Lotus is an alternative implementation of the **Filecoin Distributed Storage Network**. It is the only implementation you will be able to use when the **Filecoin TestNet** launches.
For more details about Filecoin, check out the [Filecoin Spec](https://github.com/filecoin-project/specs).
- How to install Lotus on [Arch Linux](https://docs.lotu.sh/install-lotus-arch), [Ubuntu](https://docs.lotu.sh/install-lotus-ubuntu), or [MacOS](https://docs.lotu.sh/install-lotus-macos).
- Joining the **Lotus DevNet** using your [CLI](https://docs.lotu.sh/join-devnet-cli).
The **Lotus Storage Miner** is intended to be run on the machine that manages a single storage miner instance, and is meant to communicate with the **Lotus Node** via the websockets **JSON RPC** API for all of the chain interaction needs.