It’s Independence Day for Amahi; Ubuntu Edition now live!

 

 

We’re happy to announce the general release of Amahi 6.1, Ubuntu Edition! With a great team effort, this has become a reality! Get started!

This is Amahi’s first release of the Ubuntu edition, so we expected occasional turbulence. Meanwhile, we are hard at work creating a
graphical installer to make this installation of Amahi Ubuntu Edition easier.

The team has always been of the opinion that the expansion to new Linux distributions is great. Now Amahi runs on two of the most popular Linux distributions! We expect to continue supporting at least both distributions going forward.

One person that cares deeply is all it takes to make things happen in the open source world! In this case, a few developers contributed to make Amahi more amenable to running on Ubuntu. Many underestimated the complexity of the undertaking. Eventually, Frans (a.k.a. eFfeM, our team lead for Ubuntu) persisted long enough to align everything and everyone’s skills and push through in this true team effort!

Here are some of the features in Amahi 6.1, Ubuntu Edition (but not limited to):

  • Latest storage pooling technology with the latest Greyhole 0.9
  • Reliability fixes and updates, including a new, professionally designed, polished look (see at the end of this post)
  • Support for both the 32 & 64 bit Desktop and Server versions of Ubuntu
  • Improved cloud storage with Amahi Sync
  • Some support for ARM systems, like the PandaBoard and BeagleBoard (these are not well tested, so, expect rough seas)
  • One-Click App installs via Amahi’s application store

For more details, release notes and known issues, check the Ubuntu wiki page. Experiment with Amahi Ubuntu Edition! If you break it, report it! The more bugs reported the smoother the eventual ride!

We are excited to have some support for ARM based systems! We’re revisiting the ARM architecture as it becomes more pervasive in our lives as cell phones, multimedia set top boxes and other automation conveniences. The ARM(v7) packages are available via Amahi’s Ubuntu repo. We strongly suggest a powerful ARM processor (such as omap4) and an external hard disk; SD booting is possible but sloow. Thanks also goes to open source startups and projects who are making ARM  programming easily accessible to the younger generation.

Again, many thanks to the Ubuntu team, the Applications team, the Greyhole team, the testers, you who reported bugs and suggested improvements!

Happy installing and we hope you enjoy and share it with your friends via Facebook and Twitter!

The Amahi Team

PS: check out a (reduced) screenshot of the new Amahi look!

Your files on the Go and new Amahi for Ubuntu!

We have some really exciting news!

Today we’re happy to announce a few cool things: mobile access to Amahi Sync files, an Android App for Amahi Sync, and (drum roll please!) a fairly stable/functional Beta release of Amahi for Ubuntu!

The team has spent the last few months revamping and strengthening the infrastructure that runs Amahi: Amahi Sync cloud storage, the dynamic DNS system, the repos, regular backups, the web site, anti-spammer fortification, etc. It’s  like painting the Golden Gate bridge or washing a large building: boring, but necessary, and as soon as you are done, it’s time to start over, at the other end!

Your files, On the Go

Amahi Sync is Amahi’s automatic cloud syncing app, with no clients to install on your devices. Amahi Sync is available to Amahi Pro and Ninja users and is backed by Amazon Web Services storage. Become a Pro or Ninja user if you are not one yet!

The new mobile interface is a response to the explosive growth of smartphones and tablets. This release makes accessing your files easy while on the go! At work, on the road, down the block or around the world, you can access your files with mobile devices like the iPhone, the iPad, and Android devices. To use Amahi Sync in mobile mode, all you have to do is to login to Amahi from a mobile device. Natively supported documents and media files will be playable on the device straight away!

To make the mobile interface easier to access, we are simultaneously releasing an Android app. This app provides direct access to Amahi Sync mobile and your files from within an app.

On iOS, the mobile web interface of Amahi Sync makes it easy add it to the home screen by holding the home button. This makes it very close to a native app, with full screen, smooth transitions and high performance. See the screenshots to the right and below!

The roadmap for Amahi Sync is:

  • Provide enhanced support in new Amahi releases for multiple folders and non-public folders
  • Make easier and easier access to your media, like integrating seamless media players
  • Make using/playing playlists directly in your device with as close to native performance as possible
  • Seamlessly access media in your HDA
Many thanks for all Pro/Ninja users who support Amahi, who help test and enhance Amahi Sync, and Shaun McCloud for lining up the bits to make the Android app a reality!

Amahi For Ubuntu

Amahi for Ubuntu

This Amahi release is out first Beta release for Ubuntu! We’re very excited about this
release. It’s based on the 32-bit (desktop or server) version of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (long-term support). This release has been long in the making, led by Frans, our newest member of the Amahi core team, through numerous features to seamlessly accommodate the platform for new OSs. Go get it!
To be clear, this is very much a Beta release.

