- 03
- Nov
Walmart recently started selling a clone box with Linux on it for $200. The “Everex” PC features a VIA C-7 1.5Ghz, 512MB RAM, and an 80GB hard drive. What I want to focus in on this article is the gOS operating system, based on Ubuntu that comes with the PC. Honestly, I had never heard of it before the release of the green PC at Walmart so I wanted to take a look and share my thoughts and comments.
WARNING: LOTS OF IMAGES.
I downloaded the gOS live CD from a torrent, since the main site was down.
Booting with the live CD:
gOS live CD GRUB menu
gOS live CD booting
gOS live CD Deskop. It has a very clean look. Overall, I am impressed. It is running Enlightenment instead of KDE or Gnome. I don’t think that huge Google search box is necessary. Is that AWN running as the task bar? It would be better if it stretched across the whole bottom of the screen.
ok..the search works, good. The default browser of gOS is suppose to be Firefox, but this loaded Webrunner as default…hm, this would be nice for a kiosk design. I not real crazy anout the Mac style title bar buttons, but this may be default for Enlightenment, don’t know.
This is the page that loads when you click the ‘aboutgos’ icon in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
Lets try to install and see what happens. Looks very similar to the Ubuntu installer.
Install step 2. Time zone selection.
Step 3. Keyboard layout.
Step 4. Autopartitioning.
Step 5. Profile setup.
Step 6. Installation summary, no turning back now…
Installing…
Time to reboot. Lets see if it works…
Take the cd out. Reboot. Hm, that blue is a bit offsetting, were they in a hurry to release this? I wouldn’t think it would take much time to match that with the rest of the theme.
OK, now we can login.
Looks like this OS has Google ALL over it. In addition to having 10+ links on the desktop, it also installs Google Toolbar by default..is this Google OS beta? Also notice the color of the background here, geez I have heard of OSs based off of other OSs, but they didn’t even change the background color of the default desktop.
First thing I did when I logged in, was changed the shelf, MUCH better.
The run box is a little under-dressed for the occasion….If I was my Grandma, I would flip out right here. On the other hand, my Grandma probably woudn’t click “Run Command”.
Although it does have a nice auto complete feature.
Browsing is VERY slow, maybe due to VMware, dunno. Notice how the status bar of Firefox is stuck behind my task bar? Not good.
Synaptic is included with gOS to download and install packages, very nice. BUT WAIT, we failed to download repo information from googlepc.com?! OMG THIS IS GOOGLE PC BETA…..
EDIT: I did a little research and googlepc.com is actually registered by dave@tgc2.com which seems to be the founder of the gOS. And thanks to Wayne from fsckin.com, this is NOT an “official” google OS.
gOS includes OpenOffice, a must have.
Right click menu on desktop
gOS locked screen
I hope you enjoyed the quick overview of gOS. I am not impressed. I think they have a start on what could be a great product, but more testing needs to be done. This OS acts more like a beta than a final version. gOS does include some nice features such as pointing more toward online applications. This is a must for any PC that has limited resources. What are your thoughts on gOS?
Another thing, has anyone heard whether Google is behind this or not?
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Tags: gOS, Linux, Open source, Walmart PC
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
I interviewed the founder of gOS, it may answer a few of your questions.
http://www.fsckin.com/2007/11/03/interview-with-gos-founder-linux-for-human-beings-who-shop-at-walmart/
By the way, love the blog, keep it up.
November 3rd, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Thanks for the tips Wayne. :)
November 3rd, 2007 at 6:21 pm
[...] site HackoSIS tem muitas screenshots deste novo sistema operativo e também tem um comentários engraçados por [...]
November 3rd, 2007 at 7:35 pm
[...] Se quiser experimentá-lo faça o download acessando o site ThinkgOS.com. Baixe a .iso e grave em um DVD. Screenshots do sistema em funcionamento estão disponíveis no site Hackosis. [...]
November 3rd, 2007 at 10:21 pm
I would love to try it, but a couple things I dont get. Why is the ISO 728 megs in size? All the applications are web based, save for gimp and OOo, and with E17 as the WM it should save more space. And with the ISO being 728 megs in size, I have to burn it onto a friggen DVD!
November 6th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
[...] you are interested in more information about this you can go to hackosis and take a look at some screenshots, and a few funny comments, of this ‘new’ [...]
November 7th, 2007 at 10:23 am
[...] (Pantallazos sacados del sitio de Walmart y de Hackosis) [...]
November 7th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
I agree bigbrother. Looks like they did not compress as well as they could have. Ubuntu fits on one CD…
November 7th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
[...] (Pantallazos sacados de un blog llamado Hackosis) [...]
November 8th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
[...] (Pantallazos sacados de un blog llamado Hackosis) [...]
November 16th, 2007 at 12:28 am
[...] it. But news says that Google had a demo of this OS by the company that builds it. You can look at some screen sheets of gOS and you will realize the close integration of Google applications. The OS itself has been build with [...]
November 21st, 2007 at 1:05 am
[...] gOS overview at Hackosis [...]
January 3rd, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Google + Ubuntu = gOS…
What is gOS ?
Have you already request an Ubuntu Free CDs for yourself? I have review it on my previous post, and hope you too evaluate it and pass the CDs around. gOs is the new Linux-based platform that is currently becoming well-known because of it …
April 14th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I wish where was some way to remove the stupid ubuntu logon on the openoffice 2.3 login screen, because it’s running on a dirfent distribution and that logo is incorrect!
May 9th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I hate to be negative, but it seems to me that gOS is for idiots. I guess it’s good that someone as big as Walmart is selling linux boxes, but WHY BOTHER? If someone is buying a computer at Walmart, chances are that they’re an idiot anyway, and would not realize that they’re using linux or even know what linux is. I mean, have you ever BEEN to Walmart? And I’m sorry, but what’s the point of gOS? Try Xubuntu. I’m sure it would run on a comp with those specs and at least then, you’d have a REAL operating system.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
[...] What I want to focus in on this article is the gOS operating system, based on Ubuntu that comes withhttp://www.hackosis.com/index.php/2007/11/03/gos-walmart-linux-os-overview/How to Upgrade a Hard Disk Drive — Without Crashing the System …You can clone any hard drive to [...]