Jolicloud Pre-Beta Hands On

Now that the final pre-beta of Jolicloud is out, I gave it a test run on my Samsung N140 netbook.

Just a quick run-through (again) of the updates in the pre-beta version:

What’s new with Jolicloud Pre-Beta?

• GMA 500 Support (story here)
• Express Installer (easily intall from Windows)
• Better boot up speed and video management (720p out of the box for GMA 500)
• Updated Linux kernel
• Updated GUI

Coming soon:

• Twitter integration
• HTML5 launcher / GUI

The main download is an 600mb .exe file from jolicloud.com. No need to follow complicated instructions for moving it to a USB stick or the hassle of burning it to CD. Just get the app over to Windows and double click to install Jolicloud. So easy, and it places Jolicloud in a dual-boot config with your current Windows OS.

Here’s a quick look at what’s new with Jolicloud pre-beta, at least on the surface. Mostly minor GUI changes and the faster boot-up. I forgot to show the new Gnome folder icons though.

Boot-up time test on my Samsung N140 netbook (27 seconds to the login screen):

Here’s a quick walkthrough of a freshly installed Jolicloud (login into the cloud, install apps, etc):

Last, Jolicloud may not be for you, and you’ll need a way to remove it from your netbook. Well Jolicloud as a really simple one-click solution. Great to see this!

Overall, definitely worth the upgrade over the Alpha version. The subtle GUI changes solve most of the minor issues I had with the interface in the Alpha version. Super impressive with the ease of installation and general presentation. Faster boot-up time. Of course Jolicloud is always increasing support for more netbooks and related hardware as well, as that is their focus - a nice feeling over using Linux distro X.

I would like to see more cloud-ish features, like having your app data stored in the cloud. I have to re-install apps every time I install Jolicloud. The social aspect of Jolicloud has not been added yet, you still got a very rudimentary twitter GUI which hasn’t been developed yet - in any case I’m not seeing any use for this right now.

Lastly, it’s still a beta, pre-beta at that and I encountered a few bugs. Installing another language screwed up my login screen (theme). second, I had something funny going on with the app launcher icons merging. Lastly I was unable to connect to the network (and access my Windows desktops). Window just crashed every time.

If you have the Alpha version currently installed, you should be able to update to the pre-beta version with an install sometime by the end of the week.

Visit jolicloud.com for more info.