What works

We have tested a number of features to make sure they work and we have verified about 60 applications. However, there are a number of apps, which do not work yet, especially the more complex ones, that also happen to be the more popular ones. So, the base system works, the installer works, most major subsystems like DNS, DHCP, app installation, MySQL, Amahi Dashboard, server management, Greyhole, shares, networking, etc., all are reportedly working.

What doesn’t work

x86 64bit and ARM support is not yet ready, some complex apps (VPNs, DLNA servers, Videos5, etc.) do not work yet. Stay tuned as we work to release these apps live! We will update the known issues of the Ubuntu wiki page.

What’s new

The platform has a few stability bugs fixed, the version of Greyhole running is a much updated version 0.9.22.

 

We will support Amahi for Ubuntu 12.04 long term. We have decided to skip Fedora 16 and hop on to Fedora 17 (releasing in a few days) for the next Amahi release. Fedora 17 provides a LOT of new things that we will be able to leverage in our new platform, like ruby 1.9, rails 3 and many more virtualization stacks. Please voice your opinion in the forums as to what OS platforms we should take a look at. We will blog about our roadmap soon.

We hope you like the mobile interface to Amahi Sync and the new Ubuntu release!
Cheers!
Carlos, for the Amahi Team

Ubuntu Alpha 3 landed, with ARM support

Hello! Rumors of our demise to Apple were greatly exaggerated 🙂

We’re extremely happy to announce the third Alpha release of Amahi for Ubuntu.Amahi for Ubuntu

This release supports Ubuntu 11.10, and paves the way for supporting the next LTS (Long Term Support) release, 12.04.

Support for 32 and 64 bits is included, as well as ARM support, having been run on the PandaBoard!

We’re also confident it probably works well on systems like the BeagleBoard and similar boards. We’re looking to also port Amahi on the upcoming launch of the Raspberry Pi $25 boards in the coming weeks.

These probably make the most compact and power efficient Amahi systems yet!

Note that this is still alpha and takes some MAD SKILLZ to install.

Many thanks go to Frans (better known as eFfeM, our team lead for Ubuntu, who is back with a vengeance) and the rest of you that helped test Amahi on Ubuntu with this great new release!

Go get it!

The Amahi Team

New partner, Amahi 6.1 and the Ubuntu Alpha Zero release

Today we present you a few fantastic announcements: Amahi 6.1 release, a new Amahi Ready™ hardware partner, new app updates … and … the first, Alpha Zero, release of Amahi Ubuntu Edition! We’re excited about this!

App Store and Subscription Plans

First, an update on the transition from our former App Gallery to the Amahi App Store.  With all the feedback we got, we expect to more formally announce the App Store and it’s details soon. In the mean time, we started testing by adding a small one-click convenience fee to some of the more popular apps that the community feels would be worthwhile, generating revenue for the project. This is so far working well and we are getting both positive feedback and feedback on how to improve/tweak things.

We also started subscription plans, which have been well received. As it happens, one of the core team members (cpg) suffered a fire at home (no major casualties), now really coming to appreciate first-hand the need for off-site secure storage of critical files. Was this a message from above?

We are happy to report that after the initial spike in support load, this transition has been  successful and we thank you all for the great support shown! We look forward to improving features on these fronts soon!

New Amahi Ready™ Partner!

We’re constantly thinking of ways to create a successful ecosystem around Amahi. Today we’re happy to announce our newest Amahi Ready™ partner! / kosa crta / (“cosa cherta”) is a Croatian-region distributor of VIA Embedded ultra compact form factor, rugged and fan-less embedded systems. kosa crta recommends and ships Amahi Ready VIA M’SERV S2100 64-bit energy-efficient, large storage capacity, compact, low-noise mini server. Check out their special promotion to Amahi Facebook users! They have even created a few install videos.

Amahi 6.1

It’s been quite a while since our last blog post announcing Amahi 6.0. While we have been delinquent on the news,  there have been many developments within Amahi in a few areas! We have released Amahi 6.1 (technically, 6.1.1). If you have Amahi 6, the update is automatic by default, so you are probably enjoying this release already. Check out the Amahi 6.1 release notes. The big ticket items are stability fixes for the platform and apps, initial support for Ubuntu/Debian platform and right-to-left languages like Arabic (thanks to Abdulrhman Al-Khamees!) and Hebrew (Ashi Carmel!). Also included are Latvian (Ivo!), Croatian (Vladimir!) and updates to Russian and Finnish. Awesome job from the community!

Did Someone say Ubuntu?!?

We are also very happy to announce the amazing Alpha Zero release of Amahi Ubuntu Edition!

It’s been no secret that the desire for an Amahi Ubuntu Edition has been strong for a long time. Commitment was critical in the face of complexity. We slowly added support for Ubuntu for a while and now have Frans (aka eFfeM), a very dedicated developer who was willing to lead on this sizable task, taking time to understand the intricacies and leading it past the goal of an Alpha Zero release for testers!

