Jolicloud 1.1: Detailed Review

What if an operating system was based entirely off the Internet? Even with Google working on Chrome OS, the concept is not new. The idea of computing off a world wide network has existed ever since the existence of the Artificial Intelligence Lab at MIT. Though the idea died down for a while during the mid 1990’s, the concept of Internet based computing has made a comeback in the form of cloud computing.

Ever since the idea of the netbook took off, various volunteers and vendors have attempted to make an operating system that caters to users of the net. Jolicloud is one of those attempts. The company is bringing its JoliCloud based netbook Jolibook to the UK market at a price of 279 Pounds. The JoliBook features the version 1.1.

I tested the version of a varied set of hardware to see where the OS stands within the huge family of Ubuntu based operating systems.

Version 1.1 is based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx). JoliCloud website states that there is improved driver support along with updated versions of GNOME, Metacity, native applications, and more. There is a LiveCD that can be used to install a copy on computers directly or a Windows setup file can be used to setup a copy from within Windows so that the user can easily dual-boot between Windows and Jolicloud.

Seeing as how the distribution in question would be web-based, only three machines were used to evaluate it.

ZaReason Breeze 3110: With an Intel Atom CPU, Intel graphics, 1 GB of RAM, and 320 GB hard drive, this lightweight system is ideal for testing a cloud-based OS.

HP Mini 311: Last time, I reviewed Fedora 14. I am using this machine with an Intel Atom CPU, 3 GB of RAM, 160 GB Intel SSD, and Nvidia ION LE graphics to see how well the graphics hardware could be picked up.

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-410y: Even though the system with an AMD Phenom II X6, 8 GB of RAM, 1 TB hard drive, and 1 GB ATI Radeon HD 5570 graphic card, it was still a good machine to test the install through Windows 7.

It is important to note that Internet access is required in order to be able to functionally use the operating system, even in the live environment. For those who do not have net access very often, this may not be an ideal distribution to run. The majority of functions are Internet based, so those requiring systems with local applications will want to check out Ubuntu, Debian, PCLinuxOS instead of Jolicloud.

Jolicloud is meant to fill a the cloud computing niche. To begin the review, a description of the installation will be given followed by functionality, and then the conclusion.