I use my desktop computer most of the time, but I also have a little Acer Aspire One netbook so that I can work outside when the weather is nice, take my work with me when I’m traveling and move to another corner of the house when my husband is driving me crazy.
However, over the holidays, my netbook went on a permanent acid trip, booting up to a screen full of mesmerizing colors and patterns, but utterly devoid of functionality. Since the Acer runs on Linux, neither my husband nor I had any idea how to fix it, and to make matters worse, I couldn’t find the recovery CD. Even if I could have found the recovery CD, my netbook doesn’t have a CD-ROM drive anyway.
Then, Dad sent me a link to Jolicloud, a Linux-based OS made specifically for netbooks. Jolicloud has the advantage of being easy to install on a USB drive using the USB creator on the website. In about 15 minutes, I had it up and running. And screw my old operating system…Jolicloud is much more attractive, and comes with a killer app directory of free web apps.
About the only thing I’m not too keen on is that it isn’t always immediately clear what each of the icons does-for instance, when I clicked on “Network Connections,” I was taken to what looked like the place to connect to my home wi-fi network, but there was no option to scan for the network. I puzzled over it for a few minutes, then saw a wifi icon on the top of my screen, clicked on it and all was well.
I also wish there was a way to customize which apps are available on the home screen. As it is, you can go directly to Firefox from the home screen, but when you download other apps Jolicloud automatically places them in categories like “Office” and “Internet.” If there is a way to categorize apps you download as favorites to put them on your home screen for easy access, I’ve not found it yet. I know it’s only a couple of extra clicks to get to them, but what can I say? I’m lazy.
There’s also a social aspect to Jolicloud, in that you can “friend” and connect with other Jolicloud users. I’m not thinking that I’ll be using this unless I run into problems, simply because I already spend too much time on social networking sites as it is, but it’s nice to have a community to turn to if something goes wrong. For now, I’m just grateful that I’m not strapped to my desk anymore. Thanks, Dad!
What do you think of Jolicloud?
Our Rating of Jolicloud
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Jolicloud- A better OS for your netbook http://su.pr/28RNM7
Alltop: A Better OS for Netbooks http://bit.ly/cser2x
Reading: A Better OS for Netbooks http://bit.ly/9upqwd
A Better OS for Netbooks http://bit.ly/cZ4rmu Web-design.alltop
A Better #OS for #Netbooks http://tinyurl.com/yb58z8e
RT @usefultools: Jolicloud- A better OS for your netbook http://su.pr/28RNM7
Name makes me laugh(because sometimes i'm 12) but i'm intrigued: Jolicloud – A Better OS for Netbooks – UsefulTools.com http://bit.ly/cser2x
Jolicloud – a better OS for netbooks http://short.to/152ga
To favorite an app, just right-click at the app icon, and add as favorite.
A Better OS for Netbooks – http://bit.ly/9tR2wt
Jolicloud – A Better OS for Netbooks – UsefulTools.com http://su.pr/28RNM7
Just learned about Jolicloud, 'A Better OS for Netbooks' http://su.pr/28RNM7 Will be tossing the installer on a thumb drive for emergencies