We've always had a thing for instant-on OS environments like
SplashTop, and now Xandros is looking to bring that concept to every laptop with Presto!, a new Linux distro that's said to boot in "seconds." The idea isn't so much to replace Windows as it is to supplement it -- you select between Windows and Presto at boot, you'll still have access to all your files, and you can even uninstall Presto from Add / Remove programs. Not a bad way to get your Linux feet wet, and Presto seems like it's pretty functional as well: Xandros already powers the Linux Eee PCs, and it sounds like Presto will run decently on similarly low-powered / older hardware. The stock install comes with Firefox, Skype, a media player and office suite, but Xandros is working on an app store, so you should have lots of other options soon. Sounds promising -- we'll see how it goes when the beta's released on March 16.
[Via
GadgetMix]
posted March 4th 2009 6:56AM
How feasible would this be for a desktop?
It's already available (not Presto !) on some Asus motherboard.
I bought one, but in fact, it's useless. Why use a limited OS when you can get the full deal by waiting 1mn ?
Maybe for a laptop, when you're on the move, but even so, there's hibernate.
Guillaume
If you can install it on any laptop, as it seems will be the case, then I think it's pretty safe to say that you can also install it on desktops just as easily...if not more so.
not at all because windows wins over the os wars
ROFL
And China wins in the baby-making wars, with India a second runner up. Wanna move?
I always wondered why the netbooks come with fully installed OSes. They should make a netbook that just has splashtop, has only the tiniest amount of internal flash storage.
The Linux version of the Acer Aspire One basically fits the bill. It's still a (semi) full linux OS, based on Fedora 8, but it boots in approximately 15 seconds. When I bought mine I had intended to replace the OS with a full Fedora or Ubuntu OS, but the boot time is so fast that I've left the default OS on there. It works pretty well with some tweaks to get at more of the Fedora 8 features.
Linux needs an app store badly.
Package managers are horribly put together. Type in "Tetris" and you have to wade through dummy files, python scripts, config files, and other weird crap.
It sounds like you just need to learn how to use the package managers search a little better to refine your searches. All the package managers I have used, by default, search by description and sometimes name. Which is why you get a list full of python files, config script, etc... You just have to refine that search a little more to help filter that extra stuff out.
lol. actually, having people go through "app stores" and being subject to someone else's agenda and advertising-dictated priorities to find software is a laughing stock of even the most basic linux users of this day and age.
I think you are right. zargon is clearly one of those die-hard linux zealots that prefers to get the "bare metal" view of an OS, all the while complaining that Linux doesn't have a bigger market share. Something about cakes and eating springs to mind...
You are very right, but the solution is obvious: chow down some garry gum and those package managers will make perfect sense.
Just don't forget the anti-garry gum.
Ubuntu has a special "Add/Remove" app that only lists applications and it works just as you want. If you go into Synaptic though, you're going to get a long list of every library file and associated file to the application you're looking for.
I think you're just looking at the wrong app for your needs. "Add/Remove" is very easy to get to on the Application menu and Synaptic is two steps in the System Menu in Ubuntu. In a way, "Add/Remove" (I forget what it's called right now) is an app store.
1. 'Package managers are horribly put together. '
2. 'It sounds like you just need to learn how to use the package manager'
Point 2 is the proof of point 1, not a refutation. You shouldn't need to learn how to use a package manager. If you need to learn how to use it in order to achieve basic tasks - like downloading Tetris - that's a usability bug.
By default it should do what most new users would mostly want. The other options should be in an advanced search page, or otherwise non-default. Achieving this might require changes to the package infrastructure (some way to distinguish 'featured' packages that end users might want to download) as well as the manager UI itself, so it's not necessarily an easy bug to fix, but it is definitely the problem of the package manager/system and not the user.
And if there is one package manager that works the way new users would expect, and another one that doesn't, then maybe the one that doesn't should be hidden better - for example by integrating them so that one is an 'advanced' page of the other?
Did you read my post? Ubuntu does this already...
Ubuntu's application manager is on the application menu. The underlying package manager (Synaptic) is in the system menu and it's named Synaptic. If I were a "dumb" user, I wouldn't even have a clue what Synaptic did. I'd think it was some kind of cyborg artificial intelligence program.
I think OP was being pedantic.
As Andir3.0 already mentioned, Ubuntu's package manager already does this (only shows applications), as do some package managers for other distros.
Ironically, the first thing I thought when I first saw the AppStore was "Hey, this looks like a linux repo system."
You, my friend, have nailed the problem with Linux, if not the solution.
"app store" on a free OS? you must be kidding me!
And why are they using a Macbook Pro on their main page, if it doesn't run on Macs?
Because they couldn't find a sexy-looking Windows lappy?.....I keed! I keed!
At least this is properly licensed, unlike Phoenix Lab's with their Linux-based (but not licensed) OS that also rips off FF (also not licensed, and reskined in violation of FF's TOS).
What do you mean "not licensed"?
They're fine as long as they follow the GPL. And AFAIK Firefox is open source but still trademarked. Thus they would need to rebrand it to comply with licensing.
Signed up for the beta on their site!!!!! GIGGIDY!!
Hey! It's OK to resell open source OS's!
We can all profit from thousands of hours of other people's unpaid labor.
I smell a profit center coming on....
K
I frankly don't get all the hubbub about these instant-on OSs on netbooks. You know what's even faster than booting one of those? Opening my lid and waiting a few seconds for it to come out of sleep. With the SSD drive in mine (HP Mini), I'd don't give the idea of powering down a moment's thought- just close the lid and toss it in my bag or wherever. When I need it, the only real wait is for the WiFi to pick up again... now if they could only make that go a little faster...
But isn't Presto a trademark of Dell ???
http://www.pcpresto.com orhttp://www.dell.co.uk/presto is what I refer too
Perhaps Xandros has been to quick at selecting the name