I transitioned to Linux a few years ago, which has piqued my partner’s curiosity. She’s been genuinely interested and asks questions about it, but she is so deeply integrated I don’t know where to start. She uses iCloud, an Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, a Mac desktop, plus whatever default proprietary software. She has a semi-technical background.

I want to help and be encouraging without overselling the ease of transition. There’s always some friction with transitioning technology, and of course Apple makes that intentionally difficult. I came from a Windows ecosystem, so I’m lacking any direct insight for potential challenges.

Any advice or personal experiences on moving from the Apple ecosystem to Linux would be hugely appreciated!

(I can host services on my local server, so transitioning to something like Immich vs iCloud for photos is one option we’ve discussed).

  • LewdLemon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    12·
    13 hours ago

    Excellent advice!

    I’d like to add to the list:

    • Calendar, Contacts - Nextcloud (via cal/cardDAV)
    • Bookmark (and tab?) sync via Firefox Sync (or similar)
    • AirDrop to Syncthing
    • Check whatever other software and features she uses daily for work, communication, or leisure, and make sure it either exists on the Linux side or there’s a viable alternative, and get her used to that first

    I’d only make the switch once you’ve made sure that

    1. she knows why she’s doing this, and is determined to. Doing it because you made her is bound to lead to failure.
    2. you know all the features and software she’s used to and have tested and established a working alternative.
      • LewdLemon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        7 hours ago

        It depends what you want from this.

        • LocalSend shines with single files that you specifically select.
        • Syncthing is great for zero-hassle synchronisation of multiple files and even entire folders.

        Personally, I prefer the latter because it’s much more powerful. Also, I’ve experienced issues with LocalSend and VPN usage.

        • wltr@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          1·
          2 hours ago

          Yep, Syncthing is great, and I use it heavily. What I meant is that AirDrop is for sending files you select, from one device to another, so LocalSend just closer to that. As the sibling comment pointed out, AirDrop is more robust.

      • Creat@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        51·
        9 hours ago

        This is such bad advice. If you tell people that, people expect it too work like AirDrop, which it doesn’t.

        LocalSend is great, but it is much more limited than AirDrop. As the name suggest, it only works if people are in the same network. If you’re in your home network, and both devices are yours, that’s probably fair enough, but that isn’t the point or (only) use case of AirDrop.

        Also if you’re installing it on a Linux machine which happens to have a firewall enabled by default, you will have to open the correct ports for it to to work out even just see the other devices.

        • wltr@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          1·
          2 hours ago

          I won’t call it a bad advice, because I’ve been struggling without LocalDrop, as there’s no similar thing for Linux world. AirDrop is surely works better, you can send files just being on the street, connected to no WiFi. However, I had a number of issues with it for family usage, while LocalSend just works seamlessly between my Linux computers and iOS devices.