+## Platform Specific Notes ##
+
+### Linux ###
+
+If you use [Debian](http://www.debian.org), you can simply install the 'altos'
+package from any Debian mirror, like so:
+
+ apt-get update
+ apt-get install altos
+
+If you use some other distribution of Linux, then
+a Linux package of our second-generation Java bits that
+should run on any distribution with a modern Java version is also
+available. Unlike the Debian pacakge, which depends on various libraries
+already part of the Debian distribution, this package includes a "fat" jar
+file with all of the Java libraries that aren't part of the basic Java runtime
+environment included, so it should "just work" on any system with
+Java 6. Development and testing is done with OpenJDK 6, but current
+downloads from [java.com](http://java.com) should be fine too.
+
+If you'd rather build from source, our source tree includes documentation on
+how to build packages for various
+Linux systems such as [Arch Linux](http://www.archlinux.org), and the
+debian/ directory contains all the control
+files for building the Debian packages on other architectures or derivatives
+such as [Ubuntu](http://ubuntu.com).
+
+Bdale has also created a theme for
+[GDM](http://projects.gnome.org/gdm/) that he uses on his primary notebook,
+and the
+[Simple Login Manager](http://slim.berlios.de/) that he uses on all of his
+other machines and which is ideally suited for machines dedicated to AltOS
+ground station use. It includes a photo of a drag-race between
+nearly-identical rockets
+built by Keith and Bdale, that was the first time either of us gave TeleMetrum
+complete control of a rocket flight without some other backup! See the themes/
+directory in the source tree (the themes are included in the Debian package).
+
+### Mac ###
+
+A Mac OS X package that is compatible with versions 10.5 "Leopard" and
+later. The Mac operating system includes Java, and all Altus Metrum products
+show up as simple USB serial ports, so this should just work with no
+additional drivers or other dependency issues. Older versions of the Mac
+operating
+system, and even newer versions for PowerPC-based machines, come with
+Java version 5 or older, which is too old for use with Altus Metrum
+software. We know of no way to update the Java version other than
+upgrading to a newer operating system (for Intel based macs) or
+purchasing new hardware (for PowerPC based macs).
+
+If you have trouble installing on a Mac, and are getting errors about the
+package being corrupt, you may not be configured to allow installation of
+software from arbitrary sources. One customer running 10.8.1 reported that
+he was able to work around this by going to "System Preferences", "Security
+& Privacy", "General", and then clicking the "Anywhere" radio button where
+it askes "Allow applications downloaded from:".
+
+### Windows ###
+
+Our Windows package is known to work on at least some flavors of XP, Vista, and
+Windows 7 Enterprise. If you don't already have Java installed,
+download and install a current Java 6 version from [java.com](http://java.com)
+first. Then download our installer and run it. Windows already has
+the required USB serial device driver, and our package should do the right
+things to bind it to our devices, but if you get a complaint about the device
+being unrecognized, try pointing to the copy of the telemetrum.inf file
+included in the package directory manually.
+
+Note that on some Windows 7 systems, it may be necessary to install AltOS using
+'compatibility mode'. You can set this mode by
+[changing the properties](http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html)
+of the installer .exe.
+
+## License ##
+
+The firmware and associated software are licensed [GPL version
+2](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html)