Linux Home Server

[pumpman]

Whilst chatting one night to a friend online about Windows Home Server, he said "why not try Linux". I replied " I've tried it and whilst it installs fine, I don't know how it works or make it what I want it to do".

That coupled with the fact that I have too many other things requiring my attention, I could not be bothered. I'll admit it, I like Windows XP, I see a programme I want , I click an exe and work with it, I want to watch a film, I use VLC player, it just works.
It suits me because after years of using it , I'm familiar with it so the thought of spending time on Linux or Mac OS for that matter, was not top of the list.

Why did i want Windows Home Server ?. A place to store all my work files, family pictures, films and to store backups of the growing number of pc's and laptops in the house. Something that didn't take a lot of administration, to leave me free to do other things with my spare time.

So I did a search for "home server" and plenty of results came up for WHS and the occasional mention of Linux mint and basic servers. But now and again I'd pick up snippets on certain threads in forums about something called Amahi.

Mmm Linux home Server, easy to set up , it's got to be worth a look I thought.

So I read through the site and learned that it was based on Fedora 8 (New version due soon based on Fedora 9). I've played with PClinux OS , Mepis, etc, but this looks fine. So I gave it a go

The first thing is to sign up with your own account at http://www.amahi.org/.

Once done follow the prompts on your account page. You will need to have downloaded or have a copy of Fedora 8 ready to hand.



I let the Fedora installer do its bit, until I was required to input some info required for Amahi to work

I used a via mini itx 800mhz affair with 1gig of ram

Once the install had finished I was left to set up an account for me to have permission to access the folders job done.

I'm very impressed with it , I know you Linux Techies will say oh you can do xy or z but this helps people like me who despite having tried to give linux a go have found a use for it and like it.

I'm now going to try out the Fedora 9 install version .

This is the kind of setup that will be the tipping point in my opinion from weaning people off windows and trying Linux , its that good and the chaps on the irc channel speak to you and wont berate you like some highbrow Linux forums for asking noob questions


Be aware this is a Beta, your home is at risk if you do not keep up regular payments on your mortgage

[peterb]

Good news - I hope it works well for you. I am currently using Fedora 6 for both the home server and for general computing. I will look at the version you mention - it sounds as if the installation has been even further automated.

[lodore]

im glad a company is doing this.
not everyone has the time or knowledge to install a linux server and set up for a purpose.
soon enough im gonna be installing my own linux server. probably Commandline only. hopefully find a way to not install a gui on it but access it via on web interface. well installing without a gui is easy. the second part shouldnt be to hard. my job will involving linux servers so i will learn how to install and mantain them from my career and then install a linux server at home at that point most likely.
im getting tired of paying MS for a second rate OS. of course some programs dont work on linux at this time so i will probaly dual boot. i may wait for fedora 10 which comes out in novemeber or december.
tryed the beta yesterday in virtual machine and seems a bit improvement over fedora 9.