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This page contains frequently asked questions on Patriot PS - Personal Server Product. Check out additional documentation and presentation videos to get more information on some of these questions.


Patriot PS - FAQ Questions

  1. What is a Personal Server?
  2. What is Patriot PS Personal Server?
  3. What is Patriot PS Personal Server System?
  4. What is Patriot PS Personal Server ISO Image?
  5. What is Patriot PS Personal Server Virtual Appliance Image?
  6. I already have a free email service such as Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail why would I need a mail server?
  7. Having my own e-mail server sounds good, what is the catch?
  8. I already use a free Drop Box service for file sharing and access from multiple devices, why do I need my own?
  9. Can I use Patriot PS Personal Server to share files in my home network?
  10. Why is Patriot PS Personal Server also called an Automation Server?
  11. Where can I purchase Patriot PS Personal Server?
  12. Do you have resellers?
  13. What kind of warranty you have on Patriot PS Personal Server System?
  14. Is the Patriot PS OS software open source?
  15. How do I get updates to the Patriot PS OS and applications?
  16. What is the registration key for?
  17. How is Patriot PS Personal different from NAS and Cloud Storage?
  18. How to import the self signed certificate in Internet Explorer?
  19. How do I login to my Patriot PS Personal Server directly?

Can't find what you are looking for, submit a query via e-mail to support@pexus.com or open a ticket at https://support.pexus.net

Patriot PS - FAQ Answers

  1. What is a Personal Server?

    A Personal Server is personal computer that runs 24x7 and provide a number of useful functions for the owner such as file server, ftp server, mail server, web server etc. Today everyone uses a mobile device or a laptop. The good old desktop PC is not the key computing device. Cloud services and remote server services took lot of your personal data away from your home into the Internet somewhere where you don't have control over your personal data. A Personal Server can run similar applications but keep the application and data under your control in your own home. You don't have to be bound by remote service terms. The control of your data also comes with some responsibilities such as managing your personal server, but we at Pexus believe this slight incremental responsibility is worth the control and privacy of your data. We make it real easy to own a personal server. With increasing use of a connected home a personal server can provide a number of services with additional applications to manage your home and daily lives without relying on (not really) free third party services or services that charge you a subscription fee every month.

  2. What is Patriot PS Personal Server>

    Patriot PS Personal Server is a Pexus LLC offering offering for Personal Server solutions. Pexus LLC offers the following editions of Patriot PS Personal Server solution:

    1. Patriot PS Personal Server System
    2. Patriot PS Personal Server ISO Image
    3. Patriot PS Personal Server Virtual Appliance Image
  3. What is Patriot PS Personal Server System?

    Patriot PS Personal Server System is a complete system and software solution with Pexus LLC Patriot PS OS software and related applications pre-installed on a small compact fan less personal computer that offers easy plug and play on the home network. It does not need a monitor, keyboard or mouse for normal operation. Once plugged into the home network using the supplied Ethernet cable to your home router/switch in your home network, it can be discovered using Windows Network discovery or using Apple's multicast DNS (mDNS). Patriot PS Personal Server system comes with Intel dual core 64 bit Atom processor, 4GB memory and 500 GB or more hard disk (Note: the configuration spec may change in future, always check the product page for latest spec). It has been designed with 24x7 operation in mind. More information at http://www.pexus.com/patriotps or https://store.pexus.net

  4. What is Patriot PS Personal Server ISO Image?

    Patriot PS Personal Server ISO Image is a customized Debian based Linux OS software distribution that includes all Pexus Patriot PS Personal Server applications that can be installed to a compatible PC system containing 64-bit AMD/Intel computer with at least 2GB memory and 100GB or more hard disk and a wired network card. It comes with an auto install that will install the OS and Patriot PS applications on the first hard disk on the system. The install takes about 2-3 hours or so depending on the speed of the system. This software only image distribution and is ideal for users who wants to install on their own system or reuse an old desktop PC that is currently not used. This is a more cost effective solution and comes with all Patriot PS configuration applications. New applications included as part of Patriot PS will also be available for users.

  5. What is Patriot PS Personal Server Virtual Appliance Image?

    Patriot PS - Personal Server solution is also available as a virtual appliance image in Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) 1.0 Image format, that can be easily imported in to virtual machine software such as Virtual Box or VMware Workstation or VMware player. This option is useful if you want to run a Personal Server as a virtual machine within your existing Operating System and you have unused capacity in terms of memory and hard disk. You can also use this to evaluate the personal server solution before investing in a separate dedicated personal server system. As it is pre-installed you can be up and running in minutes.

