Jolicloud OS

Jolicloud – the cloud based OS.

If you’re into the Linux-scene you’ve might heard about Jolicloud, a cloud based OS  on Ubuntu (Linux). Sort of like what Google are aiming for with their Chrome OS, an OS relying heavily on connectivity through internet.

The team (Tariq Krim, Romain Huet, and Tristan Groléat) behind Jolicloud have just started sending out roughly one thousand (that’s 1000) invites every day until they’re satisfied with the userbase. The invites will be sent out according to when you registered. If you’re interested in getting a preview of the OS you can sign up and hope for an invitation.

Once you get an invitation, this is how you install Jolicloud

Note: This is an alpha product. It still has bugs and not every feature works. If you are not sure, wait for the beta.

Find a 1GB (or more) USB-drive. Plug it into your computer and follow the relevant instruction on how to make it Jolicloud bootable.

Instructions on how to set up a bootable USB-pendrive for Jolicloud.

Plug the USB-drive into your laptop of choice (netbooks recommended) and boot it up. Make sure you’ve enabled USB-boot in the BIOS, and change the boot priority. Once the Jolicloud boot menu pops up you can either choose to have a look at Jolicloud without installing it (can install it within the live-preview) or choose to install it directly. Continue through the self-explained installation of Jolicloud until it’s finished. If you’re familiar with installing Ubuntu, then installing Jolicloud is more or less exactly the same.

What makes Jolicloud “different” from all the other Linux distributions? Well, one feature would be that it’s heavily based on running applications through the web via a web-interface of sorts. But it can also run applications offline as any normal OS would be able to. Jolicloud is simply a UI that places itself on top of Ubuntu, with the same package manager and base. It uses Maximus to scale windows into full-screen and it uses a Netbook-Remix menu with tabs for applications (e.g. Accessories, Graphics, Internet, Office, Sound & Video, Preferences, Administration) along with a internet-based portal for applications, notifications, and social updates. All wrapped up in a very good looking package while being simple to use.

Right then, my impressions and first thoughts of Jolicloud (mind you, it’s in alpha).

First things first – Bluetooth, Wireless, OSD,  some functions-keys (but not the preferred wireless/bluetooth-key) and additional keys on my Asus EEE 1000 (SSD model) works out of the box. Which is a fantastic feeling just that, not having to clutter around with troubleshooting and sleepless nights to get the basic functions on your laptop to work. I’m not going to blame Linux for this, but that is where I’ve had these kind of problems.

Login screen

First thing you’ll see when you boot up your laptop after installing, is a slick, minimalistic and simple login screen with the simplistic Jolicloud-logo and branding along with the typical login-interface and options of Ubuntu.

Jolicloud Login Screen – Slick, simple, and minimalistic.
Click the image for a larger version

Jolicloud Netbook Remix Desktop

After you log in you’ll see the netbook remix menu. Which is a simple and easy-to-understand menu covering the whole screen. If you’ve tried Ubuntu-EEE or Xandros you know what I’m talking about. To get the Jolicloud UI up and running you can either click the cloud-icon in the tray or the Get Started icon (up to the right, or in the favorites tab) and connect with the account you created through Jolicloud. The Jolicloud UI is created with a platform called Prism (a interface for web applications), and most of the applications you can install through this UI run straight from the internet through Prism. Twitter for example, is basically the Twitter webpage in a full-page window.

Jolicloud Netbook Interface – using the netbook remix menu.
Click the image for a larger version.

As you can see from the menu above you’re presented with a set of tabs for respective applications. The picture display the Internet tab, in the main window you can see which applications I have installed and that are available to me, most of these applications have been installed through the Jolicloud UI (screenshot further down). Clicking either one of these applications brings up a full-screen window of the application itself. Some applications run directly in the Prism interface, which means you need internet-connectivity to run them (for example Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, and Wolfram Alpha).

Jolicloud Dashboard

Jolicloud Dashboard – using Prism to give the user a slick and clean interface.
Click the image for a larger version.

Here’s the dashboard of the Jolicloud UI – this is where you can see the latest updates for your computer, the latest modifications you’ve done on the system (like installing/uninstalling applications, changing notes in your profile, and so on), change your Jolicloud profile as well as following other Jolicloud users and see what they install or remove from their computers (note: It’s currently only the Jolicloud UI that is monitored in a way like this, you still have privacy through for example apt-get).

Jolicloud Application Manager

Jolicloud Applications – Installing applications is easy with Jolicloud.
Click the image for a larger version.

Still showing the Jolicloud UI (or Dashboard). Here’s the application manager, a very nice and simple way to keep track of newly added applications for the system, and it’s just as simple to remove them (One click to install, one click to remove, what more can Windows users ask for?). Categorized in different tabs for your amusement.

All in all I really like the simplicity that the OS puts out for the user. It gives the user a simple and easy-to-understand experience. Combine the intuitive Netbook Remix menu with the Prism-powered Jolicloud UI where you can install several applications in a few amount of clicks and keep up to date with updates and notifications – you have a solid OS, much like how I think Google’s Chrome OS will present itself. Seeing as the OS runs on Ubuntu (Linux), you have everything from Ubuntu available on the OS as well, such as a large amount of offline applications through the synaptic package manager, if you’re afraid that the whole cloud thing and being dependant on internet will kill it for you.

The progress behind Jolicloud can be followed on IRC (#jolicloud at irc.freenode.net), Twitter, and Facebook. Support can be found through GetSatisfaction and Jolisupport.

Here’s a valid beta invitation. First come, first served basis.