Friday Night with my head in The Clouds
So how did I spend my Friday night?
Well, I spent it installing a Linux distribution on my recently purchased netbook computer.
I’m a complete Linux evangelist these days, as I love the fact that it’s all open source, and that it loads quickly, without much fuss, and to the best of my knowledge, remains free from most internet attacks.
When I got my new eee a few weeks ago it came pre-installed with Windws XP which was actually quite a good system.
Along the way I installed a dual boot system which was a little tricky at first, but which was fine.
Today’s announcement about Google’s new operating system – to be released next year – got me playing around a bit tonight with different Linux distributions to find exactly the right one for the job.
After installing and uninstalling several different flavours I’ve settled on Jolicloud as the sole operating system for my 1008ha eee.
Why? Everything worked straight away. There was no stuffing about with drivers, as the camera, the wireless, everything just worked.
And also because it looks good, is easy to use, and is pretty fast.
Ultimately it’s a system designed for those of us – most of us ? – who spend most of their computer time online. And with that in mind, they’ve put web applications at the forefront of the system. You can also install your own applications, and for me, the only things that I needed to go looking for, but which weren’t easy to find was the standalone application for Picasa and the audio editing program, Audacity.
On the downside, it chews up the batteries more than other comparable system. However, since it’s not even in Beta yet (it’s an Alpha release), I’m sure this will be solved by the time it’s ready for a public release. At the moment, it’s invitation only.
So yeah, that’s how I spent my Friday night. Glamorous eh?
I still can’t get Jolicloud to work, but XP is doing okay on this trip. Avast has already intercepted a trojan or two, and I’m changing passwords constantly so I don’t think I will have many problems.
Interesting that Jolicloud chews up the batteries though… that’s a big concern for my usage right now. I’m getting 4-5 hours battery time from every charge which is great on the road!
Good that it’s working well. Bad that you’ve had a trojan attack. Fingers crossed all will be fine. And remember, don’t do anything where I need to appear on television to explain your absence! :) As for Jolicloud, wWhen I say it chews the batteries, the estimated life is 3.5-4 hours, which is still good. Maybe when you come back…