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1 | 1 | --- |
2 | | -{"dg-publish":true,"permalink":"/laptop/3-syncthing/","updated":"2025-11-07T08:48:08.000-06:00"} |
| 2 | +{"dg-publish":true,"permalink":"/laptop/3-syncthing/","updated":"2025-11-09T17:14:40.787-06:00"} |
3 | 3 | --- |
4 | 4 |
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5 | | -Coming soon |
| 5 | +# Discussion |
| 6 | +I have several systems that I want to synchronize between my phone, my laptop and a tablet. Many of those systems have their own way of synchronization, i.e. Obsidian's [Obsidian Sync](https://obsidian.md/sync). Systems like that work fine, but there are two disadvantages: First, I don't want to have to maintain multiple systems if I don't have to. Second, I want to be in control of how I back them up. I realized that if I can sync them to the Raspberry Pi, I can then back them up from there. |
| 7 | + |
| 8 | +After looking a a few alternatives, [Syncthing](https://syncthing.net/) (and [syncthing-fork](https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android) for android) seemed to be the clear winner. It was a bit of a stretch to get my head around how to make it work on all my devices, but the [Getting Started page](https://docs.syncthing.net/intro/getting-started.html#getting-started) helped. |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +Please note that this page is only for the initial set-up of Syncthing on the my [[Laptop/0. Design Considerations\|Linux Mint Laptop]]. See also the initial set-ups for my [[Self-Hosting/3. Syncthing\|Raspberry Pi]] and [[Phone/4. Syncthing\|Phone]]. I cover the steps to share individual folders in their respective sections, i.e. [[Self-Hosting/4. Note-taking\|Self-hosting/4. Note-taking]] and [[Laptop/4. Note-taking\|Laptop/4. Note-taking]]. |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +# Installation |
| 13 | +- I opened "Software Manager" and searched for "Syncthing". Several items popped up, including "Syncthing" and "Syncthing Tray". The problem was that, as I looked at them, the "Tray" package (which puts an icon in the tray for management and informational purposes) is using a "Flatpack" that's over 1GB of download and 3.7GB on the disk! For just the tray. Syncthing itself was only 23MB on the disk. So, I went to the command line and looked for syncthing by typing `sudo apt search syncthing`. And sure enough, there's a package named syncthingtray, that only needs about 204MB. So I went the 'apt' method instead of the "Software Manager" method. |
| 14 | +- `sudo install syncthing syncthingtray -y` |
| 15 | +- After everything finished installing, the Syncthing icons are under the "Internet" start menu. |
| 16 | +- Click on "Start Syncthing" |
| 17 | +- Then click on "Syncthing Web UI" |
| 18 | +- The web UI comes up and asks to set a user name and password for the GUI. ~~While I'm the only person using the system, it's still a best practice to enable "[defense in depth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_in_depth_(computing)", so I set it up. |
| 19 | + - ~~In the box on the webpage entitled "GUI Authentication", click the "Settings" button at the bottom right |
| 20 | + - ~~Click on the "GUI" tab |
| 21 | + - ~~Enter the "GUI Authentication User" and "GUI Authentication Password" |
| 22 | + - ~~I checked the "Use HTTPS for GUI", even though I'm not using a CA-signed certificate. I may have to go back and turn that off later, but I like multiple layers of encryption. |
| 23 | + - ~~Click "Save". |
| 24 | +- It turns out that I couldn't get Syncthing Tray to work if I had a password set on the GUI. So I spent the next hour trying to find the way to remove the username and password without breaking Syncthing. I even did a `sudo apt purge syncthing syncthingtray` but that didn't work, it didn't get rid of the configuration file. I *finally* found the file in ~/.local/state/syncthing/config.xml |
| 25 | +- |
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