  6. I already have a free email service such as Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail why would I need a mail server?

    Free e-mail services does not provide any privacy and confidentiality of e-mails messages. All e-mail using free e-mail are scanned for data that is analyzed and profiled to generate data that can be monetized. Chances are you already accepted for such use of your e-mail messages as no body reads the fine prints these days and are too eager to comply with anything for free services. E-mail left after a certain number of days on remote servers are considered abandoned and can be used for any purpose. Using your own e-mail server you can keep your e-mail private. Avoid being scanned and profiled and have anyone use the data against you. With your own mail server at home, you can create any number of mail boxes and don't have to worry about email storage. You can download the e-mail to your device or PC easily for more secure and long term storage. Of course remember to keep your personal and work e-mail separate!

  7. Having my own e-mail server sounds good, what is the catch?

    Apart from a one time investment in a personal server system such as Patriot PS Personal Server or an OS such as Patriot PS Personal Server ISO image or a Patriot PS Personal Server Virtual Appliance Image, you will need to register a domain name which usually costs about $1 a month. With so many choices in domain name suffixes you can create your own cool domain name and even host one for free at services like DNSExit.com. That is all you need to start running your own mail server using Patriot PS Personal Server.

  8. I already use a free Drop Box service for file sharing and access from multiple devices, why do I need my own?

    Owning your own file storage service allows you the freedom to keep your files without any terms. Files stored on remote servers may be given to third parties. All free services use the customers data to create derived data that can be monetized to serve advertisements and selling the data to any company for a price. Though lot of companies claim they don't use personally identifiable data (PII) but collecting vast amount of data over a long periods of time and correlating with multiple sources of data one can easily derive personally identifiable information indirectly. Use by third party companies that you don't have any control over and leaves the door open for misusing your data. Your privacy is your freedom. Your personal data is your information that provides you the strength to negotiate better deals for yourselves in whatever you do. Searching for deal on the Internet is moot as every advertiser know exactly what your preference and interest are in any product you may choose to buy based on data derived from your files and e-mail exchanges you have done without your knowledge.

  9. Can I use Patriot PS Personal Server to share files in my home network?

    Yes. Patriot PS Personal server allows sharing of files easily, as the special admin user - ppsadmin's home directory can be mounted to Windows or Apple computers. You can also attach external USB storage devices that can be mounted and shared easily. Putting media files to specifically designated directories enables sharing media with DLNA certified devices such as TV, Music Players, Windows Media Players. Community edition or popular personal cloud and file sharing application - ownCloud and Pydio can be easily downloaded and installed on your Patriot PS Personal Server using the ppsconfig application. For more information on sharing refer this presentation: Sharing with Patriot PS Personal Server Associated desktop clients from ownCloud and pydio make file syncing easy with the coomunity edition of ownCloud and pydio software running on your Patriot PS Personal Server.

    Check out our documentation on file sharing on how easy to get this setup.

  10. Why is Patriot PS Personal Server also called an Automation Server?

    Patriot PS Personal Server includes a simple scheduler that can be used to automate tasks. Some out of the box tasks such sending an e-mail on a schedule or enabling / disabling certain application can be done easily. It also provides custom Linux shell scripts that can be executed on a schedule to allow for integration with any system in the home e.g. sending commands to other connected devices in home and controlling them on a schedule.

  11. Where can I purchase Patriot PS Personal Server?

    Patriot PS Personal Server System, Patriot PS Personal ISO Image, Patriot PS Personal Server Virtual Appliance Image is available for sale in the United States of America only and available via our online Pexus Store at https://store.pexus.net

  12. Do you resellers for Patriot PS Personal Server solutions?

    Currently we donot have resellers. If you are interested to become a reseller by reselling Patriot PS Personal Server solution software on your systems and re-sell, please contact us at partners@pexus.com

  13. What kind of warranty you have on Patriot PS Personal Server System?

    If you are not satisfied with Patriot PS Personal Server System, you can return for full refund minus the shipping charges within 30 days. There is limited general warranty on the system for 1 year. Please review the warranty statement here.

    There is no refund on the software editions of the Patriot PS Personal Server i.e. Patriot PS Personal Server ISO Image and Patriot PS Personal Server Virtual Appliance. You can do free checkout of the evaluation version of these before buying the product.

