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Peppermint Ice is like Chrome OS without sacrificing local apps
If you'd like a Chrome OS-like experience without having to give up apps like Transmission, VLC, or DropBox? Take a look at the new release from the developers behind Peppermint.
Dubbed Peppermint Ice, the new spin replaces Firefox with Chromium and includes the same selection of web app shortcuts (Facebook, Seesmic, Google Docs, Hulu, Pandora, etc.) and local apps (like DropBox, Tranmission, and XChat). Want to add your own web app shortcuts? It's a snap using the built in Ice tool. And since Peppermint is derived from Linux Mint, apt-get is available via the terminal -- meaning you can install boatloads of other apps if you want to.
Peppermint is a solid Linux distribution for people who just want to surf but don't want to give up the flexibility which Linux distros typically provide. The interface is clean and simple, and should be familiar to anyone who's ever used Windows XP. Hey, if my 5-year-old can jump in and find his YouTube favorites on Peppermint, the learning curve can't be too steep (if it even exists).
Good news if you're a Firefox fan: Kendall also informed me that Peppermint One will be switching to Firefox 4.0 when the second beta arrives. The switch will provide a welcome performance boost, though you might have to deal with some broken extensions temporarily -- although if you're installing Firefox betas you're probably used to that by now...
Comments
6
Subscribe to commentslassiJul 21st 2010 12:37PM
actually, google has a project for "native" apps for chrome, NaCL. I guess they kind of realized that no professional wants to really go back 5 years in speed and possible power, a 3d modeller done in javascript could always be done better, faster(offering more productivity) natively.
but it and this is all boring stuff if you've read about new linux distros coming and going for more than a decade, without any of them offering anything groundbreaking. as it is currently chrome is something they should have kept the lid on but I suppose they need something to wave by the falling share prices.
some new method for session restoration would really be something that would seperate things, fast booting to running nothing is.. well, that could be done pretty fast with dos starting up windows 3.0 if you wanted.
Lee MathewsJul 21st 2010 12:39PM
There's plenty more to CrOS than that... The fact that it's self-healing is actually a pretty big deal, and there's the whole integration with Google Apps that some admins are really going to enjoy -- especially with the recent policies update.
That aside, I'm certainly not claiming that Peppermint is "revolutionary," but it's certainly a good little distro that anyone can jump right into and enjoy.
Drew GreenJul 21st 2010 1:40PM
So how is this different than Jolicloud? Web apps, native apps, Chromium browser...
trialsntribulusJul 21st 2010 2:18PM
No disrespect, but I tried the Firefox 4 beta, and it ain't better than Chrome. Not by a long shot.
avJul 31st 2010 9:57PM
Well, Lee Mathews :
Isn't it you who have written this, not too long ago?
"Peppermint isn't tightly integrated with a cloud backend the way Chrome OS or Jolicloud is. And heck, if you threw Prism and Dropbox on a Windows XP system and called it a cloud OS people would point and laugh.
There was a time when "yet another Linux distro" (no offense intended) would have been quickly shrugged off by non-Linux tech bloggers. Is the fact that Peppermint wasn't ignored a sign that attitudes toward Linux are changing? Or does it just tell us that if you throw the word "cloud" into your PR materials that more people are willing to pay attention?"
I'm happy to notice that you finally found the positives of web centric Linux OS's and that different versions may and should exist without necessarily overlapping each others.
jscottuOct 1st 2010 9:17PM
All I know is that on my Tecra 8000 300mhz laptop with 192mb Peppermint Ice has turned it into something I can actually use again.