Opera

With more traditional content sharing, you need to upload the content you want to share, and this is shared through a central, third-party server, out of your control. Opera Unite enables your browser to act as a server, and you can choose what content you share and with whom.

Opera Unite uses, as its base, collaborative technology that acts like a compact server on your browser. Rather than store the content on a third-party server, as in the traditional data-sharing model, the content remains on your computer; your friends communicate with your computer using local connections, or, if this is not available, some server-side Opera technology will aid in establishing a connection. Access to your content is provided and controlled by the Opera Unite services that you select. These services are small, Web-service programs running inside your browser. There are different Opera Unite services for sharing different types of content on your computer or for collaborating. These services give you full control over what you share and with whom, without the need to upload. For more information about these services, see "Available Opera Unite services" below.

There will be many, various kinds of Opera Unite services in the future. The services offered for this release are:

• Opera Unite page: An overview page that lists your services with activity feeds and also shows the services others are running.
• File Sharing: A simple and safe way to share files directly from your computer.
• Fridge: A fun place for people to leave notes on your computer.
• Photo Sharing: Share your personal photos with friends around the world without the need to upload them.
• Media Player: Access your complete home music library from wherever you are.
• Web Server: Host your Web sites from your own computer.
• The Lounge: Invite your friends to a chat in The Lounge hosted on your computer.

Opera Unite services are easy to use. Once you set up an Opera Unite service, you do not need to configure anything else, such as DNS services or complex access controls. Your data is instantly available. Even better, the services on Opera Unite Web site are free and designed for you to use easily and safely with Opera Unite.

To install an Opera build with Opera Unite, go to Opera Labs.

Start using Opera Unite

To enable Opera Unite for the first time:

1. Click the Panels button at the top left of the browser window.
2. Click the Opera Unite panel selector at the left. A panel opens at the left, listing Opera Unite services.
3. Select a service that you want to use and click "Start" at the top of the panel. Alternatively, you can right-click the service and select "Start Service".
4. A dialog welcomes you to Opera Unite. Click "Next".
5. To use Opera Unite, you need to have an Opera account for My Opera, Dev Opera (Opera's developer community resource site), or use Opera Link. Your existing username can not contain any symbols or spaces to work with Opera Unite. Do you already have an Opera account that does not contain symbols or spaces?
   • Yes: Type your existing username and password. Go to step 6.
   • No: Click "I do not have an account" and complete your details to create one.
     • Choose a unique and easy-to-remember username without any symbols or spaces. The username will become part of the Web address (URL) for your Opera Unite services, which your friends will use to access your content.
     • Click "Show" to read the terms and conditions and check the box to indicate that you agree with them.
6. Choose a computer name from the drop-down menu. This name identifies the computer you are using, to distinguish it from other computers you may use. It also becomes part of the URL for your Opera Unite services. Choose an option that best describes how you use your computer, or write your own. In this dialog, there is also an option for UPnP (Universal Plug and Play). For more information about UPnP, see "Configure..." in "Use the Opera Unite menu" below.
7. Click Finish. The service settings page for the service you selected displays. For information about using Opera Unite services, see "Sharing content and collaborating with Opera Unite".

Notes: If you have problems accessing Opera Unite, see the Troubleshooting section in "Opera Unite frequently asked questions". If you want to use your own DNS server or even your static IP address, see the article "Setting up custom domains for Opera Unite" on dev.opera.com.

The Opera Unite layout includes the following features:

The Unite panel

This panel gives you quick access to your Opera Unite services. If the panel is not already displayed, click the Opera Unite icon on the status bar and select "Manage Services". Alternatively, you can click the Panels button and the Opera Unite panel selector. Once you have opened the panel, you can toggle the panel by clicking the Opera Unite panel selector or pressing F4. For information about icons and menus to manage your services in this panel, see "Manage services using the panel" below.

Below each service in the panel, an activity status displays. "No activity" means that the no one is accessing your service. The activity status indicates the number of people accessing your services. You can check the actual number of people connected to the service, or the size of uploads or downloads, by displaying the Opera Unite menu from the icon on the status bar and selecting "Show Status". If the activity status is high, this may impact the running of your computer. For more information about managing activity and traffic, see "Manage Opera Unite traffic" below. If the service is greyed out and does not display an activity status, it is not running.

The Opera Unite icon

When Opera Unite is enabled, this icon becomes bright green and contains a menu with options for managing Opera Unite. The same options are available from the Opera main menu > Tools > Opera Unite Server. For more information, see "Use the Opera Unite menu" below.

Your Opera Unite page

This page lists your services and devices, links to your My Opera page, and shows up to five friends running Opera Unite services. In the "Friends running this service" section, use the search field to find other members of the My Opera community. For each service listed, you can view an activity feed that lists access details. When someone accesses your service, a blue icon displays at the right of the service. Click this icon to display a drop-down list of recent activity.

When you start or install a service in Opera Unite, you are the service owner. As the service owner, you can choose how to collaborate, what content you want to share, and with whom. Each service is different, but in general if the service accesses file on your hard drive, you select the content you want to share and select the appropriate access level. Some services allow you to add a personal message in the header. To see how visitors to your service will see it, click the Preview as Visitor button on the top right of the page. To see when people access your services, view the activity feed for the service on your Opera Unite page.

