Linux & Open Source Software Support

ATRC has been providing Linux and open source support service since 1994.

Upto now it has been mostly customized support for specifica cases arising in the IT departments of our clients.

In response to larger customer demand and to the increasing maturity of the open source software market, we are now offering Linux support and open source software support in simpler, packaged, formats. Open Source Support & Linux Support Requires Real Experience

In fast developing technologies like Linux and open source, experience counts for even more than it does in older and more mature markets. Recent converts to Linux and open source, however prestigious their name and reputation, are unlikely to have the depth of knowledge and experience to efficiently address the most common requirement for Linux and open source support, mainly serious troubleshooting skills. This depth of experience is, however, precisely what long-term open source experts like ATRC and its associates can provide.

For most companies information and communications technology (IT/ICT) is simply a means to an end. Economic logic dictates that many will retain technical staff to meet routine day-to-day issues, but use external support to tackle those situations which are too occasional to justify the cost of retaining in-house experts, for example catastrophic failure, security threat, upgrade, extension/customisation, migration, or the like.

One of the principal reasons for the growth of open source software is its affinity with this business model. The big name open source packages (e.g. Apache, Bind and Sendmail) are typically robust, stable and infrastructural in nature. They are usually installed and configured just once, then run and run without interruption or maintenance until they are either retired or redirected towards new tasks and functions.

Most open source packages of this kind are written by and for experts, with the unfortunate side-effect that accessible documentation for new users (including the technically skilled users) can be hard to find. As a consequence, even experienced contractors can be hard-pushed to find a quick and lasting solution to open source problems if they lack deep knowledge of system internals and the familiarity to read and modify source code with confidence. The technical principles may be same as those on other systems, but the practice of maintenance can be rather different.

If you are considering an alternative supplier of Linux support or open source support, remember to ask them how much of their own business runs on open source, and how long they’ve depended on it for their livelihoods. Every application in our company, runs on open source software since 1994. Channels of Linux Support & Open Source Software Support

One notable difference from the proprietary model of software support is that very few open source applications have a single commercial provider or distribution channel. In many cases, traditional proprietary methods of escalating support simply become redundant.

When a package author has no economic or legal obligation to his/her users, no amount of channel pressure may be enough to secure end-user driven changes from him/her. On the other hand, open source licencing permits skilled third parties, like ATRC, to modify his/her packages in whichever way their clients see fit.

In effect, providers of open source support can completely short-circuit the escalation procedures of the traditional channel, delivering a fast one-stop shop solution. If a client needs an answer, a new feature, or a fix, we can get it straight from the author or we can simply provide it ourselves, without time consuming conditions, qualifications and referrals up the chain.

Another difference is that the modular, component-based, character of open source software multiplies the potential external dependencies in a package; requiring open source support companies to draw upon a wider range of skills and knowledge than traditional ‘solutions providers’ typically have to hand.

This is why the support company’s embeddedness in open source communities and ecosystems should matter to the end-user. Companies that have worked in this enviroment for decades have networks of mutual support which are both wider and deeper than you are ever likely to find in a proprietary channel. In addition to being vertically integrated with their own suppliers and resellers, open source support companies are horizontally integrated with an entire community, including direct competitors. In effect, the end-user user’s support contract with a single company like ATRC allows that user to tap into the skills and knowledge of individuals inside dozens of other companies.

The economic paradox here is that open source support companies frequently help themselves by helping their competitors. By sharing skills, they enable one another to offer better and cheaper services than the mutually exclusive channels of the proprietary world.

ATRC take this practice of co-operation for mutual competitive advantage to a further level. Not only do we consult experts in many companies, we also sell their expertise directly to our clients (even when we have similar in-house skills). This allows us to provide a quality, quantity, range and depth of open source software support which even some of consulting ‘giants’ would be hard-pushed to match.

Moreover, we can offer high quality service at competitive prices, because neither we nor our customers carry the full burden of risk typically associated with immature, fast changing, markets. If, for whatever reason, we or our partners should be pressed to meet a support obligation at a particular moment, our other associates are committed to pick-up the slack. In effect, by sharing a necessary minimum of spare capacity between us, we reduce the total amount required (and, hence, the cost to each of us of maintaining it). Practical Linux Support & Open Source Software Support

Software support can mean a great many different things, indeed there are even international standards which identify dozens of different categories and service levels. In the real world, however, distinctions between factors like maintenance, customisation, integration, software development, etc. are hard to draw and none-too-relevant for the commercial goals of a business.