  14. Is the Patriot PS OS software open source?

    Patriot PS OS software is based of Debian OS. It uses unmodified binaries of Linux Kernel and OS packages. The sources of these packages and linux kernel are available from official Debian site. They can also be requested from Pexus by sending an e-mail to support@pexus.com Due to the large size of source archives, Pexus may charge a download fee to cover our network bandwidth and hosting charges. All packages and software included are available to users based on the original licenses. Community Editions of some software are only downloaded and installed based on your selection and are not included in the base software distribution. You have the right to use such software based on their respective licenses and their sources can be obtained directly from their respective web sites. Applications specifically developed and included by Pexus are copyrighted by Pexus LLC. If you have any questions and wish to review the sources for privacy or security concerns you can send a request for more information to corp@pexus.com.

  15. How do I get updates to the Patriot PS OS and applications?

    Updates to OS is pulled directly from ftp.us.debian.org and security.debian.org Debian official site. This ensures you get all critical security updates when available on the Debian site. Updates to Pexus applications is pulled from https://repo.pexus.net site. Other application such as Community Edition of OwnCloud, Pydio, webmin etc. use their own respective repositories.
    Use webmin to update packages.
    Webmin can be accessed from Patriot PS Configuration Application ppsconfig. in ppsconfig application click menu More -> Launch webmin.
    Once in webmin, Navigate to System -> Software Package Updates to update

  16. What is the registration key for?

    When you purchased or requested free evaluation for any of the Patriot PS Personal Server Solution you receive a registration key e-mail. The registration key is for Pexus Applications included in the distribution. You do not need the registration key or any license to use the Linux OS and packages included in the distribution. They are distributed using the same terms as the Debian OS terms and available without any charge. However we are confident that you will love the convenience of using Pexus applications to configure, manage and run your Personal Server as they are specifically developed to make owning and running a Personal Server as easy as possible. Currently Pexus does not charge a download fee for evaluation requests. We may in future; to cover the network bandwidth and hosting charges for large file downloads. The Patriot PS Personal Server System is currently only available in the USA. Software editions i.e. the ISO Image and Virtual Appliance image is available worldwide to non-embargoed countries, however the user is responsible to ensure they comply with all cryptographic laws prevalent in their country. Patriot PS Personal Server uses strong cryptography where needed and some nations may have laws
    on individuals on the strength of cryptography keys permitted.

  17. How is Patriot PS Personal different from NAS and Cloud Storage?

    While Patriot PS Personal Server can be used as NAS and Personal Cloud Storage, it does more. With Patriot PS Personal Server, you can set it as a mail server, do automation tasks, use it as a personal communication hub include secure mail messaging applications. Patriot PS OS is a customized Debian based Linux distribution. This means you have access to a large existing applications that you can install. It uses an open source platform that will bring in scores of personal server based solutions that can be developed by any software vendor. Pexus is working on additional personal server solutions that will greatly increase the utility of your Patriot PS Personal Server.

  18. How to import self-signed HTTPS certificate in to trusted store in Internet Explorer?

    Importing the self-signed HTTPS certificate in to trusted store in Internet Explorer is a little involved unlike the other browsers. You can use the following steps to import the self-signed certifcate.

    1. Browse to the site whose certificate you want to trust.
    2. When told "There is a problem with this website's security certificate.", choose "Continue to this website (not recommended)."
    3. Select Tools -> Internet Options.
    4. Select Security -> Trusted sites -> Sites.
    5. Confirm the URL matches, and click "Add" then "Close".
    6. Close the "Internet Options" dialog box with either "OK" or "Cancel".
    7. Refresh the current page.
    8. When told "There is a problem with this website's security certificate.", choose "Continue to this website (not recommended)."
    9. Click on "Certificate Error" at the right of the address bar and select "View certificates".
    10. Click on "Install Certificate...", then in the wizard, click "Next".
    11. On the next page select "Place all certificates in the following store".
    12. Click "Browse", select "Trusted Root Certification Authorities", and click "OK".
    13. Back in the wizard, click "Next", then "Finish".
    14. If you get a "Security Warning" message box, click "Yes".
    15. Dismiss the message box with "OK".
    16. Select Tools -> Internet Options.
    17. Select Security- >Trusted sites -> Sites.
    18. Select the URL you just added, click "Remove", then "Close".
    19. Now shut down all running instances of IE, and start up IE again.
    20. The site's certificate should now be trusted.
  19. How do I login to my Patriot PS Personal Server directly?

    You can either use PuTTY or Windows Remote Desktop Protocol to login into your Patriot PS Personal Server. When using PuTTy, use the IP address or hostname in your Local Area Network and port 22 to login. Use the ppsadmin and password you have set in your profile to login.

    When using Remote Desktop, use the IP address and the default Remote Desktop port. When prompted for login use ppsadmin and the password you have set in your profile.

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