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Peppermint OS One Review

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the does-it-come-in-an-altoid-tin dept.

JimLynch writes "I've covered a lot of remastered versions of Ubuntu since DLR launched. But, every once in a while, I bump into one that is particularly interesting to review. Peppermint OS One is definitely in that category. Peppermint OS One is a web-centric Ubuntu remaster that passes up common desktop applications like OpenOffice.org in favor of web-based alternatives such as Google Docs. And it doesn't stop with office applications either; Peppermint OS One integrates video sites like YouTube and Hulu right into the desktop experience."

30 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Less. by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Less is, well, less...

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
    1. Re:Less. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I was excited after reading a review the other day. I downloaded it, and went to load it in a VM, expecting speed from my quad core. It wasn't much faster than the full blown Ubuntu. I loaded it on an old laptop. Was faster than Windows XP, but not as much as I had hoped. It's a good idea, perhaps the next version will do better.

    2. Re:Less. by micheas · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The biggest speed improvement would be if the replace firefox with chrome.

      For the non-linux desktop users. Chrome is slightly faster on Linux than Windows, Firefox for linux is so slow that Firefox.exe under wine is much faster than the native version of firefox. (about 90% on my machine.)

      --
      Work bio at MMWD
    3. Re:Less. by h4rr4r · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But since chrome lacks good plugins it is totally worthless. I would rather have it be slow and vimperator than fast and have to use the mouse.

    4. Re:Less. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But...Youtube and Hulu on the desktop!

      Not really the answer to my OS prayers...

      If any OS developers out there are listening, I pray for an OS that is fast, lets me run my programs, lets me perform common actions on my files and disks, let's me print, talks to my hardware, and never, ever gets in my way, especially at the behest of the entertainment industry.

      I'd be willing to pre-order if you need any working capital.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    5. Re:Less. by Darkness404 · · Score: 2, Informative

      The problem with Chrome is the lack of customization, not just plugins but customization. Chrome lacks decent controls for history, I don't -care- if I leave cookies, I just hate seeing viewed sites because mostly they are viewed and worthless. I never really have used any history 'features' and it annoys me to have all mistyped domain names and the like still in there. Also, the Linux version of chrome at least makes it impossible to click the middle mouse button and scroll, something that I use on a regular basis in Firefox. Also, it is impossible to use custom CSS and such to view sites with.

      Any one of these things alone wouldn't be too bad, but with all of them, its just too annoying to use on a daily basis.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    6. Re:Less. by Gerzel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How long has it been since you looked at the plugins available for chrome?

    7. Re:Less. by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Informative

      Just looked again. Still no vimperator it seems. They have some vimium crap which seems to just add some keybindings. Still useless.

    8. Re:Less. by Goaway · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I remember this coversation.

      But last time Firefox was Seamonkey and Chrome was Phoenix.

    9. Re:Less. by Daengbo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Start with TinyCore Linux, add only the parts you want (by default, it comes only with a WM, a dock, and a control panel), and have exactly the OS you desire. It's trivially easy to modify, boots in about 3 seconds on my Intel Classmate off an SD card, runs entirely in memory, and starts at 10MB.

      --
      Put identity in the browser.
    10. Re:Less. by Daengbo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Do you realize that Chrome has integrated developer tools and even has a timeline for page loading to identify slow areas?

      --
      Put identity in the browser.
    11. Re:Less. by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Until there's an adblocker that prevents content from downloaded, then the one plugin that matters most is not available under Chrome ;) (Yes there is an adblock plugin. No, the last I checked it did not stop content from loading, it only prevented it from displaying -- due to limitations in the Chrome plugin architecture. This is a problem both because I don't want to download content I don't need; and because it doesn't let me prevent requests from going out - thus continuing to give data to third part aggregators.)

    12. Re:Less. by tropicflite · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Indeed. Vimperator is a must have.

  2. gOS by Dark_Matter88 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I used to use gOS a distro with similar aims, and judging from those screenshots, better aesthetics

  3. I don't get it by ZERO1ZERO · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I read the article.

    What is this, other than a distro with a pre populated bookmark list, cunningly hidden under 'Apps' instead of 'Bookmarks'?

    What about accounts for each of these [cloud|web2.0|webapp] services? How is that managed? What if someone else uses your computer? Account creation? Data control? is there a backup service?

    The most memorable part of the review for me was the wall paper. Not because I liked it, but the author of the article did, dedicating at least 2 paragraphs to it...

    1. Re:I don't get it by poopdeville · · Score: 2, Funny

      The most memorable part of the review for me was the wall paper.

      Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out.

