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LosOS handbook

LosOS is a small box for your home or your company that keeps your files, photos, calendar and code, and that looks after itself. It has no screen to log in to, no shell and no SSH: you reach it from a web browser on the same network, and once a night it rebuilds and restarts itself.

This handbook is the owner's manual. It is written for the person who has the box on their desk, not for the people who build it (they have the wiki).

Where this handbook is​

  • On the box itself, at http://<address>/handbook/, where <address> is what the box's own screen shows. The box carries the whole handbook, search included, so you can read it when the internet is down or when the box is only reachable from your local network. The About pane of the admin pages links to it.
  • On the web, at losos.dasmat.us, for the same text with a newer date on it.

Start here​

  • New box in hand: What LosOS is, then Install and The first run.
  • Deciding how to deploy it: Types of setup lists every shape a LosOS installation can take, from one box on a home network to a company with its own edge.
  • Something is wrong and all you have is the local network: When something goes wrong is organised by what you see, and every page starts with the steps that need nothing but the LAN.
  • The box works but the outside does not (the provider, the router, the edge): Only the local network works says what keeps working, what waits, and that nothing needs redoing after.

How to read the addresses​

Throughout this handbook <address> means the IP address on the box's screen, such as 192.168.1.23, and <name> means the name you gave the box when you set it up. The box answers to both http://<address> and http://<name>.local, but only computers that resolve mDNS names find the second one, so the address is always the safe choice. See Reaching the box.