ATRC recognises that support of one kind tends to overflow into another and organises it’s services accordingly. Insofar as they are necessary at all, transitions between one level or type of ATRC support and another are seamless.

With the exception of initial incident reporting, helpdesk support is typically provided by the same experienced software developers and system administrators who provide our remote and onsite intervention services. These technical experts really are as comfortable answering end-user queries as they are editing source code.

On the rare occasions that an issue extends beyond the first individual’s field of knowledge, it is automatically passed to an established expert in the domain, without the need for any formal escalation or referral. The same procedure applies whether the experts involved are ATRC associates or members of the company’s permanent staff. Needless to say, more bureacratically formal procedures are available to those who prefer them.

Although they can be structured in different ways, our charges simply reflect the amount of time taken by the relevant expert to address the problems covered by a support contract. Types of Linux and Open Source Software Support

Our two broad categories of support are:

  Helpdesk advice and diagnostic research
  Direct intervention to diagnose and resolve problems

Most of our clients combine the two; relying on the helpdesk to deal with the vast majority of incidents, but retaining the option to invoke direct intervention in exceptional circumstances. Linux & Open Source Support: Helpdesk

This form of open source software support is designed primarily for those who would expect their own technical staff to handle everyday problems. It backs-up and extends in-house resources when they are approaching their limits.

For relatively simple, or standalone applications, helpdesk support may also be used to back-up comparatively unskilled (non-technical) staff with responsibility for software maintenance in smaller businesses.

Larger clients may provide the first line of helpdesk support themselves (e.g. sourcing it from a hardware supplier), using ATRC’s helpdesk to provide expert and guru level back-up.

We can, however, provide direct front line support for those who require it.

Helpdesk support is normally staffed within office hours, but 24×7 support can be arranged as appropriate.

Pricing usually involves a relatively modest monthly fee based on the number, scale and type of software systems involved, plus charges for the exact amount of helpdesk time used in a given period. For accounting convenience, some customers prefer to pay a single consolidated charge for a fixed amount of monthly helpdesk time (with higher rates for any excess). While this is usually the more expensive option, we are happy to provide quotes for either form of payment. Linux & Open Source Support: Intervention

This form of open source support essentially involves ATRC staff and associates directly monitoring, configuring or managing your software systems, rather than merely advising your own technical staff on the matter. Obviously, the extent of that intervention is an issue for mutual discussion and agreement. It is most commonly invoked to cover emergencies and one-off system changes.

Most clients will employ this form of support alongside a helpdesk service, rather as a complete alternative to it. Some will, however, simply opt for a fully managed service in which the helpdesk fulfills the residual function of logging incident reports.

Routine intervention is most commonly delivered through remote management software and secure shell access, but all contracts provide the option of invoking onsite support when these are impracticable or undesirable.

New customers often choose a low cost package which provides remote intervention during office hours within a single monthly fee and charges for exceptional onsite support during working hours based on our standard consulting rates.

Larger companies may employ such support as a means of evaluating our performance on ‘edge’ services before purchasing it for other systems.

Intervention support (onsite or remote) can be provided out of office hours and for a single consolidated monthly fee, subject to negotiation. As with helpdesk support, the single flat rate option is essentially for those who prefer predictability over the fine-grained savings that come with payment for exact work done.

The precise charges for intervention support vary (depending on the scale and complexity of the systems concerned), but are essentially proportional to the cost of staff time we actually devote to the it. Managed services are an obvious exception, where charges also reflect the cost of holding staff available for contingencies which may not actually occur Applications & Services Covered by Open Source Support

The following list is far from exhaustive. It is mostly a list of the open source applications that our full-time staff have supported and maintained. There are many other OSS applications which we and our associates have some experience of maintaining, but which we have not listed.

If you have an open source application which needs support, and isn’t on the following list, just get in touch. If it’s not something our full-time staff specialise in, there’s still a very good chance that it is covered by one or more of our associates.

