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Jolicloud pre-beta now ready for download, and I love it
Today, the Jolicloud pre-beta has been released and it's ready for the general public to install on their Windows netbooks.
Jolicloud's Wubi-derived installer make the process dead-simple. Download the 600Mb .exe [or the torrent] from their website, launch it, and make your selections. Within a few moments you're system can dual-boot into Jolicloud or Windows.
While I suppose it's technically not fair to compare Jolicloud and Chrome OS right now since Chrome is so early in the alpha stage, I'm going to anyway. Right now - and for the near future - Jolicloud is the winner in my mind because it supports both native and web-based applications equally well.
"Sure, but Jolicloud uses Firefox and Firefox is slooooooooooow!" you say? Fine, go grab the Google Chrome beta for Linux and install the 32-bit .deb on Jolicloud. There. You've got a nice, fast, webkit-based browser - just click in from your internet apps tab.
And you're not giving up the speedy boot time, either. Check out the video, where you'll see the OS boot on an Asus Eee PC in less than 15 seconds. That's very competitive.
If you hadn't guessed from my screenshot, I'm busily installing games on my Acer Aspire One at the moment. Apart from the Jolicloud directory, you've also got terminal access to apt-get for installing anything available from the Ubuntu repositories (like Wormux and FreeCol, for example). I'm only two days in on Jolicloud, but I'm really enjoying the experience so far.
It's well worth trying out, so go grab the pre-beta now - and share your impressions in the comments!
Comments
27
Subscribe to commentsJustinDec 10th 2009 1:10PM
can i test this on my laptop or is this netbook only?
Jash SayaniDec 11th 2009 9:29AM
Use can test it on a laptop.
Here is my review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsaBsaKYLbQ
c-macDec 10th 2009 1:20PM
HOT
RCDec 10th 2009 1:46PM
I downloaded this yesterday, and renamed the .iso image to a .img because the USB Creation Tool provided by Jolicloud did not want to run on my Win7x64 install.
I then used WinImage running as an administrator (or you won't see your drives), and then restored the disc image to a physical drive and selected the .img file.
It copied to the USB key successfully and I took it for a spin.
WOW. although a little slow from a USB key, it was exceptionally pleasant to use, and my only qualm is that the full-screen browser-takeover applications like Facebook and such need their own version of a hover back-forward button overlay that mimic's the OS's look.
Also, I could not change the background as it was tiled on my computer's screen.
I did not try it on a netbook though, but this currently beats what I've tried from the ChromeOS side of the fence.
Great job to the jolicloud team!
ScooterGDec 10th 2009 3:38PM
You can also install Chrome through the My JoliCloud Dashboard/App Directory...lots of stuff in there.
The .exe installer wouldn't work for me on Win7 32bit. It kept crashing. I ended up using the USB tool and it worked flawlessly.
This pre-beta even picked up all of my drivers just fine. Something that Ubuntu 9.10 didn't.
Looks like a fantastic release!
JaccoDec 10th 2009 3:45PM
Does this do damage if I install it on my C: drive?
ScooterGDec 10th 2009 3:57PM
None at all. It will partition your drive for you and let you dual (triple in my case) boot your computer. You will even be able to import settings from your Windows or other Linux install.
JaccoDec 10th 2009 3:59PM
Ok, thank you. I was a little worried because I got a pop-up saying that he didn't find a second hard drive.
ScooterGDec 10th 2009 4:27PM
I installed mine from a usb key, but from the sounds of it, the exe. route should work the same way. When I was trying to use the .exe, the JoliCloud program was going to set up a 22gig partition for me...not sure why you got the message you got. Always remember to back up just in case!
jeff.siegelDec 10th 2009 3:51PM
It's amazing -- everything that Chrome and Netbook Remix want to be. I can't believe how well it works in alpha.
ScooterGDec 10th 2009 3:58PM
+1!
seanDec 10th 2009 4:04PM
Downloading now. Can't wait to try it out. I have a Lenovo X200 laptop with Windows 7 running on it just fine. However, if I power it down and want to boot up quickly to check email, etc...I hate waiting for windows to load, services to load, login popups (jungledisk, etc).
I tried Chrome and it sucks - too buggy. Every other "netbook" OS wasn't what I was looking for. Jolicloud looks awesome, but I haven't heard much about it and essentially assumed that it sucked. I signed up for the alpha preview anyways, and got an invite last week - but again, since I never heard much about it before, I just shrugged it off and never got around to testing it out. I'll report back on how it is on my "non-netbook" / regular laptop (no touchpad - just the nipple).
oboDec 10th 2009 4:07PM
I dusted off my old Eee 701 and installed this on it after flailing through the stock OS, Ubuntu, Crunchbang and Puppy before shelving it.
This is easily the best of all of them, even if it is just Ubuntu with some gloss and tweaks. It just works, it works well, scales the processor so nicely that my 9-cell battery goes for 8 hours now.
BTW - I have Win7 x64 Pro and had no problems with Jolicloud's image writer, tested it on a 4GB SDHC card and a 2GB USB drive, no problems either way.
coelDec 10th 2009 5:34PM
I understand with Pre-Beta, they have dropped invitation requirement. Now how do I sign up for Jolicloud ID? I'm on Jolicloud OS right now but the homebase screen is asking for invitation code.
ScooterGDec 10th 2009 5:39PM
You may need a Jolicloud account. I already had one and just logged in via that same screen. Let me know if you need an invite...don't think you should though.
coelDec 10th 2009 5:42PM
I don't have an ID yet, nor the invitation. Jolicloud blog was saying that now you don't need an invitation, but the actual sign-in/up screen still requires it. Hmmm...
ScooterGDec 10th 2009 6:05PM
Anyone know how to remove those check marks from all the apps you install?
RustyODec 10th 2009 11:50PM
Reboot
HampaDec 10th 2009 8:55PM
yeah same here, thought i didn't need an invite but seems that you do. strange, if you got one spare i gladly take one. Hampa_D at hotmail.com
but so far everything else just works really good on my asus F9E laptop
HampaDec 10th 2009 8:59PM
or try ALPHAFAREWELL as a code worked for me ;)