The version I am running is Private Alpha 2c (Developer’s Edition), so I am not expecting a lot out of it, especially after my last couple of nights looking at Moblin v2.0 and v2.1. But, I’ll tell you what, those Moblin devs have a LOT of work ahead of them if they want to do something other than waste their time and Intel’s money. Pee-YEW!!! I’ll moan more about Moblin at a later date.
Jolicloud is based on some version of Red Hat. It has a Ubuntu Netbook Remix (you know that I mean that other one, but I can’t recall the name at present) interface and comes stocked with a boatload of the standard apps, including WINE for the Windows kids. In addition to this, it boasts a cool feature that allows for the installation of applications optimized for the platform via the Dashboard. This Dashboard is what sets Jolicloud apart from the other netbook OS/GUIs I’ve seen so far and is also why I was so keen to try it out.
The Dashboard presents an overview of everything from available updates (I’m looking at 148!), Notifications (9 invites remaining), and History (I installed Chrome with Flash (does that seem wrong to anyone else?)).
A separate tab presents you with the available optimized apps. These are broken out by category, but the All sub-tab is showing me 35 pages of these apps…at 12 apps per page…420 total and they are adding more. These aren’t schlocka-schlocka apps, either. Like I said, Chrome, just about everything that has escaped from Google Labs, VLC, Boxee, OpenOffice, DropBox, etc. I am not going to go through each page. 😉
The next tab is Settings, where you find your Jolicloud profile info, all of the computers associated with that profile (more on this later), Services (which seems to still be under development), and then something weird…Following, Followers and Latest Members. What is this all about?
The last tab is Lab, but this is greyed out for me.
Just to the right of these tabs is a large search box labeled “Search for friends and apps”. “Matt Curtiss” returned two results, but neither are the guy I am looking for. This must have something to do with the whole “Have 10 invites!” thing. Is Jolicloud viral?!?!
I knew from the start that I did not want to blow away the Fedora 12 that I have installed on my eeePC, so the ability to boot from a USB key was a welcome find. The process of setting up this USB key, however, could use some work. At first I tried under XP, but the provided USB Creator program bombed. I tried this under Vista and had the same issue. Then under XP, again, I tried it with Run As Administrator. All bombed in the exact same way. As of two days ago, they were aware of the issue and were working on a fix. Maybe Mac users will fare better. I actually did my build under Fedora 12 on the netbook. At first I tried installing it on the 4GB SDHC card that is installed in the netbook. The Creator said it worked and it did actually boot the system, but then it could not find the kernel to load. I tried it again using a 1GB USB key and it worked the treat. The only problem with running in Live mode is that none of my settings will be saved. Wait. What? I thought CLOUD was part of the name of this deal? And what up with the profile!?!?!? Maybe, just maybe, this is a work in progress. I am going to bring the USB key with me to werk tomorrow and see if Chrome gets automatically reinstalled for me.
That brings me to that whole “shows a list of the computers associated with the profile” tip. Is it just me, or does that smell like insta-sync to many machines? That could be cool! I couldn’t ever imagine having to use more than a single netbook ever, but there are crazier people than me in the world.
A small issue is that I am not seeing any network icons in the tray. I’d like to test the wifi, but…how? Bluetooth is listed there and I will try tethering with that tomorrow.
In all, I am liking this. I ran the Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix, so I am familiar with the basic interface. I am impressed with the Dashboard and apps thingy and I like the manifesto. This seriously kicks the crap out of Moblin in all ways. I don’t know what is wrong with those guys. They had a great idea and the power of Intel behind them, but they lost it somehow. Anyway, we will see how tomorrow goes.
Well, as expected, Live mode crashed and burned on me. First, it requires Intertube access in order to activate my account…again. Well, that requires a key that was sent to me in an email that I do not have with me.
The basic OS works fine, no problems there.
I paired the Bluetooth with my phone, but the "Allow the computer to use the phone for Internet access" screen was missing. 🙁 Sure, sure. I coul dhave busted out my USB cable and teathered that way, but where's the fun? If the werk day stays slow, I may try this route again. I am curious about that Chrome install…
I managed to find the networking icon in the tray. I must have been getting tired last night. It is a sucky icon, anyway. Looks like a battery, which is what I thought it was for! Never even clicked it! No open wifi spots around me, but at least now I know that it actually has that basic feature cooked in. They seriously should get a better icon. A dark color on a black background with white edges. All you see is the edges! HAHAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
In all, I have high hopes and well wishes for this project and I will b ekeeping an eye on it. If you need a full-blown Linux distro that has been customized to the netbook platform, you could do MUCH worse than check out Jolicloud. And, it seems to have a couple of secrets up its sleeves, too…
Finally got around to trying this again to see about that Chrome install.
First, the proxy server at my werk seems to be blocking the Jolicloud login process. Just sat there hung with a very empty, dark screen until I tethered off my phone. That gave me the login screen immediately. Not a good sign for Jolicloud in a corporate environment.
Logged in, I named the machine what I thought I named it the first time around, but this was not the case. That History screen comes in handy! Rebooted and logged in with the original machine name to see if it would kick off the Chrome install. Nope.
So, what we have here is a full-boat Ubuntu install with the fancy dashboard and the Ubuntu Netbook Remix UI. Is it awful? Not at all. Is it game changing? Not at all. Sadly, unless the Jolicloud folks can pull a rabbit out of their hat, I thik they have just another "also ran" distro. ChromeOS is looking better and better.