Apple Studio & Ubuntu Workflow for AI-Assisted Coding Projects

About The Setup

Usually, I work with a single machine, but when I’m running LMStudio with large language models (30GB+), I quickly hit memory constraints. My Mac Studio M4 Max has 36GB of unified memory, which is insufficient to run LMStudio with Qwen3-Coder-30B alongside a full Linux development environment.

This tutorial describes a workflow split across two machines:

• Apple Mac Studio: Runs LMStudio for AI assistance and VSCodium with SSH connectivity.
• Dell PC (Ubuntu 25.10 beta): Handles web development, PHP, Python, and Django projects.

Prerequisites

• A Mac Mini or better with sufficient RAM to run a quality LLM like qwen3-coder.
• A Linux PC on the same local network (Debian/Ubuntu preferred).
• Basic familiarity with SSH and terminal commands.

Setup Instructions

Step 1: Configure the Linux Development Machine

• 1. Install OpenSSH server

sudo apt install openssh-server

• 2. Start and enable SSH

sudo systemctl start ssh
sudo systemctl enable ssh

• 3. Configure firewall

sudo ufw allow from ip_address to any port 22

• 4. Verify UFW status

sudo ufw status

Step 2: Configure VSCodium on Mac

1. Install the Remote – SSH extension in VSCodium (this is the recommended approach)
2. Open Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) and run:
   • “Remote-SSH: Open Configuration File”
3. I add this SSH configuration using this format:

Host dell
  HostName <ip_address>
  User my_username
  Port 22

Step 3: Connect and Develop

1. Open Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Run “Remote-SSH: Connect to Host”
3. Select the configured host (“dell”)
4. Edit files directly from Mac – changes sync instantly to the Linux machine

Benefits

This approach gives me:

• Complete development environment on Linux with full web server capabilities
• AI assistance on Mac without memory conflicts
• Seamless editing experience – files appear local but live on remote (Dell) machine
• Real-time testing – access my projects via local host mapping

Getting Started

The setup is straightforward and follows established best practices for distributed development. With this configuration, I can work on PHP websites, Django projects, and any web development task while maintaining the power of AI assistant on the Mac.

Experiment with different configurations and customize for your specific needs. For setup-specific questions, consult your preferred AI assistant for personalized assistance.

Why Ubuntu/Debian Works Perfectly

Ubuntu and Debian distributions are ideal for development work, particularly on my Dell Precision 3440. I’ve just installed the latest Ubuntu 25.10 snapshot 3 and it performs amazingly well for development tasks. Ubuntu’s efficient resource usage make it my favorite distribution for this type of setup, especially when working with limited system resources.

This workflow demonstrates how to create efficient, resource-optimized development environments by leveraging the strengths of combining two machines.