For a couple of years, the laptop manufacturers have produced designer exteriors for their laptops and are now continuing this with the netbooks (see the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition). This make an already attractive item into something quite special and helps to differentiate it from the other devices on the market and provides a little exclusivity.
Google were quick to pick up on this with the designer banners available for iGoogle.
What I'm keen to see is the Linux desktop community - particularly those working on netbook remix projects - to be developing intefaces with input from designers from outside the Linux community. In my opinion there is an opportunity for some very attractive interface work to be done, leading to unique distributions with the added desireability of a designer netbook-optimised interface. If anyone is working on this kind of project and wants t drop me a line ...
Showing posts with label Netbook Remix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Netbook Remix. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Jolicloud - one to watch
Jolicloud is a new, linux base netbook operating system that is being hyped at the moment aso one of the next significant OSs to be released with the netbook platform in mind.
Wired discuss Jolicloud in their blog at some length here "Netbooks Offer a Chance to Challenge Windows' Long Reign" and provide a screenshot of what looks to be a nice tidy interface.
Jolicloud can also be found on twitter.
I'm looking to review this either as soon as I can get access to a beta version, or when the final release arrives.
Wired discuss Jolicloud in their blog at some length here "Netbooks Offer a Chance to Challenge Windows' Long Reign" and provide a screenshot of what looks to be a nice tidy interface.
Jolicloud can also be found on twitter.
I'm looking to review this either as soon as I can get access to a beta version, or when the final release arrives.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
EeeBuntu NBR Mini-Review
I've been running EeeBuntu NBR (Netbook remix) for just over a week now and I'm struck by two things - first, how easy it is to use, and how well the innovative netbook interface works, and second, how much of a near-miss experience this has been for me.
I'm judging how well this works against other Linux distributions I have installed onto the same EeePC - OpenSuse and Mandriva being to key ones, as well as the user experience from using an operating system (OS) like MS Windows XP.
The install itself is as easy as can be - you answer a few questions about where and who you are, accept the suggested disk partitioning scheme (remember to backup any files before you do this - your disk will get formatted as part of the process) and everything goes ahead as planned.
The OS installs with no drama at all.
Once you have completed the install and logged in there is a configuration tool in the system menu that applies updates and fixes to ensure that all the right setup is done and that your EeePC works correctly. It takes only a minute or so and is completely automated.
The first problem I noted was when I tried to use my 4GB SD card in the EeePCs inbuilt reader - which didn't work. It seems that (on this install, on this hardware - a stock ASUS EeePC 900) that the OS is not configured to mount new devices automatically. Now, for those of us that are familiar with Linux, it's not too much of a problem to sort that out, but that is also not entirely the point.
The EeeBuntu NBR is designed specifically for people with netbooks who want a better OS, with a better user experience. The problem is, from what I've seen I'm not convinced that this would work without the user needing to sort a few things out by hand. If we think about MS Windows - you just plug in the device and it works. With the EeeBuntu NBR, that's not the case, and I don't think the target audience for that OS would necessarily know what to do to fix it or where to look to find out how.
Day-to-day the OS is responsive and works quickly. Boot times including login of about 60 seconds with applications starting fast and running well.
The other thing that struck me is that the pre-configured repositories (the online libraries of software available for installation) are rather limited - for example GIMP which is one of the most famous of open source graphics packages and is usually available along with Open Office and some other key applications, isn't - was rather surprised that it wasn't in the standard build.
Despite these few (minor) points, I'm struck by how good an OS this is and how well it works.
I'm judging how well this works against other Linux distributions I have installed onto the same EeePC - OpenSuse and Mandriva being to key ones, as well as the user experience from using an operating system (OS) like MS Windows XP.
The install itself is as easy as can be - you answer a few questions about where and who you are, accept the suggested disk partitioning scheme (remember to backup any files before you do this - your disk will get formatted as part of the process) and everything goes ahead as planned.
The OS installs with no drama at all.
Once you have completed the install and logged in there is a configuration tool in the system menu that applies updates and fixes to ensure that all the right setup is done and that your EeePC works correctly. It takes only a minute or so and is completely automated.
The first problem I noted was when I tried to use my 4GB SD card in the EeePCs inbuilt reader - which didn't work. It seems that (on this install, on this hardware - a stock ASUS EeePC 900) that the OS is not configured to mount new devices automatically. Now, for those of us that are familiar with Linux, it's not too much of a problem to sort that out, but that is also not entirely the point.
The EeeBuntu NBR is designed specifically for people with netbooks who want a better OS, with a better user experience. The problem is, from what I've seen I'm not convinced that this would work without the user needing to sort a few things out by hand. If we think about MS Windows - you just plug in the device and it works. With the EeeBuntu NBR, that's not the case, and I don't think the target audience for that OS would necessarily know what to do to fix it or where to look to find out how.
Day-to-day the OS is responsive and works quickly. Boot times including login of about 60 seconds with applications starting fast and running well.
The other thing that struck me is that the pre-configured repositories (the online libraries of software available for installation) are rather limited - for example GIMP which is one of the most famous of open source graphics packages and is usually available along with Open Office and some other key applications, isn't - was rather surprised that it wasn't in the standard build.
Despite these few (minor) points, I'm struck by how good an OS this is and how well it works.
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