Discover Altima Linux
If you haven’t already used Linux, you will discover a world of free and open source computing in Altima Linux. In just a short time you can download and have running on any Intel or AMD PC or Laptop (you though had had its day) a myriad of applications that would cost you thousands to buy or subscribe to on Apple or Microsoft.
Altima Linux is based on Debian Linux. Its a way for newbies to kick start their Linux journey by packaging variations of Linux and open source software for various purposes.
Once you boot into a desktop of Altima Linux, you’ll see that its very similar to the Apple and Windows eco systems. There’s a well organised start menu the option of a dock for commonly used application shortcuts and or icons on the desktop. One will be typing documents, browsing the Web, and doing other basic tasks without tutorials.
The big advantage is having access to thousands of totally free applications. LibreOffice, for instance has all the features of Microsoft Office. Altima Linux is loaded with all the day-to-day software you’ll need: an office suite, e-mail client and calendar, Web browser, photo editor, and more.
For additional applications, you can use the Package Manager to search for and install other software that’s listed in the repositories; or download programs directly from a developer’s site.
Linux is the operating system for many computer and networking devices. The following discussions deals with appliances that can be built with Linux and either redundant PC's or small footprint mini computers available for purchase from Gotoogle.
ALTIMA ROUTER with RouterOS
Advanced networking features, such as those found in Cisco equipment, can be at your fingertips with little or no cost. Linux-based operating systems can convert your old PC into a multi-purpose LAN server. Use it to replace your off-the-shelf router by running the firewall for your network and sharing the Internet access (with NAT). You might even connect your offices together using the VPN server and client, offer public access by configuring the captive portal, or use balancing and fail-over for redundancy. The features and solutions are essentially endless.
Two popular projects you should look into are RouterOS and ZeroShell. ZeroShell is free and can be run from the USB with the configuration saved to a hard or flash drive. After minimal configuration at the console, you can administer it via a Web browser on a remote computer. RouterOS has been around longer and is more established. It installs directly onto a drive and has multiple configuration interfaces, including Web-based and a custom GUI application.
ALTIMA LAN FILE SERVER with FreeNAS
If you do a lot of file sharing on your network, you might have looked into using network attached storage (NAS) rather than creating basic shares with Windows. You may have also noticed that NAS enclosures (basically small computers) don’t run cheap, and then you have to buy the hard drives too. However, you can create your own NAS enclosure by installing a FreeBSD-based NAS server, FreeNAS, on your old PC.
Using an NAS server means you don’t have to worry about other PCs being on in order to access Windows shares. Using FreeNAS gives you a central storage place that’s always accessible. It also provides better and easier control over shares. It can store user details and authenticate users. If using Windows shares, you’d have to duplicate every user account on all the computers for similar protection of shares.
Like other NAS servers, FreeNAS gives you recycle bin support. If you delete a file from a Windows share, it’s gone forever. However, if you delete a file from a FreeNAS share, it will go into the trash can, where you can later permanently delete it or recover it.
FreeNAS supports many different sharing protocols: CIFS (SMB/samba) for Windows, NFS for Linux/Unix, and AFP for Mac OS X. Plus it supports FTP, RSYNC, and iSCSI. It even has an iTunes/DAAP server, so you can share files among your iPods. It also features a built-in BitTorrent server.
ALTIMA WEB SERVER with NGINX
Though cloud based Web hosting prices are generally very reasonable, you can easily host your own Web site and will find it useful when developing an Intranet or when working with specialist applications such as GORUN from Gotoogle.
Nginx comes ready installed on all ALTIMA editions.
ALTIMA HOTSPOT with ZoneCD
Would you like to offer wireless Internet access to customers or visitors. Create a Wi-Fi hotspot with a LBB from Gotoogle and ZoneCD from PublicIP.
ZoneCD is a Linux-based live CD that provides Wi-Fi authentication and Web content filtering. It boots directly from the disc and there are no changes made to the hard drive. It requires only 128MB of RAM, a bootable CD-ROM drive, and a floppy drive or USB thumb drive to store the configuration. Two Ethernet cards are also needed. One plugs into the Internet and the other into a wireless router or access point (AP)
ALTIMA CAMCORDER with Shinobi
Want to monitor and record your video cameras, Its easy with preinstalled Shinobi digital video recorder.