      --
      After all, I am strangely colored.
  4. Pepermint OS One == POO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Seriously? Pepermint OS One? POO? I mean, come on...

    1. Re:Pepermint OS One == POO by Aggrajag · · Score: 2, Funny

      POS One?

  5. If you live on the web by Great+Big+Bird · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You will die on the web.

    1. Re:If you live on the web by lul_wat · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's only a virtual death. Respawn in 3 .. 2 .. 1

      --
      Divide a cake by zero. Is it still a cake?
  6. My review... by Jugalator · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't play around with Linux much at all, but here's my review of this OS that I tried last evening:

    1. Fast!
    2. Mostly just web apps in the app menu. Office apps = Google apps, etc.
    3. The web apps open up minimalist Firefox windows.

    This is basically it, IMO. I've intentionally worded this "review" like I did - very short and concise, because that's what this distro is. It doesn't do much besides opening Firefox windows. Since it doesn't do much else, it runs and boots very fast. The key to its power is that it barely does anything. It can probably be compared to Chromium OS in that regard. One difference from Chromium OS is however that you *can* install other Linux apps too, but that's not the purpose of the distro. Yes, it does multiple accounts, and the main objective of those may be independent storage of the Firefox browser cookies. ;) Backup systems? No no. Google backs up your documents on Google Docs. It seems like the distro is based on Linux Mint.

    --
    Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    1. Re:My review... by dudpixel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If my memory serves me correctly - DOS was pretty fast too.

      --
      This seemed like a reasonable sig at the time.
  7. Oh boy, yet another new distro! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Seriously, do we need any more? At this rate, there will be a unique distro for every man, woman and child in the world.

    In fact, I think I'm going to write a new app. It will take Ubuntu, select and assemble random packages from it, randomly design a desktop background, toss it all together and give it a random name. Then I can make a bunch of new distros too!

  8. Re:Ok, seriously? by Mindcontrolled · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't get it either. My smartphone has the computing power my desktop had 10 years ago, my current desktop holds my complete music and movie collection on harddisk with ample space to spare. Computational power and storage density is cheap like never before - and still some people want to push a mainframe/terminal - thin client - cloud - webapp - what ever you called it today - concept on us? Why? Gimme thick, fat local apps that log every fart I let go while working on a document in triplicate on my harddisk. My rig can handle it, beat your netbook at chess and convince it to vote for Ron Paul in the background without breaking a sweat. What's the point about all this? Distributed computing makes sense when I want to tackle REALLY hard numerical stuff, but for everyday apps?

    --
    Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
  9. The big question by Tarlus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Peppermint OS One integrates video sites like YouTube and Hulu right into the desktop experience.

    ...but does it play these smoothly in full screen?

    --
    /* No Comment */
  10. Re:Ok, seriously? by Darkness404 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Um, what are you talking about. Look at the Nexus One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_One 1 Ghz ARM CPU, 512 MB of RAM, and storage up to 32 GB with SD cards.

    --
    Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
  11. Dell Mini 10 has no problem with YouTube by tepples · · Score: 2, Informative

    Flash Player under stock Ubuntu 9.10 zooms 480p YouTube video into the 600p full screen just fine on my Dell Mini 10. It had problems on my Eee PC 900, but perhaps a 2-thread Atom at twice the clock speed really is faster than a single-thread Celeron.

    1. Re:Dell Mini 10 has no problem with YouTube by SpzToid · · Score: 3, Informative

      Word of warning friend. Check to see if your unit has Poulsbo graphics. If it does, like my accountant's Dell Mini 10 From Hell, I could only manage to compile the graphics driver from this script, below. And this must be re-done every time my accountant overwrites the compiled drivers with Ubuntu updates.

      http://poulsbo-karmic.angelfire.com/

      Now here's the real news. That script works fine for fixing Pulsbo graphics on the Dell Mini-10 from Hell. BUT BE WARNED, upgrading to karmic will just ruin the Poulsbo graphics completely, with no hope for repair, aside from formatting and going back to 9.10.

      But yeah, other than that, my accountant's Dell Mini 10 From Hell runs YouTube videos very well.

      So does my Asus Eee HD1000-something. It is pure delight with Ubuntu remix, and a fully encrypted disk (install Ubuntu fully encrypted using the alternate installer, then via Synaptec, add the 'task' Ubuntu Netbook).

      --
      You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
  12. Re:Ok, seriously? by h4rr4r · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You can even overclock a moto droid that high, not knocking the incredible but just another fun thing to tell the blackberry/iphone fans.

  13. How to skin a squirrel? by Smuttley · · Score: 5, Funny

    WTF?

    http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/2010/05/12/peppermint-os-one/6/