Manage shared files

If a service accesses your file system, you specify a folder from which to share content. When you want to share content, it may be a good idea to create a special folder for each Opera Unite service you are using to share content, so you can more easily control what you are sharing. This might help to avoid accidentally sharing content you did not intend to share. Take care with your selection and be aware that your friends can access all sub-folders and documents within the folder you specify.

Control access to files

Opera Unite services that access your file system allow you to set access levels. For example, the File Sharing service has three levels of access available:

1. Public: Your content is accessible by anyone who types in your Opera Unite URL, visits your page in My Opera or visits the My Opera page of one of your friends. This is therefore very public. Do not use this level of access if you are concerned about the privacy of your selected content.
2. Limited: Limit access to only those with the full URL. The URL has an authorization password included. If you use the automatically-generated password, it is a combination of letters and numbers that makes it difficult for anyone else to guess; just like the PIN code for your bank. If you prefer, you can change the password in the field shown and this is automatically added to the URL. Only the people that have this exact URL will be able to access your service. If a friend notices you are running a service and tries to access it without the unique URL, they will be asked for the password. You can either send them the password, which is displayed in the Password field, or you the full URL, which will bypass the password login panel.
3. Private: Only you have access to your content.

Manage usernames, computer names, and services

Each service that you install is for the specified computer only. This means you can have the Media Player service on your work computer and a Media Player on your home computer, as well. These access the files on your hard drive, and they will each have a unique URL. If you run more than a few services on a few computers, it may be a good idea to keep track of your service names, the folders that you are sharing, and your computer names to avoid confusion.

Manage Opera Unite traffic

If you are sharing a lot of content, heavy traffic may impact your computer performance. If you move to a mobile connection, you may also want to control the connection to minimize costs or network usage. The activity status under each service in the Unite panel gives you a guide to the level of traffic.

For more complete traffic details, click the Opera Unite icon on the status bar and select "Show Status". To control the connection, you can either:

• Stop individual services — In the Unite panel, highlight the service and click "Stop". Alternatively, right-click the service and select "Stop Service".
• Disable Opera Unite — From the Opera Unite icon menu, select "Configure..." and click the Disable Opera Unite radio button. This stops all services that are currently running.

An activity feed also displays for each service on your Opera Unite page. When someone accesses one of your services, a blue icon displays at the right of the service in your list. Click this icon to display a list of recent activity, for example, files that were accessed, photos that were viewed or downloaded, or notes that were posted on your Fridge.

When a friend shares content or collaborates with you using Opera Unite, you will be sent a link that contains a unique password that provides access to their service.

View friends and services

To manage Opera Unite, you can either click the Opera Unite icon on the left of the status bar, or go to the main menu > Tools > Opera Unite Server. The following options are available:

My Opera Unite page

This loads your Opera Unite page in the browser window.

Configure...

This displays a dialog to change the computer name, or disable/enable Opera Unite. To disable/enable Opera Unite, you can alternatively go to main menu > Tools > Unite Server > Enable Opera Unite/Disable Opera Unite. Disabling Opera Unite means that your friends will not be able to access your content on any service.

An option for UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) is also included in this dialog. This is enabled by default and allows you to share your data using direct connections to your computer, if available. This can make loading speeds for your services faster, as they will bypass the proxy server. However, as it is up to each service to load content using the direct connection, it may not always run services faster. UPnP has no authentication mechanism, and assumes that local systems and their users are completely trustworthy. If you are unsure about using UPnP, or do not wish to use it, you can disable it by unchecking this option. If you don't want to use UPnP but still allow a direct connection, you can manually forward port 8840 from your router.

Show Status

This displays a dialog that tells you if the Opera Unite server is running as expected or experiencing problems, how many services you are running, how much data you have uploaded and downloaded during the session, and how many users are currently connected to your Opera Unite server. This is useful information if the activity of your services is high and impacts the running of your computer.

If you encounter a network or proxy server problem, you can restart from this dialog by clicking "Restart Opera Unite".

Manage Services

This displays the Unite panel, if it is not already displayed.

What is Opera Unite?

This displays the Opera Unite Web site.

To manage the services you run in Opera Unite, you use the Unite panel. You can add new services or delete them, stop or start them, open them in the browser window, and organize them by using folders or separator lines. To display the Unite panel, click the Opera Unite icon on the status bar and select "Manage Services". You can toggle the panel on and off by clicking the Opera Unite panel selector at the left.

At the top of the panel, icons for common actions display, which include the following:

• Add — This provides options to add a new Opera Unite service, or add new folders or separator lines to organize your services in the panel. You can also upgrade existing services using this option. Click "Install Service" and the "Upgrade existing Opera Unite service" will be preselected. Click "OK" to upgrade.
• Start/Stop — This starts running a selected service so friends can access your content, or you can collaborate with others. Once a service is running, this icon changes to "Stop".
• Delete — This deletes a selected service and adds it to the Trash. To completely remove a service, right-click the Trash icon and select "Empty Trash".

You can also right-click a service and select any of the following from the context menu:

• Open service — This displays the service settings page.
• Start Service/Stop Service — This starts running the service, or stops the service.
• Delete — This deletes the selected service. You can also drag services to the Trash icon in the panel. To completely delete the service, empty the Trash by right-clicking the Trash icon and seleting "Empty Trash".
• Properties — This provides the service details, such as the URL and the specified file path, if relevant. You can change the file path in this dialog, but this may disconnect anyone accessing your content at the time.

If you right-click in an empty space in the Unite panel, a context menu displays with options to open your Opera Unite page, disable and configure Opera Unite, and create new folders or separators in the panel.