from Mongostein@lemmy.ca to linux@lemmy.ml on 15 Jul 15:44
https://lemmy.ca/post/48028749
I’m wondering if anyone has any experience with this?
I’m working on transitioning to Linux from Mac pretty casually and I’ll still be using this iPhone til it’s dead. So I’m figuring out solutions to my current computer-usage before I switch my main machine. I’d like to maintain some interoperability between my phone and desktop computer so this has me intrigued.
Is it well-maintained? Trustworthy? Easy to use?
I have an old Thinkpad T420 I’m testing stuff on before I take the plunge but I figured I’d ask before giving it my credentials.
Edit: thanks so much for all the advice. I’m going to try a couple different ways to do it and see what I like :)
Edit again a few weeks later: My tests on my experimental computers went so well that I took the plunge on installing Mint on my MacBook Pro (2015 I think).
I ended up using Syncthing to sync my iCloud Documents and desktop folders on my desktop Mac with what I’m now calling my Mintbook. That automatically syncs to iCloud, so I can get the important stuff on my phone easily.
Then I created a web wrapper of iCloud.com/calendar using Mint’s built-in web app creator. It works well enough; my only complaints are that I can’t copy and paste events by right-clicking like I can on the Mac app, and no notifications on Mint.
From there it’s easy enough to switch from calendar to notes, photos, FindMy, etc. so I’m happy with my iCloud “app” for my laptop usage.
I think the only things holding me back from switching my desktop now are photos syncing, and I haven’t tried DaVinci Resolve on Linux yet (I do some light video editing from time to time.) and I’ll need to buy another 5TB hard drive to transfer from my APFS formatted storage drive to a Linux-formatted drive. (I believe the transfer process will be easy once I get it thanks to SyncThing)
So, I’m a third of the way to abandoning apple on my most-used machines. Feeling pretty good about it.
threaded - newest
This package is essentially comprised of web apps which open in their own windows. It will not have the deep system integration that you may be used to on native MacOS. You could use this, or you could use iCloud in your browser like one might do with GSuite
Ah ok, thanks
I suppose the biggest thing I’m looking for a solution for is photos.
I have my phone to set up to sync to iCloud, which then automatically download to my desktop, which is then automatically backs up via Time Machine.
How could I transition this behaviour to Linux keeping in mind I’ll be using an iPhone for at least another 3 years?
Use Ente photos
You could also restructure your workflow slightly. Instead of downloading from iCloud, there are good options to sync directly from your phone to your PC. I use an app called PhotoSync. It allows you wirelessly offload photos from phone to PC at the touch of a button, or even automatically, I believe. It’s a one-time purchase too, not subscription. It also supports Linux targets via open protocols.
Cool I’ll check this out
Syncthing is open source, so I’d personally prefer it. github.com/pixelspark/sushitrain is an iOS client written in native Swift.
Good to know, thanks. I had heard of syncthing but didnt realize there were ios clients.
If you’re comfortable with scripting CLI tools then rclone seems to support icloud, you can use it to sync everything to a local directory which you can then backup however you like
You could replicate this workflow by replacing iCloud with Nextcloud and Time Machine with Timeshift.
The iOS app for Nextcloud allows the automatic upload of photos, you just need an account with a Nextcloud provider (or just host your own instance).
Timeshift is preinstalled on a bunch of distros, including Linux Mint, and can be installed on all other major ones. See github.com/linuxmint/timeshift for details.
I have a Synology NAS (from 3 years ago). My photos are synced from my iPhone via the Synology photos application and can be accessed from my Linux desktop via nfs.
I found alternatives for almost everything except Apple Music. I just connect my phone via Bluetooth nowadays to play music at a higher bitrate than what Apple allows via browser. Wish they would build an official client.
I prefer not to use any ‘cloud’ computing. Even the idea of having your private info sitting on someone else’s server, gives me the willies. Use Syncthing, available on all devices, uses your own lan/wifi to connect and sync all your info. You can choose whatever storage option or redundancy you like. Keep your info in-house.
I use Cryptomator so I don’t have to trust my cloud storage providers not to read my data
This sounds like a good solution. Can I set it to sync when I’m off my home network?
You can by enabling global discovery and relaying in Syncthing. I am not that versed in this, as I only sync when I connect to my home wifi, which works so well for me. Do a search on it, lots of people have it setup for outside network as well.
i think it does global syncing by default
Seafile is a good option
rclone is supposed to be a good alternative… unless you’ve enabled Advanced Data Protection
Use Nextcloud and KDEConnect (or similar) and forget about iCloud.
This just seems to be the web app in weird packaging, and you would get very little benefit installing it.
Personally, I use an iPhone, and I just resort to the web app, and I can live with it. Not as fancy as on the Mac, but I manage. I’m able to access my Apple e-mails and photos just fine. I eventually just plan to jump the Apple ship, but like you, that’s not possible for me at the moment.
As others have said, rclone might work for you, but I personally don’t use iCloud Drive, so I don’t know enough to speak about it.
A web app for the calendar could be handy… but I could just use another calendar app…
iCloud web app has a calendar web app, along with others I haven’t listed.
I’ve been using Tresorit on Linux for 5 years. I even got it to work on NixOS somehow ;o