There are several upcoming “pre-OS inch solutions, but it looks like Presto will be one of the first out the door. The concept of a pre-OS is to be able to launch into a very quickly booting environment that offers key parts of a traditional computing experience, such as media playback and a web browser. Presto, like most, is based on Linux, and is said to load in 15 seconds. I’m downloading the beta now, which is free for the time being, but when released in full on April 13th, will run you only $20.
“But there are tons of other light weight Linux distros out there! inch, I hear some of you saying. Well, Presto has been packaged in a way that you don’t need to be a Linux guru to get it running. In fact, Presto installs through Windows; no need to mess around down in your BIOS fooling with partition space or making your computer boot from the right device. Presto is also making it easy to install apps, just visit the Presto App store (which is just a webpage), and they have neatly organized lots of apps you can install to Presto.
I’ll be testing Presto soon, hopefully on the Mini 1000 [Portal page], and on the VAIO P [Portal page]. I’m interested to see how quickly the VAIO P will be able to load the pre-OS with its quick SSD.
Other upcoming pre-OSs that we’ll be keeping an eye on include: Jolicloud, and gOS Cloud.
Presto pre-OS released in beta, retail version on April 13th http://www.umpcportal.com/?p=6365
just for the record, most linux distros have had a package manager that works more or less like the (in)famous iphone app store.
that one have to pop up a web page is more a step back then an improvement.
and i recall installing mandrake alongside win98, on the same partition, back around 99-2000
I agree. Firstly, any linux user knows that the package manager is much more quick and convenient than any web appstore. I think this might be just another way to charge users for essentially free apps. Secondly, I use Ubuntu with the Wubi installer and it is installed as a windows app. It also gives the user a choice at startup to run ubuntu or Windows. It just takes quite a while to boot. I wonder how fast an optimized version of damn small linux would boot. I really want to know what distro this OS is based on. I really regretted the day I bought my Eee PC 900 with Xandros Linux. I liked the hardware but was unimpressed with that distro because of the lack of apps and updates. Then again, if you just need the basics, I suppose almost any distro will do.
I think the app store is aimed at being more user friendly. Correct me if I’m wrong, but users would need to update repositories and such if they wanted to use the standard app manager. In the app store, they can simple keep the website updated and give people direct access to apps instead of asking users to do something they might not be used to when coming from an OS like windows. This release is definitely targeted toward getting mainstream adoption.
on openSuSE, Yast automatically updates all repositories when starting, and the app installer is blatantly called “Install Software” in the start menu. :]
The distro seems to be Xandros – as one of the Presto pages says it is by Xandros. Engadget states similiarly.
What I want is a distro I can put on my USB stick which when I switch on the PC will boot straight into this and then allow me to access all my portable apps.
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/
may be a place to start.
I’ve used a package manager before. Command line based programs are not suitable for UMPCs for starters, and calling them user-friendly is a joke.
There are command line and gui versions of package managers in just about every linux distribution. There are probably two reasons the myth about “package installation being command line only” persists: (i) Unfortunately when writing a blog post explaining how you installed some cool new thing it’s easier to paste command line fragments than do gui screenshots and describe what to select, which given these are what most web searches on a package will turn up is unfortunate; (ii) Some of the more advanced things, like recording a sequence of steps so it can be implemented on multiple machines, is pretty much only possible via the command line, and again many web-pages are interested in doing this sort of thing.
Just tested on video: http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2009/03/testing-xandros-presto-instant-os.html
so what is the advantage of an instant-on OS over just hitting the sleep button on my proper OS?
No power drain for one, for some people this is an issue. Second, hopefully we’ll see battery life improvements, but that might be wishful thinking. Third, I could see Presto running much faster than an unoptimized XP instillation.
I just use hibernate
With an instant-on OS, you don’t need to leave the computer in standby, thereby running down your battery. Standby leaves the hard disk and RAM powered on, now you can shut it off completely, save battery life and get all the basic features in about 15 seconds. Yes, any light-weight linux distro could do this as well, but this is one of the few that offer it with true ease of use. I’ll be downloading soon (probably tomorrow) and will give my impressions. :D
Looks good although most hibernation processes only take 30 seconds to boot.
The proble with all these disk-based thin-Linux implementations is that you still have the stupid bios and dos process to go through before starting to boot.
The answer is really always-on. I got close to that when i had the wibrain i1 and it was an amazing experience. ARM-based netbooks or dual-mode netbooks (similar to the way the Shift had two systems) could be the way forward.
