Jolicloud pre-beta now available to download, walkthrough now available for viewing
Let's face it: Chrome OS has been snagging all of the attention in the OS world here lately, but let us not forget about Jolicloud. The Linux-based system, which was designed to be installed onto existing netbooks without much of a fuss, has finally reached its public pre-beta stage. In other words, the 600MB .exe file is now out for you and yours to download and try, and according to our good pals over at Download Squad, it's well worth the effort. They seemed to have no issues whatsoever installing it as a second OS on their machine, and they went ahead and deemed it superior to Chrome OS' earliest build due to its ability to support "both native and web-based applications equally well." Their own tests found it to boot in just 15 seconds on an Eee PC netbook, but if you're still curious if dipping your toes is the best move, hop on past the break for a lengthy walkthrough video.
See more video at our hub!
























video does not work... apparently a private video
"This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender's friend request."
*Argh*
It's just a new theme for Gnome with a launcher-type of app running on top of the desktop; Ubuntu Netbook Remix and countless others before it did this already.
@(Unverified) Jolicloud does actually work to make sure netbooks specifically work without issue. They fixed a problem with the sound on my Dell A90 that Ubuntu still hasn't fixed. They also have a very nice and simple installer that makes finding and "installing" both cloud and normal desktop applications rather seamless. The end result is something that streamlines the whole desktop. However, I grew bored of it as I'd rather all my "cloud apps" be confined to a single browser window with tabs, which is what I use Chrome for with the pinned tabs feature.
I haven't played with the new versions as I am very happy with Karmic Netbook Remix 9.10, but if those screenshots are recent, they are still using the Netbook Launcher from Ubuntu 9.04, which sucked when compared to 9.10's.
Yeah, the new launcher is waaay better, but messes up in the vertical mode with a 1024 x 600 resolution
@(Unverified)
Yeah, I think they're using Jaunty (9.04) as well. I tried Jolicloud out and found Jaunty UNR to be a more complete OS, I'm also trying Moblin 2.1 and am liking the the UI, overall its VERY fast, the biggest problem is that wireless doesn't work out of the gate (pretty big problem with a NETbook).
Looks pretty much like Ubuntu netbook remix to me... and is probably built on top of Karmic, just as Chrome...
@boutch55555
That is what I thought too. But that's the great thing about Linux. You can take that source code, modify it as you wish, and redistribute.
[FACT] Hedgewars > Wormux
And yeah the video doesn't work... :(
http://en.kendincos.net/video-lffddnh-jolicloud-prebeta-gui-walk-through.html Maybe not the same video, but it looks good to me.
Also... I'm not overly familiar with these instant on-ish operating systems, but the GUI seems pretty inconsistent. There's the Jolicloud skin, but if you open anything, it's just Ubuntu.
@wtfitsrick
The lady in this video is EXTREMELY inaccurate when comparing ALPHA and BETA. I've been using Alpha for a few months, and it looks almost exactly the same. The screen that she says is what Alpha looks like, is just a special Jolicloud App called "Getting Started" where you manage your apps on your netbook. For example, when she says "It's missing Twitter" she could easy enable it by going into that "Getting Started" app and performing a one-click install.
The normal interface of Alpha looks 99% the same as the interface of BETA from what I can tell.
this is slower than chromeos.
I've been using Jolicloud Alpha on an Acer Aspire One for a few months now. Win XP came preinstalled on my netbook, then I tried Jolicloud, then Moblin, then Win 7 RC, and now I'm back to Jolicloud. It is a bit glitchy at times, but Jolicloud seems to be my favorite netbook OS.
Well I ended up not giving Chrome a try (seems rather useless at this point in its development), but I think I'll give this one a try.
I gave it a shot but it ran pretty sluggishly on my ASUS N10J. I guess i'll have to stick to win 7 until they get more of the kinks worked out.
How can you depend on an OS that is Cloud based??? Have we forgotten the Sidekick already?
@jimlivingston
Because we like to move forward in life and if they are willing to waste\spend time on another way to move forward whether it works or not so be it.
Its better to try and fail then even the thought of never knowing. Curiosity a bitch.
What breaks when you switch to Ubuntu repositories?
Did she really just spell out GUI?? That seriously kind of bugs me...
@DizWARE agreed, I had a lecturer a number of years ago who did the same. To this day, makes me cringe every time!
I've been running Jolicloud for a couple of weeks on my Eee PC 1005HA and I have to say I love this OS. It's simple and fast. Everything seems well thought out and well organized.
I wiped Windows 7 crippled mangled baby duck edition and installed this as the main OS after using it a few days.
As for the comments about the OS being cloud based you can run software just like a normal laptop, OpenOffice and the like. I believe it's Ubuntu under the hood so you have a pretty big library of software there.
If you have a netbook I'd recommend you checking this out.
So technically what the reviewer likes about Jolicloud is all that Ubuntu comes with, except that they changed the Ubuntu logo to the Jolicloud logo on one of the screensavers.
I do not doubt that Jolicloud might be a great thing, it's only that so far it does not look any different from Ubuntu Netbook Remix. To get the cloud apps one would only have to install Prism and use it to "create" the apps, right?
It might also mean that they have replaced UbuntuOne as the cloud backup system of choice for one that they developed themselves... So my point is, if this is Ubuntu NBR, why should the user switch to Jolicloud? What's the advantage here?
I was invited to the Jolicloud Alpha and I loved it. It was simple and quick and when I needed to do things such as facebook or watch things on hulu then it worked well. It wasn't until (and I believe this was said here about Chrome OS) I actually needed desktop heavy apps for video and photo editing. Other than that it was great for doing small work and if I had a netbook I'd totally choose Jolicloud over Chrome.
I Hackintoshed my hpmini1000 with the help of many, many forums, videos and trials. Anyone want to share how I would try to load this OS on my Hackintoshed netbook?
Not going to watch any movie's because I don't have anything legal in there.. Nice one.. You are a real pro..
Looks like a stock Ubuntu Netbook Remix (UNR) to me.
What is the fuss? They created a custom theme with their icons and that's it,
I hate to slam someone, but Nicole Scott is repeatedly a master of the obvious. Most of the features she showed off are standard Ubuntu features. It's not "a bittorrent", it's a "bittorrent client." Similar mistake for "USBs." I hope I'm not ragging on Nicole's intelligence, but she needs to get her jargon and her background knowledge up to snuff. Sorry, but it's true!
@nightalon Rage much? I don't think most people have even used Ubuntu to realize Jolicloud is very similar, so I wouldn't consider her a "master of the obvious". Also, who cares if she didn't refer to it as a "bit torrent client", we all know what she meant.
i have easy peasy and i'm totally satisfied, incuding 3g support.
what does this has to offer more?
grouchomarx
Hi,
This is NOT the Pre-Beta!
It was a version for Pre-Beta testers in order to validate the GMA 500 support.
Check our new website to discover our new theme (including splash and log screens), the list of compatibles devices and Jolicloud Express. Pre-Beta is public!
HTML5 launcher will be released early next year.
www.jolicloud.com
What...... that's not Jolicoud? That's Ubuntu Netbook Remix?
Tried UNR earlier today and I'm on Jolicloud at this very moment. Both look quite nice, but this feels a bit slower than UNR. Really the only reason to get Jolicloud over UNR is that its much easier to install.
You all left out a very important detail here: This 600 MB executable would like to install 17 GIGABYTES of files to comprise this OS. FOr many netbooks with early 4-8 GB Flash disk drives, this isn't even CLOSE to an option.
With Jolicloud Express, default is half of the free space and minimum is 4GB.
With a bootable flash drive, you can choose 1GB if you want...