A Fresh Os That Breathes New Life Into Old Toughbooks

I came across this free OS a while ago:
Jolicloud: The Operating System Download for Netbook You’ve Been Looking For
And tried it recently on CF-29. There was something wrong with the XP Pro (kept getting the blue screen with white letters-but couldn't read fast enough before the system shut down). I ran Joli OS first right from the disk and everything worked, so I decided to install it into that old TB that was giving me fits.
I'd love to hear some of you-all try it on your 18-19's and 27-29's and see how you fare with this cool OS. It loaded and found all the hardware on my TB, even the touch screen. Everything worked first time, without having to load special drivers and tweaks. See what you think!

 

What's your feel on the cloud v.s. native (desktop) usages of this system?
I understand you loaded the iso version and basically ran a live cd at first. Is that correct.
Interesting link and video.

Jeff

 

Yes, I first ran the live cd. It loads into RAM and works nicely. The HDD is old, and I kept getting error codes on a blue splash screen with white letters. Since I've ordered another HDD, I decided to install the Jolicloud OS and play with it some.
The desktop has/feels somewhat like a hybrid between Windows & Mac. There are many similarities. You load customized functions/programs by going to the "APP" feature. This synchronizes the program you chose with the desktop. I can go on the net with another computer and log into JoliCloud and all my settings are there with the programs I've selected.
I think the browser it loads is either Chrome or Firefox. It is simple to use. What impressed me most was how it loaded all the necessary drivers for my CF-29 Touchscreen, and worked very well out of the box. No patches or recovery disk to load more drivers. I've started to read about Debian & Ubuntu and am amazed at the world wide community of programmers working to give away free programs. For now, as long as I don't have to load that scary black Terminal and type in a line or two, I am very happy. I would like to learn as you have and tweak things when needed. Regards,
Cleve

 

I had some good help on learning. 9nine9 in particular. Coming up on my 2nd year anniversary in Linux.
My motivation is I like to write ......there was information scattered all over the place....so I plagiarized a bit and put a lot of it together in one place. Started with Mint then after folks started asking about Ubuntu I tried that. Seems I'm stuck (works for me)right now but at Ubuntu 10.04 (Mark3 CF-29) Ubuntu 10.10 (Mk4 ^ ). Had some issues with CF-30MK2 and Linux so I dumped it. To load ...ACPI must be off which equals no F keys. CF-30MK1 sucks Ubuntu 10.10/11 up and runs fine.
You're correct in the use of Chrome on Joli OS (they changed the name from Joli Cloud). In Ubuntu they offer Chromium (Chromes daddy w/o the Google)
Having my data available on the internet scares me. They may have more than I know....I just don't want to hear about it.
The terminal is not as scary to me as I started writing (copying) programs in basic and did quite a bit of tweaking and stuff with DOS. The outfit I worked for considered me the computer expert ROTFLOL. I knew where the on switch was.

Jeff....blather, blather blather....

 

Thanks Sadlmkr- When the new HD comes will take a look at Ubuntu- Linux is interesting- Debian is a name made up of a husband & wife put together-(debra&ian)
Regards, cleve

 

I have used the Repair Install from an install disc which works well. If you have some missing boot files, registry files, etc. You install the disc as if you are installing a new OS, you select the Upgrade option and go from there. It will leave everything alone, meaning nothing will be deleted. It reloads all the important files that the OS needs.

 

Hi, you are referring to Xp pro?

 

I tried loading the 3 recovery discs from a toughbook user purchased here. It loads xp but then nothing works. no sound, no wireless, no nothing. I then load linux and everything works . very frustrating

 

No, That is going backwards in time and resources. Windows 7

 

Are they the original discs? If you try it from a standard disc it might not have the correct drivers in it.