For those with a fat vista system, this could be something but its not really anything for most xp-based systems. Best to save your money and put it towards a fast ssd upgrade.
Steve
You’re spot on there Son-of-Carpenter (or Son-of-Fish-and-chip-man). My OQO sits at the OQO start screen for at least a minute before it even remembers that there’s a BIOS to go through as well.
I received an e-mail about another one called Hyper – something….
Seemed to boot in the video in 6 seconds.
I think the key to almost instant-on is correct organisation of what needs to be seen first. I.e. get the login screen on first, then whilst the user is logging in/swiping finger, the OS is setting up the desktop screen. So backgroundtasks not stopping the foreground – surely this was meant to be an advantage of multi-core CPUs!
Note that such marketing figures only takes into acocunt the time for the OS to load. While what the user wants to know is the *actual* boot time, including BIOS stuff — which can easily take 5sec (or more) for a cold boot with the default BIOS configuration.
Now 15 seconds + 5 seconds is far more than going out of standby…
The computer makers should definitely work on the BIOS successor. These first 5 seconds are just annoying.
Besides 15 seconds is still too much to load a modern operating system on modern hardware. Much better can be achieved… I mean, the architecture of *all* the mainstream OS are getting *really* old.
Yup, BeOS booted in 15 seconds on a 150MHz computer with a slow hard disk (compared to today hard disks). Pre-alpha Haiku today boots in 10 seconds on my 630MHz EeePC 701 with 4GB SSD.
I bet that some optimized Haiku (that is the finalized R1 version, not the alpha software we only have for now) on some fast SSD could probably go under 8sec, maybe 5? Now that’s interesting. Especially if you can get rid of the BIOS stuff I spoke earlier.
You can get rid of the BIOS, QNX have done it on the Atom platform with their Fastboot:
http://emea.kontron.com/about-kontron/news-events/qnx+and+kontron+collaborate+on+first+biosless+instanton+platform+for+intel+atom+processors.3298.html
But this can only be achieved on known “non-changing” hardware, like in many embeded systems. And QNX produce their on OS, not running on Windows.
However, the BIOS is still needed in PCs (and MIDs/Netbooks) as the internal hardware can be changed be the user (e.g. newRAM modules, harddrive, etc).
I wonder if there is a solution to getting rid of the BIOS altogether but still be able to swap hardware components like RAM, drives?
Any ideas?
Well the successor of the BIOS aleady exists, it’s called EFI. That’s actually what the Intel-based Mac use. However all the other PC doesn’t use EFI and sticks with BIOS, so is it really ready?
I don’t know but EFI is in the works for a long time now…
However I don’t know if using EFI would allow a faster boot than BIOS or not…
actually it seems to be a xandros with most apps in the store basing on debian lenny (alike the eee xandros was a mixture out of x 3/4 and a basis on debian etch).
therefore all free linux apps are this way for an unexpiereinced user easily to install. underneath the presto “surface” you find the console and aptitude/pgk.
means any experienced linxer maight be able to install whatever application he likes.
forgot to mention that it runs with a modified xfce4 desktop.
on an eee pc 1000xx/901/904xx the system is ready within about 10-15 secs.
once started the presto goes instantly into sleep and awakens within seconds again (lan incl. – wifi still has to be tested)
instant sleep/rewake works too. but – at least on my eee 904HA the fn wifi-button does not work. means: to have wifi as an option working, it must be active before you start presto. when active it is as easy to handle as jjk mentioned.
display: is turned off after about 15 sec without use of the computer.
an important note to the app store: if an install might crash it might corrupt the whole system – at least for a non-linuxer – because it crashes dependencies.
this might result in not beeing able to install further apps. for somebody without linux experience this means a new install.
A lot like Linpus QuickOS for the acer aspire one.
http://www.linux-netbook.com/video/linpus-quickos-on-acer-aspire-one
I hope it will support all of the one’s hardware.
Ben: since the VAIO P also has this kinda instant-on feature from Sony, would installing presto, or any of the “instant-on” software screw up VAIO’s own?
Does the VAIO P come with a restore DVD that would restore everything (instant on feature, and OS) to factory defaults? thanks!
Installing instant on software shouldn’t complicate any other instant OS as long as they are correctly installed to their respective partitions and have separate place on the boot table.
I tried installing Presto on the VAIO P, but unfortunately it isn’t installing correctly. Most likely an issue with Vista. Disappointing because I was hoping to see how quickly presto would boot on the fast SSD.
just to mention: it is possible to install apps from the asus eee apps center via presto installer too. e.g wine.
I do tested it on viao p and it does not work : no gdlr..