My wife has a netbook (an Asus eeePC 901A), on which I had previously installed eeeBuntu. I liked eeeBuntu okay, however things started having problems as time progressed. I'm not sure if this was due to anything with the hardware, or my wife not updating the software...or anything else. However, things started to go really slow. eeeBuntu is basically Ubuntu NBR with some changes to the kernel so the eeePC can use all of the keyboard functions that it was built with. That's about the extent I know about it, you can learn more from their website.
So, anyway, my wife complained of this, and I was looking into upgrading to a new version. The project seemed kind of stale to me, perhaps because Ubuntu had released their new version, and they had to catch up. But we wanted something different.
I had heard a lot of good praise about a Distro called Jolicloud, which I would describe as a Linux distro totally geared toward netbooks and "the cloud." Apps are available to use, such as a facebook app, which remind me a lot of apps for the iPhone. It is really neat.
The descriptions from their website say:
We have mixed a super-optimized Linux* that makes the most of your netbook hardware, battery, graphics and connectivity with a cool interface that will make your life easier.As on your main computer, enjoy using a combination of your favorite web apps, packaged for a full screen experience and the most popular native apps.
Jolicloud brings all the benefits of cloud computing today, making your netbook the natural extension of all your other computers and mobile devices.
I installed Jolicloud to a 1GB USB drive, and installed it in less than 20 minutes. I used the entire hard drive, which wiped out the previous installation of eeeBuntu. After the installation, I installed a few apps of interest (chromium, facebook, google docs, frozen bubble). Total disk space used was less than 1GB, which is good, considering this netbook only has a 2GB SSD hard disk.
To do updates, or install new software, you open "My Jolicloud" from the favorites screen. This opens up to a login screen, where you use your credentials to log into your Jolicloud account, where you then have access to friends lists, support, app repository, updates, and other things of similar nature. It is very well laid out.
Chromium runs MUCH faster on this little netbook than firefox, so I opted to use it instead. Using Google docs means I don't have to take up valuable drive space installing OOo. Then there are lots other apps that focus on the "cloud" philosophy, which is really cool for a netbook.
All in all...I would agree with the statement that Jolicloud is the best OS for netbooks. Or at the very least it is up there in the top 5!
http://www.jolicloud.com/
Posted by: jamba
Category: ##linux
Tags: #cloud #jolicloud #linux #netbook #os
Published Date: Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:19:20 +0000
Original URL | Original guid | PostID= 172
