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 UserOS Home Server 11.04
Is your home network getting out of control? Do you have valuable documents, photos and other data scattered on various PCs and laptops, not being backed up regularly? Have you always wanted to stream movies and music around your house, but put it into the too-hard basket? A home server can solve these problems and more. It may sound complicated, but a home server is essentially just a computer that’s dedicated to network tasks, and it doesn’t require a high-end computer. The problem is finding an operating system that’s up to the job. Microsoft is releasing Windows Home Server 2011, which looks promising but it’s not a total solution. Linux-based server OSes are more powerful, but they generally require good knowledge of the Linux command line. Enter our new exclusive UserOS Home Server, created by PC User's hardware and OS expert, Darren Yates. It’s based on the desktop edition of Ubuntu 11.04, and includes its friendly front-end (you can choose either Unity or Gnome). However, we’ve stripped it back and customised the OS, and added a host of apps and utilities designed for network-based duties. All of the apps have a GUI, with aim being to remove the need to use command line. UserOS is less resource-hungry than Windows too. Some of the high-end video-based applications would certainly benefit from using a recent PC, but most of the apps, and UserOS itself, will work on just about any PC or notebook with 512MB of RAM and 2GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon processor, or better.
The apps include:
- File server: Samba
- Printer server: CUPS
- Centralised remote backup: BackupPC.
- Cloud storage clients: Ubuntu Cloud and Dropbox
- FTP: Filezilla (client) and vsftpd (server)
- YouTube download manager: PC User YouGrab 4
- Tunes server: Firefly
- uPNP server: Mediatomb
- Media streaming: VLC
- Big TV-friendly media player: XBMC
- BitTorrent client: Transmission
- Remote desktop server: Vino
- Web-based user interface: Webmin
- Proxy server: Squid
- RAID: mdadm
- LAMP server: Apache/MySQL/PHP
- Firewall: UFW
- Anti-virus: ClamAV
- Adobe Flash Player
- Web browser: Firefox
Don’t forget to watch Darren’s exclusive video tutorial on how to install and get started with UserOS Home Server.
Read this first
Before trying or installing UserOS, you need to be aware of a few things:
- UserOS is provided as an ISO file, which means you have to burn this file to a recordable CD or DVD (or a USB flash drive) first. We've provided tools to help you with the process below.
- After you've created your UserOS CD, DVD or USB drive, you will need to insert it and restart the computer, so UserOS can boot off the disc. This requires that your PC can boot from the CD/DVD drive or from the USB drive.
- Once the UserOS disc boots, you're given the option to fully install the OS on your PC's hard drive, or run 'live', directly off the CD, DVD or USB drive. We recommend trying it 'live' to ensure you're happy with its look and feel, before installing it. However, please note that some of the server-based apps will not work properly unless UserOS Home Server is fully installed on a PC.
- While UserOS should run on just about any PC with at least 512MB of RAM and 2GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon, or better, there are no guarantees (see our pre-installation checklist for details). Note that some of apps, especially the high-end video-based applications, require more RAM and processing power.
- This version of UserOS is designed to run as a server on a dedicated PC, and we do not recommend installing it with Windows via Ubuntu's Wubi installer, in a virtual machine inside Windows, or even dual-booting it with Windows.
- PC User software comes with no warranty implied or given – use at your own risk.
Help files
Need more help?
First, try our Web site (http://www.pcuser.com.au/pcuser/hs2.nsf/dir/Webnotice) to see if there are any particular issues associated specifically with PC User’s cover DVD. However, as stated above, we can’t help with general UserOS installation or usage problems. Fortunately, being based on Ubuntu, there's plenty of good documentation:
If you’re in real trouble you could try emailing us at pcusercd@acp.com.au, though we can’t guarantee that we can help.
WARNING
PC User cannot be held liable if you lose any data from installing UserOS and we cannot provide technical support for UserOS.
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Licence: Free to PC User readers (open source)
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Download UserOS Home Server 11.04 ISO file Now:
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Useful tools for installing UserOS
PC User Linux USB Installer
This exclusive PC User app will help you install any Debian-based Linux distro, including Ubuntu and all of PC User’s UserOS distros, onto a USB flash drive. Use it to install Linux onto a PC or notebook without an optical disc drive.
Please note:
- Your PC must support booting from a USB flash drive – check your motherboard manual or your BIOS Setup settings for details.
- See Creating your UserOS disc for a guide to creating a UserOS USB drive, and checking the BIOS Setup.
InfraRecorder
InfraRecorder is a free CD/DVD burning solution that offers a wide range of features, including Windows Explorer integration. If you don't have your own burning software, you can use InfraRecorder to burn the UserOS ISO file to a recordable CD/DVD.
Note:
See Creating your UserOS disc for a guide to creating a UserOS USB CD or DVD, and checking the BIOS Setup to ensure your PC boots from the CD/DVD drive.
OS: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000
(or 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Vista, XP)
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Licence: free (open source)
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Install InfraRecorder Now:
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