wahlau's online hut

a couple of weeks ago Xandros released the news that they are also into an "instant on" OS for netbooks. So i signed up for the beta, and a few days after the announced release date (well, i actually forgot about the sign up too :P) i got a mail to invite me to download it. It is actually available for everyone at download.com or tucows...

The OS is call Presto. It gave me a feeling of either 1)Italian Pasta and 2)speed. I was pretty curious how this guy will work. Firstly, Xandros claimed it will be ready in no time for one to start using simple Internet applications such as web browser or IM. Secondly, from initial previews we knew it is going to be a simplified xfce4 desktop - this is good news - means we will get a hackable system afterall. Thirdly, it is booting from a file installed in your windows partition - no messing around with your partition and no worries of it wiping off your preciuos windows stuffs (which won"t be an issue for a linux user anyway).

So after downloading the 400MB+ installation file, i boot into windows on my EeePC 901 to check it out. i was pretty worried about performance actually - the 901 has a 4GB SLC + 8GB MLC SSD combination. I won"t have much space available in the 4GB SSD, which means i can only install it on the MLC SSD. THis means - slowness... I am already feeling it while using some windows applications (sometimes when really necessary) under windows since most applications are installed in the 8GB partition. Even using Ubuntu off the SDHC card i installed feels smoother... so you get what i mean :)

but frankly, the almost 4GB installed Presto system is much faster than i expected. I think the lightweight xfce contributed much to that. So with system speed and usability in terms of apps running experience - very good even after a few days of real usage. Running firefox with another few apps such as terminal and pidgin (not like they will take lots of memory anyway) feels as good as the other two systems i have.

Boot time - something maybe many would like to know - is actually pretty fast. It is definitely not instant on. I think if i really time it properly, it takes around a few seconds to show the presto desktop, but firefox will be only accessible after about 10 seconds. In other words, i am 100% online and ready approximately in 25 seconds (not scientifically proven, though :P). Do you think that is bad? i don"t. I really love the speed. Sleep and wake up works perfectly, which makes it faster than my current two other systems. Windows does boot up faster than ubuntu (35sec. vs 60sec.) but Presto is really speedy. If i am using ethernet i think i can go online just within 20 sec. the > 20 sec is probably due to the WiFi connection too :P

Since it is a xfce based system, it is rather easy to customize the layout and system. Apt-get works, though it picks up stuffs from other repository than the ubuntu ones (of course...). Xandros provides a nice app call application-store - you can browse and look for installation of new applications via Presto's CNR. In Presto's forum there are already tips on how to customize stuffs, such as the panel or how to start up terminal really fast. I did it the ALT-F2 way, but actually CTRL-ALT-T will do the job!

You can customize the look and feel too via the xfce-settings-show command using the terminal. If you need further help i suggest to visit the xfce wiki or search the how-tos via google. From my tests the beta is already in an almost usable condition. A few things are still not really working - webcam is not loaded, powermonitor has been crashing and keyboard layout is not customizable yet (i have a german keyboard, for example and have to use the normal US layout by heart :p). Let's see how the released version will look like.

It would be interesting to see how it will be supported in the released version. I will definitely want webcam and bluetooth and 3G dial up features supported - that is the main reason why i settled for a netbook such as Eee PC 901. Speed wise it is to my opinion very usable, though i am perhaps more tolerant. I tend to think that a system should be OS agnostic. I want only a working browser and applications that i can just use without thinking who wrote it. So if you give me Yahoo Messenger or Pidgin, as long as i can chat with my contacts i am happy. Therefore switching from Ubuntu/Windows to the Presto system does not really change the way i use it. Instead i have only used Presto in the past few days and have absolutely no problem doing what i usually do on a fulll Ubuntu desktop.

If you ask me whether if i will pay the 20USD when it is released? My answer will be probably yes if my wishes above are packaged together. Unless if someone can point me to how i can make a Xubuntu runs as fast as Presto, and i might just junk my ubuntu on SDHC for the xubuntu on eee. Else i am all for a 10+ sec. boot and almost instant sleep/wake up netbook system.

thanks and keep up the good work Xandros!