Coolsmile, Mantis, TCExam, Oh My!

Today we have three new applications to announce, thanks to our testing team!

CoolsmileCoolsmile

Coolsmile is a java based web irc client that will allow you to connect to irc from your hda web interface.

MantisMantis
MantisBT is a popular web-based bugtracking system.

It is written in the PHP scripting language and works with MySQL, MS SQL, and PostgreSQL databases and a webserver. MantisBT has been installed on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, OS/2, and others. Almost any web browser should be able to function as a client.

TCExamTCExam
TCExam is a Computer Based Assessment (CBA) software system; also know as Computer Based Testing (CBT) or e-exam. TCExam enables educators and trainers to author, schedule, deliver, and report on surveys, quizzes, tests and exams.

TCExam is Free Open Source Software, Web-Based, Platform Independent, Language Independent (includes translations in several languages and RTL support) and conforms to W3C Accessibility and Usability guidelines to provide equal opportunity to people with disabilities, including blind users.

Please rate them in their corresponding pages!

New Apps! vnStat, Ajaxterm and LinPHA

After another round of awesome testing by the Testing Team we are proud to announce the release of new applications for Amahi.

We have a bandwidth monitor app, just in case you want to keep tabs on your internet download cap to keep in check, a nice web-based secure shell (SSH) terminal and a good looking photo gallery app.

Read on for more!


vnstatvnStat
vnStat is a tool which is simple to setup and capable of monitoring your incoming and outgoing bandwidth usage. The default port monitored is eth0, however this may be changed manually.

The output allows you to see the bandwidth you’ve used in a variety of ways, such as by hour, by day, etc. Also, as a bonus it doesn’t require the use of root privileges once it has been installed.


AjaxtermAjaxterm
Ajaxterm is a web based ssh terminal emulator. It was totally inspired and works almost exactly like Anyterm

Ajaxterm is written in python (and some AJAX javascript for the client side) and depends only on python2.3 or better.

Ajaxterm provides a quick way to access the command line interface on your HDA. No more opening putty or a command prompt, it will all be contained in the browser!

One word of caution is that you should set up https for this app to be fully secure.


LinPHALinPHA
LinPHA is an easy to use, multilingual, flexible photo/image archive/album/gallery written in PHP. It uses a MySQL database to store information about your pictures. It’s available as a one-click install, so you don’t even have to run the web-based installer.

This photo gallery application generates thumbnail images on the fly and stores statistical data about images and comments from visitors in a MySQL database.

Many thanks to all the contributors and testers for all your hard work creating and testing apps!

The Amahi Team

New Apps! PortaNEO and Webmin

Today we have two new applications to announce, thanks to our testing team.

PortaNEOPortaNEO, is an integrated portal solution that is personalizable, collaborative and mobile. It’s perfect for setting up a private or workgroup portal. PortaNEO is outstandingly easy to set up and configure for adaptation to every type of workgroup structure. It can also be tailored to meet the specific needs of a company or group. Its flexibility offers unlimited scope for devising and incorporating ways to organize a portal.

Next is an advanced application that can be really useful and also rather complex and, dare I say, rather dangerous in the wrong hands! Using Webmin on an Amahi HDA should be done with A LOT of caution, as modifying things like DNS, DHCP, Apache configuration and users and shares can seriously confuse the Amahi setup interface and can potentially render the network and the HDA broken!

WebminWebmin is a web-based interface for advanced system administration.

Using any modern web browser, advanced users can setup user accounts, Apache, DNS, file sharing and much more. Webmin removes the need to manually edit Unix configuration files like /etc/passwd, and lets you manage a system from the console or remotely.

Enjoy and share your feedback on these apps!

Home Router/Server Evolution

In virtually every internet connected home there is a router. With a little more intelligence and processing power, the home router can make managing the home network a whole lot easier.

An increasing number of homes have a wide variety of networked devices (Windows, Mac and linux based computers, game consoles, telephones, cameras and the list goes no!) Most people would like a simple way to make all these “digital resources” co-operate. Currently, even having some sort of shared storage (whether a NAS device or a desktop computer) is not easy for the technically timid.

There are two classes of devices that are trying to solve this problem: high end home router and home servers/NAS devices. More advanced home routers from vendors like Linksys, Netgear and Belkin include a USB port for connecting a drive for centralized storage and may even include simple media serving applications. Needless to say the user has to be sophisticated in learning how to take advantage of the centralized storage resources.

Home servers and NAS devices take a similar, but different  approach. Whether using Windows Home Sever, or a NAS device from QNAP, Buffalo, Thecus, Synology, or a host of vendors, they have a richer software environment to make it easier to take advantage of the centralized storage, but working out how to reliably and effectively connect to the centralized storage requires some networking expertise. More complex is how to actually use the centralized resources effectively.

Integrating the home router and home server solves the problem. Networking is dramatically simplied by having the server and router integrated. Imagine setting up a home network with no need to ever see an IP address or to install any software. The router “knows” about all the networked devices and with the power of the integrated server can simply guarantee reliable communication with the centralized home server (both storage and applications).

This is a big topic. There are different mentalities and constraints how router and server/NAS vendors approach this emerging market. We’ll write more of our perspective how this will evolve in future blog entries!