OwnCloud

So, instead of doing my Fall Fedora Upgrade this Thanksgiving weekend, I messed around with getting an instance of Owncloud working on Centos 6.3 on Virtual Box.  I spent a lot of hours on it an am not yet satisfied.

Owncloud is a very cool idea which has been around for a few years.  With the advent of Cloud Computing out in the corporate world, it is nice to see something become available for the End User people.  So what does it do?

Owncloud is a cool alternative to the ever popular DropBox.  What you do is install it on a computer dedicate has a home file/web server.  It installs fairly easy for an advance end user.  And for those of use who are not so advanced, there are tons of people who don't mind helping out.  All you have to do is Google or Bing or whatever.

My OC is a test version just to see if I could do it and what it would look like.  First, I installed the latest Centos.  I then added the necessary files.  Finally, I installed and configured OC.  There are instructions all over the web for this as, I suppose, folks just like the security of having all their precious files and pics on their own server open to only those who the specifically invite.

So, this weekend, I learned that Centos is an awesome choice for a web server, Owncloud is a promising replacement for DropBox, and finally I learned how to make my Web Server available to the outside world by configuring ports and Virtual Box accordingly. 

You might just be asking me where's the tutorial.  You're not going to get much from me except for this list:

#1 Choose your computer for your web server
#2 Configure your hardware (i.e. multiple Ethernet ports, more ram etc)
#3 Choose your operating system (Centos 6.3 is nice...hint, hint)
#4 Install your OS
#5 Configure your OS
#6 Install OpenCloud
#7 Configure (config files and hardware firewalls etc.)
#8 Have fun.

One thing you might also do is create a "home page" for your web server that links to your OC for those whom you invite.  Then the OC could be a secure site...I still have to figure some of this out.  Oh, by being secure, that means by invitation only. Don't publish your OC on Facebook or any other place unless you want your system to be cracked within the first day of operation.

Just for fun, you might just try testing it on Virtual Box before you give it more room.  One other cool thing about it, you can do your VB test and the migrate it to a larger system almost like what the aliens did to with brains in the movie Skyline.

Follow the hyperlinks to get started:
Owncloud
OC Forum
Centos
VirtualBox

Thanks Giving (End User Style)

30 Days of Thanks Giving is a little trendy right now and I'm just a little behind.  Never prided myself in "keeping up with the Jones", but nevertheless, I'll give it my best shot.  I am thankful for a lot of stuff.  Since this blog tends to favor more towards Linux, I'll start there.

#1 I am thankful for the people behind Linux
#2 I am thankful for developers who work, in their spare time ( a lot of them) to create and keep current all the cool apps made available for Linux users.
#3 I am thankful for Open Source developers who continue to provide apps that are cross platform so Linux users like me can have freedom to chose.
#4 I'm thankful to be able to us my Fedora Linux to watch church streaming live from Sun Valley Community Church
#5 I'm thankful to start my Mondays with checking my Mine Craft Server and add a few more gigs of ram for the guys who play during the day time.
#6 I'm thankful that I voted yesterday and that I can multi-task on my Fedora Linux while streaming news updates on multiple tabs in Firefox.
#7 Let's see...getting a little behind here...I'm thankful for Virtual Box..
#8 Today I'm thankful for Netbeans....
#9 I'm also thankful for OpenShot Video Editor...
#10 You know a few years ago I was so poor I couldn't afford fun things for my kids.  All the other kids were getting video games.  So I'm thankful for America's Army...even though it is not technically OS, it is or was free.
#11   I'm thankful for Blender.
#12 I'm thankful for Libreoffice...used to be OpenOffice until Oracle...whatever....
#13 I'm thankful for OpenCloud which would be way cool once I figure it out.  Looking forward to creating a home file server that all my home network can access.
#14 Speaking of networks, I am thankful for the developers of the product called dd-wrt .  This has been awesome in making my home network more secure, more flexible, and more powerful.
#15 As an End User, I am really thankful for all the KDE Community is doing to provide one of the best GUI experiences one could ever install on a PC.
#16 I am thankful today is Friday and I have the weekend to recuperate.  End users love rest and relaxation
#17 I am thankful for Saturday where I can browse tutorials on YouTube while running a slightly tweaked Minecraft Server for my son and his friends.
#18 Today, I am thankful for my 3 kids because without them I would not have had an interest in building and maintaining my home network as well as using Open Source stuff and Linux.
#19 As an End User, I enjoy Hulu and watching T.V. episodes for free on my computer.
#20 This end user is also thankful for New Egg providing me with Eye Candy and a personal wish list enabling me to create the next great computer for myself.
#21  I have to say that I am thankful for Thanksgiving being here tomorrow and for a 4 day weekend with two paid holiday days.  Time for family and doing stuff around the house.
#22 Well, today is Thanksgiving and I am thankful for God's provisions throughout the past year as well as the year up and coming.  I am thankful for my wife and kids and the roof over my head and a good job and this hot cup of coffee.



All done.  Move over turkeys, Santa Claus is coming! (11/23/2012)