CloudBook

I stopped by the VIA booth at Computex today to see its menagerie of mini-notebooks. I had seen the newest version of the CloudBook Max behind glass at CTIA in April, but I was finally able to play around with the second-generation Everex mini-notebook this morning. So does it remove the bad taste in my mouth left by the original CloudBook? On the whole, yes.

As for hardware, the system feels a lot more sturdy. With a larger 8.9-inch footprint, the system gives you more real estate on the screen and keyboard. However, the trackpad is still extremely small. It is definitely smaller than on the Eee PC 701, but larger than the original’s finger-size pad located above the keyboard. I do not miss that odd thing.

The CloudBook Max on display was running Windows XP, which sure beats the gOS that was originally preloaded on the system. I have no complaints about the sizing of the windows on the 8.9-inch display; looks like they adjusted the OS for the system this time around!

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I wrote a few weeks ago about the potential that gOS Space had to improve the CloudBook experience. Unfortunately, my installation of gOS Space failed at the time. However, I received a comment on that post from David Lui, the father of the gOS operating system. He kindly offered to send me a gOS Space build made specifically for the CloudBook.

Today I got around to installing the sleek Linux OS on our battered CloudBook. I say this with a lot of joy: It hands-down improves the CloudBook experience. Like Jeff thought in his initial hands-on with gOS Space, the OS is really sleek and its rip-off OS X components are pretty damn cool.

Installation was a breeze and, unlike our original experience with the CloudBook, all the windows are properly sized for the screen.

The OS just makes the CloudBook look a lot nicer. The icons on the bottom of the screen become illuminated and rotate when moused over, and the starry desktop just gives the system a better aura.

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After reading Jeff’s post on the new gOS Space 2.9, I was psyched to try and port it over to the CloudBook. The operating system looked sick (as in awesome, not physically ill) on his desktop. The transparent dock on the bottom made the whole screen look sleek and the celestial wallpaper gave the system a more futuristic aura.

I figured if any system needed a refreshed gOS, it was the CloudBook (which came running gOS Rocket). Therein lay my mission: become the Joan of Arc of the CloudBook and get gOS Space to run on the ailing system.

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