth. Ideally I'd like to be able to transfer over a cable or through WiFi. Thanks for any tips.