A few people are rumored to be running Amahi 6 on Ubuntu in development mode and are starting to test the platform and even apps! If you like to test and report bugs, please install it and join us in debugging and improving it!

This has been a long road, and we have still quite a long road ahead. We’re calling it Alpha Zero for a reason 🙂

Please join me in saying many thanks to the development team, especially to eFfeM, cale, SolaR and cpg for their contributions (if you see them in IRC give’em a hug or buy’em a beer)!

What’s up with Apps!? And the Express CD?

Our mothers used to say that “It’s the little things that make people happy” .. and we couldn’t agree more. Conversely, some little things are big when it comes to turn people off. When an app does not install or does not work well is a great turn off. This is a huge deal for Amahi, because we disappoint people when things do not work, and that makes them speak bad about their Amahi experience. It takes detailed attention from our contributors and our testmasters to validate and bulletproof apps.

Here is what we’re doing to be more efficient at validating apps: we keep track of failures and we try to tackle the top issues. We are working on automatic app testing, which will ease the job of the team and leverage the (so far dormant) tester program. Expect to hear some news on this front soon as we believe we have a lead for the tester program. By focusing the team we believe we can package and release apps faster.

What about the Express CD? Hmmm, yes … we produced one version (Alpha 1) that was a dud. It did not work well. We have another version in the works that is rumored to run well. Many thanks for the contributions in this area to Solomon (aka slm499) and Rod Waldren!

App Updates

We now have a few apps verified and live as one-click apps, like

  • A very very nice Tiny To Do app which is a slick and interactive to-do list manager
  • The all-new VNC (a remote desktop app), which works out of the box
  • The good old Gallery 2 and the brand new Gallery 3, the granddaddy’s of photo galleries
  • A nice file manager called eXtplorer
  • A crafty terminal emulator called MindTerm
  • Rnews, a nice RSS reader, for the power news users out there
  • .. and a hometown favorite … OpenVPN ALS, a web-based VPN (for experts only!)

Cheers and enjoy!

The Amahi Team

Amahi 5.3: Storage pooling & replication, UI improvements, …

Konnichiwa!

The team has had a busy last few weeks with a small surge in growth from the FLOSS Amahi 5.3, Storage Pooling, Replication and Greyholeweekly interview and our award from Linux Format magazine, along with new features. We are proud to bring you Amahi 5.3! There are so many new features to this release that this announce should be for a 6.0!

First up, we have a wide beta release of a new disk pooling and replication technology brought by Greyhole! Amahi is the very first to integrate and release Greyhole widely and we’re proud of that. See the first of the two videos embedded below (less than 3 minutes)!

Then we have a new one-click automatic VPN tester in the Amahi control panel, a new VPN configurator for Mac OS X, deb packages for Ubuntu, plus dozens of new apps in our app store!

… and we have a little teaser video for you at the end of this post, for a new HOT app called Videos5 (also from the very prolific Guillaume, the author of Greyhole!), to encode and stream videos to your iPad, iPhone, Android devices and other HTML5-enabled browsers.   🙂

Disk Pooling and File Replication using Greyhole

Disk pooling is the hottest new function to Amahi. Disk Pooling uses Samba to create a storage pool of all your available hard drives. It also allows you to create redundant copies (from 2 to whatever the max-number of disks you have in the pool) of the files you store. This can help prevent data loss if part of your hardware fails. Configure as many hard drives as you’d like to be included in your pool. You’re storage pool size will be the sum of the free space in all the hard drives you include. Your hard drives can be internal, external (USB, e-Sata, Firewire…), or even mounts of remote file systems, and you can include hard drives of any size in your pool. This is very exciting technology in Beta, so please use only with non-critical data. Hit the first video below for a short overview!

We’re Making Things Easier

  • Localization/translation improvements to 10 languages and new in this release we have the first bits of Japanese (Thanks Shingo!). This makes Amahi available in 20 languages!
  • New, much easier to install, Mac OS X VPN configuration package
  • Multiple UI improvements across the setup pages, for usability and consistency. See some eye candy
  • Installer improvements for stability and reliablity as well as usability (it suppresses some of the loud warnings)
  • App dependencies! One click installs all apps needed for one app to work!
  • A lot of updates related to building .deb packages for Ubuntu support (Thanks anzenketh!)
  • Improved calendaring, create an empty calendar on the HDA for an easy link to publishing or subscribing to calendars.
  • Get the details in the Amahi 5.3 release notes!

As usual, if you are on Amahi 5.x, you should have received Amahi 5.3 already via automatic update (unless you turned them off).

Cheers!

The Amahi Team

Video: Storage Pooling and Replication with Greyhole

Teaser for the Videos5 app in beta

Encode and stream videos to your iPad, iPhone, Android devices and other HTML5-enabled browsers.