  Operating Systems
      Mandrake Linux
      Mandrake Move
      Red Hat 3.x,4.x,5.x,6.x,7.x,8,x,9.x, Workstation 2.1, 3.0 and Enterprise AS 2.1 and 3.0
      White Box Enterprise Linux 3.0
      Fedora Core 2
      Slackware
  Web servers and web applications:
      Apache web server
      PHP
      Perl
      Browsers and browser-based applications, Mozilla, Firefox, Internet Explorer, JavaScript
  Networking:
      Bind DNS — Domain Name Server
      Samba — SMB/CIFS Windows Networking
      NFS — Unix/Linux Network File System
      Firewalls — hardware and software
  Identity and authentication:
      OpenLDAP
      PAM
      RADIUS
      TACACS
      NIS, NIS+
  RDBMs database servers:
      MySQL
      PostgreSQL
  Mail and Messaging:
      Sendmail, Postfix and Qmail servers
      IMAP mailbox management and sharing
      Mail User Agents / Clients (MUAs), Thunderbird, Kmail, Evolution
      Antispamming
      Antivirus
  Groupware, Calendaring and Teamwork
      SUSE OpenExchange Server
      Open Groupwa
      Evolution, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla Calendar clients
  Help desk request tracking
      RT
  Desktop and office productivity
      OpenOffice.org
      Thin clients, xterminals, Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP)
      GNOME, KDE
  Visual Basic to Linux Program conversion.
  Web Based Front End for Legacy Cobol and FoxPro applications.

Office Softwares

Libreoffice

MS Office , Office 365 and Libreoffice interoperation.

OpenOffice.org

KOffice

AbiWord

Gnumeric

OpenOffice writer

OpenOffice Calc

OpenOffice Impress

OpenOffice Draw

Group wares

Kolab

eGroupWare

Kroupware

phpGroupware

PHProjekt

Sharepoint integration

Alfreco

Browsers

Mozilla.org

Seamonkey

Firefox

Chrome

Galeon

Firebird

Konqueror

Epiphany

Email Clients

K-9 Mail

Gmail android

Thunderbird

Evolution

Kmail

Kontact

Remote Administration

Rfbdrake

VNC

RDP

NoMachine

telnet

ssh

Reverse SSH tunnels

Dial-in to tty

Dial-in to pppd

rdesktop

TightVNC

Web Servers

Apache apache.org

NGinx

Web Server Status

AWStats

Webalizer

Telephony servers

Asterisk

DNS Server

BIND

DNSProxy

Anti virus

Clam Anti virus

clamwin

ERP Softwares

Compiere

xtuple

postbooks

FrontAccounting

Apache OFBiz

OpenBravo

Dolibarr

ERP Next

SMTP Servers

Courier MTA

Postfix postfix.org

Exim

Sendmail sendmail.org

Qmail

Kerio

Print Servers

CUPS

Network Monitoring

Ethereal

MRTG

Nessus

nmap

snort

Chatting Softwares

Gaim

Kopete

Skype

Chatting Servers

Jabber

ircd

PDF and PostScript softwares.

Ghostscript

Xpdf

Kghostview

Desktops

Gnome

KDE

xfce

OCR Software

gOCR

Accounting Softwares

GNUCash

Xtuple

Postbooks

Dolibarr

TinyERP

Odoo

Xero

Terminal Servers

LTSP

K12LTSP

Video Editing Softwares

Openshot

KDEnlive

Multimedia Softwares

MPlayer

Kaffine

Xine

Databases

MySQL

MariaDB

PostgreSQL

SAP DB

Oracle DB

Security Softwares

OpenSSL

OpenVPN

Network Authentication

OpenLDAP

Kerberos

File and Print Sharing

Samba

SMB4K

Nautilus

Lineighborhood

Desktop Publishing

Scribus

Administration

Webmin

Windows Emulators

Wine

Games

Doom

SuperTux

Chromium

Lbreakout2

Frozen Bubbles

Web Editors

Dokuwiki

Pico

Wordpress

Twiki

Quanta Plus

Screem

Mozilla

Libreoffice

seamonkey

kompozer

Text Editors

Gedit

vi

vim

nano

mc

joe

Kwrite

Kate

FTP Servers

wu-fptd

profptd

vsftpd

FTP clients

mc

Internet Explorer

gftp

ncftp

filezilla

firefox

dolphin

Project, Task and Time Management

Karm

Open Project

Korganizer

Imendio Planner

Kalarm

Accessories

Kcalc

Video Conferencing

Gnomemeeting

Jitsi

Zoom

skype

Scanning

Xsane

atrc single command scan_to_file

simple scan

CD Writing

xcdroast

cdrecord

copy_dir_to_cd

K3b

ATRC CD and DVD programs

Graphics Editing

Gimp

pix

gwenview

Graphing

Gnuplot

Windows 11 vs. Linux Performance For Intel Core i9 12900K In Mid-2022

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