Splashtop: Linux for Windows users

[zridling]

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (or SJVN as I call him), piles on with the various corporatized names of the Splashtop browser OS for Windows that's actually Linux. It's built for Windows users wanting to get on the web, check their mail or social media fast. At least that's the first impression most users have. It's essentially a dual boot, but it defaults to Bing as the search engine, Chrome as the browser, and pre-installs Flash. It's been around for a few years, but it coexists with Windows very well.

http://www.splashtop.com/os
http://www.zdnet.com...r-windows-users/8379

[housetier]

I wonder how many users gripe about not having internet explorer available

The idea is nice I think: if it really boots in a very short time.

[nudone]

cool, going to give this a try on my netbook - if it boots quicker than windows 7 coming out of hibernation then i'll use it for sure.

[app103]

According to their site, only a short list of HP computers are supported...nothing else, unless it was preinstalled on it when you bought it.

[4wd]

According to their site, only a short list of HP computers are supported...nothing else, unless it was preinstalled on it when you bought it.

-app103 (March 02, 2011, 02:17 AM)

Then you can try xPUD, (works fine on my Aspire One), which I mentioned here, (along with SplashTop and InstantOn a few posts down).

[nudone]

it didn't work, maybe it will if i look into it. it just came up with "invalid C: drive" after installing.

i tried xPUD but it took longer to boot up than i was hoping for, i mean, win7 coming out of hiberation wasn't much slower (it was slower, just not enough to make me care).

so, it looks like i'll be sticking with win7 for now.

[Curt]

According to their site, only a short list of HP computers are supported...nothing else, unless it was preinstalled on it when you bought it.

-app103 (March 02, 2011, 02:17 AM)

UPDATE: A new Splashtop OS has just been released to allow installation on a much broader range of devices and platforms. If your device is not one of the currently supported platforms listed above, you can still install and try Splashtop OS – you will be given a pre-boot menu with the option to launch Windows (default) or Splashtop OS. There are some known issues with screen resolutions and wifi support on some platforms tested. We encourage you to try it and share your experience via our support forum.

-Splashtop OS

[zridling]

I got it to run on a 10-year old machine with Vista on it. But that's a desktop. Figure most folks would want to use it with a laptop or netbook.

[Curt]

I've just tested it on my unsupported HP desktop with Vista, and must say it is incredible FAST! Counting from the boot screen, it took me like 15 seconds to enter my facebook page! Wow!! Sadly, Splashtop didn't communicate very well with my Danish keyboard, no "uppers" (no "@£$€", etcetera), so it had to go again.

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Edited:
The download manager's speed of the Splashtop OS never reached 400 KB/s, and the average was merely 100 KB/s:

[nite_monkey]

Splashtop is built into my desktop's Asus Motherboard. I have it disabled, and haven't used it in a long time, but when I did use it, it used a rebranded version of firefox for the browser. I might have to reenable it and install the newest version and see how it has progressed

[Curt]

Then you can try xPUD, (works fine on my Aspire One), which I mentioned here,

-4wd (March 02, 2011, 03:38 AM)

DotTech seems to be on vacation and is re-running their review from February 26, 2010, on xPud: >xPud: Quickly gain access to your files and/or the Internet by booting up in under 10 seconds | Freeware Reviews | dotTech<

However, xPud has not been updated in at least 1½ year, and I think development has died
-but I am gonna try it anyway!

[kyrathaba]

Then you can try xPUD, (works fine on my Aspire One), which I mentioned here, (along with SplashTop and InstantOn a few posts down).

Just wanted to let anyone using an Inspiron Notebook, or perhaps various other Dell laptops, know that xPUD is the only linux flavor I've EVER gotten to connect via wireless to the 'net (apparently, the Broadcom WLAN cards that ship in many Dell laps are notoriously unsupported in Linux distros).  I now have it configured on a USB drive, such that if I interrupt from the normal boot-preference order, and specify that USB stick, it boots completely in 10-15 seconds, and connects to the internet, giving me access to Facebook, Firefox, instant messaging, etc.

I had to copy the backup data file, xpud-data.gz to the /opts/ directory to get xPUD to automatically connect to the internet.

[kyrathaba]

it boots completely in 10-15 seconds

Correction: it takes about 30-31 seconds to reach the xPUD desktop, and another 6-7 seconds to complete connection to the internet.  But the additional time is primarily due to two factors: (1) having to F12 into boot device selection, then pick my USB drive, and time to read a 1.3 Mb backup file from USB (reading in my wireless password and other settings).

I imagine if you had this on SSD, it'd boot in well under the 10 seconds some people are reporting off their mechanical hard drives.

[40hz]

Just wanted to let anyone using an Inspiron Notebook, or perhaps various other Dell laptops, that xPUD is the only linux flavor I've EVER gotten to connect via wireless to the 'net.

-kyrathaba (September 10, 2011, 09:42 PM)

FYI: I'm currently running Linux Mint 11 (Katya) on a Dell Inspiron laptop. Mint correctly identified the built-in wifi right out of the box. And I was able to connect to my home WAP (running Tomato and using WPA2-PSK) immediately after entering the passphrase. Internet connectivity is flawless and the performance is noticeably better under Linux than it was under Windows.

Got an Inspiron? Try Mint.

[kyrathaba]

Got an Inspiron? Try Mint.

+1