Jolicloud Reviewed

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://hothardware.com/Reviews/A-Look-At-Jolicloud-CloudBased-Linux-Desktop-Computing/?page=1' target='_blank'>http://hothardware.com/Reviews/A-Lo...mputing/?page=1</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Jolicloud's newest operating system release can be summed up in one word: &ldquo;accessible&rdquo;. To sum it up in fourteen words: &ldquo;accessible, and yes it's Linux underneath, but please don't run away screaming quite yet.&rdquo; Anyone trying this relative newcomer might call it accessible because it has an extremely easy-to-use interface. Or, it could be called accessible in the sense that it's free and will run on minimal hardware. Or, it may be accessible because it integrates concepts familiar to social networking users directly into the main interface."</em></p><p><em><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1296083801.usr10.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></em></p><p>If you have some old computer hardware and are comfortable with an app centric interface like you'd find on most modern smartphones, this might be something for you to take a look at. &nbsp;Anyone given this a go?</p><p><em></em></p>

[ptyork]

Just installed it on a VM to see whether it would be a decent fit for the wife/kid pc. Turns out this is really just a light skin on top of Ubuntu. I was really hoping for something a bit more idiot-proof and integrated. And if the horrendous performance in the VM (tried both VBox and VMWare) was any indication, I'm not sure this is gonna be a top performer either.

It also loses as it doesn't run on ARM, since my next wife/kid pc will definitely be some ARM variant (perhaps now a hacked Apple TV).

What I want is Android with a mouse. Or perhaps even the ChromeOS, but with truly decent local storage support for photos and videos. Stupid simple, but able to do some basic photo editing and media viewing with local files.

The right thing will be out this year. I'm confident. Jolicloud ain't it, though.

[crimsonsky]

I've installed Jolicloud on an old Fujitsu Lifebook and find it's performance quite acceptable. In fact, its performance really shines on this old machine. In function it's pretty much like what I see in ChromeOS but with the benefit of local storage. You don't need to know that it's Linux underneath unless you really want to. I actually find it's performance better than Ubuntu 10 which is what I had on the machine prior to installing Jolicloud.

I've never tried it in a Virtual Machine (I have Parallels) but I wonder if the VM itself is the problem you were having. On real hardware, it runs quite well.

[ptyork]

So just to give an example of what's "wrong" with the lightweight-ness (is that even close to a word??) of the Gnome skin: In playing around with the interface (attempting in vain to make it so the "close" button at the top was actually visible instead of a Gen Y dark grey on black), I right click on it. I click properties and have no clue what I'm seeing, but it sure ain't a color bar. So just further exploring I right click and choose to remove panel. Now I've completely lost my task switcher and my close button. Any my network icon is bumped over to the left. And despite being quite technically astute, I can't even figure out how to reset it. No button. No script. I'm probably stuck deleting the user profile and starting over. I'm not gonna even worry about it, since it isn't the OS for me, but it is a pretty major problem if your goal is easy and idiot-proof. Oh, wait, now I completely deleted the panel. Seems like there's naught that can be done now. Can't even close windows.

Anyway, it's not like it's a bad OS or a bad idea, it just isn't what I was expecting. The OS looks "right" for my needs, but isn't quite there yet. I need unbreakable, or at least the ability to truly lock it down and hide everything Linux and Gnome. 'Cause believe me, if it can be broken, a 3 year-old WILL break it. :)

Like I said, I've a feeling that there'll be a Gingerbread build that'll meet my needs in pretty short order.