Your OS on the cloud

Written by Roshi

The launch of Chrome OS is just round the corner and I am quite thrilled with the beta version I installed a few days back. I loved the cloud support offered by Chrome OS, but missed my desktop apps a lot as it is completely browser based. If you prefer to have both desktop and cloud apps on your netbook on the move, check out Jolicloud OS here.

Jolicloud is a Linux based ultra light weight OS for netbooks, and is currently in its pre beta stage. Jolicloud makers were web focused while designing it and has loaded it with hundreds of cool web and deskop apps. It has integrated not only web and desktop apps, but have also added social networking elements to it. Jolicloud has a huge list of supporting hardware and works well with all popular netbooks.

Jolicloud is based on Ubuntu and supports all web apps associated with Ubuntu, but it also allows you to install most of the other web apps. It uses Mozilla Prism to create a shortcut of web apps from the program launcher so that your web app automatically opens in a Firefox window when launched. So, whether it is Facebook, Twitter or Zoho, it is automatically launched on your desktop just like any web app.

Jolicloud can be easily installed by a simple installer file. It is installed in sync with it your existing OS so that you don’t have to uninstall it install Jolicloud. While booting, I can easily choose to boot any of the two OS for my netbook. It also allows you to select the partitioned space on your hard drive. You can download your copy of Jolicloud OS from their website and double click on the installer file to start extracting the file.

Click ‘Get started’ on the welcome screen and create a login for your computer. The login is necessary for logging in to your netbook, updating and installing new apps.

Jolicloud will then set up the configuration for your system and allocate half of your free disk space for Jolicloud. You can change the allocation and choose the space from 4 GB to maximum free space available. Once you are done with setting up the system configuration, click on ‘Save’.

Jolicloud will now install the new OS on your netbook in a few minutes. After finishing installation, restart your netbook. While booting, you will see your earlier OS as well as Jolicloud OS. Select Jolicloud OS to boot and you will see a login screen once booting is complete. Enter the username and password to open the netbook launcher screen.

You can create a Jolicloud social account and register your netbook by verifying your email id or by entering the confirmation code. After signing-in, you will see the social stream of other Jolicloud users like you.

You can access the Jolicloud apps directory from the blue Jolicloud icon on the launcher. The tabbed interface will have a dashboard of your activity, apps directory of you apps and the option to browse new applications, settings and lab. The search box allows you to search for friends on Jolicloud network and for new apps.

Jolicloud apps directory has a list of different applications such as Facebook, Twitter, DropBox, and Skype to install on your netbook. When you click any application, it will display a small description and other details. Install any application by clicking ‘Install’ and it will be added to the Jolicloud launcher. When installed, click on the application icon from the launcher to open it.

Jolicloud also has an interesting social networking feature on its network. If you have subscribed to the feeds of a user or group, you can track the applications he is using on Jolicloud. It is a good way to be informed of newly launched and other popular web and desktop apps. There is also an update manager to keep your Jolicloud OS updated all the time.

I am still checking out various features of Jolicloud and will keep you posted.

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