Testing the JoliOS operating system
06/07/2012 I installed and configured the JoliOS "cloud operating system" on a VMware virtual machine. The fact that this operating system is “cloudy” I was convinced on myself: without the JoliCloud account and without a permanent connection to the Internet, this operating system is not installed! I got this operating system only after I connected to the Internet from the very beginning of the installation, and carefully addressed the assigned parameters and passwords. And that, this virtual machine did not normally determine its own time. But let's order.
First, JoliOS as an operating system is one of Canonical's Ubuntu Linux clones, with all its “birthmarks”, for which I do not like this family (this is my personal opinion, IMHO). His desktop interface is average between the Tiled interface and Gnome. The very version of Ubuntu, judging by the interface and menu design, is not the freshest, somewhere in 2009. But this is even good, because in every new version of Ubuntu old errors are fixed and new ones appear (see Linux Format journals).
In friendliness this interface can not be denied. It has the simplicity of Linux and the “steepness” of the JoliCloud interface, so the interface can be called friendly. In my opinion (again, IMHO!) It’s best to start exploring Linux with this distribution.
')
Secondly, the shortcomings of this distribution is the lack of support for the new time format in Russia (+4 hours from Greenwich, there is no daylight saving time). Also, there is no normal support for the sound card and the screen resolution for the ASUS X58C series notebook, as it already was with the “native” versions of the Ubuntu operating system. This "feud" continued even after buying a new laptop.
Incidentally, after installing the distribution and running the operating system update, most of the problems have been fixed.
Thirdly, without an Internet connection, this operating system works “no matter”. Since not all homes have a modem operating in the “router” mode, a home router or even just the Internet via Ethernet or Wi-Fi channel (such a connection is still very expensive in the provinces), this may prevent the widespread use of this service.
For the normal operation of this operating system, I advise you to install it on a virtual machine with a virtual network card operating in Bridge mode (for a smaller load on computer resources, as compared to NAT). After that, you must allow your modem to set IP addresses using the DHCP protocol, and you will have no problems installing and loading this operating system.
Fourthly, the su command in this system is blocked in this operating system, as in Ubuntu. However, unlike Ubuntu, it has a “root console” application, which allows you to run programs with superuser privileges from the command line. Calling this console allows you not to use the commands: “sudo bash”, “su root” and other “crutches” to obtain superuser privileges. I did not check the presence of an SSH server in the system.
Fifthly, my sound card was incorrectly defined. The default sound card should be Realtek HD Definition Audio. Instead, I have a Realtek AC'97 sound card driver installed and not being replaced.
Sixth, apparently, the programs on JoliOS are updated, and immediately when you connect to the Internet. So, after reconnecting to the JoliCloud account, some of its flaws were “automatically” corrected (a Russian interface appeared on the command line, the modules required for operation were loaded);
Seventh, this system has a strict security check of JoliOS loadable and installable modules (applications). However, when installing modules all the time there were problems with expired certificates and non-authorized applications. Because of this, the installation of programs was very slow (maybe they were tested for the presence of malicious code). So, I installed the Midnight Commander module for more than 10 minutes! Samba module (out of ten packages), I installed in the same time. Probably, these modules were certificates.
Subsequent testing of the virtual machine: JoliOS revealed the following:
1. JoliOS, in principle, can work without the Internet (like a normal Ubuntu Linux machine). True, the “remote services” will not work;
2. For the normal operation of this guest operating system, I needed to install: the Midnight Commander file manager, Emacs text editor, programs for supporting NFS and Samba networks;
3. It is important not to allow conflicts in machine names and their correspondence to IP addresses in all files: hosts, lmhosts and hostname, otherwise “unexplained errors” are possible;
4. In JoliOS, all applications located on the local computer are located in the Apps folder on the last JoliOS “desktop” screen. All programs are located in the form of tiles in the file manager "Nautilus". From there, they can be run;
Configuring the Samba server on a “guest computer” with JoliOS on a VMware virtual machine was not possible immediately and not in full. For this, I had to:
5. Update the / etc / hosts file on the virtual machine, making it identical with the % SystemRoot% \ system32 \ drivers \ etc \ hosts file on the host machine;
6. Delete the lmhosts file on the “guest” and host machine from the directories: / etc / samba / lmhosts and % SystemRoot% \ system32 \ drivers \ etc \ lmhosts ;
7. In the /etc/samba/smb.conf file, in the size of WORKGROUP, specify the “workgroup” for this network. This group is registered on the host computer in the file:
% SystemRoot% \ system32 \ drivers \ etc \ networks ;
After that, I had access to hard drives on the host computer (with administrator privileges), but I did not have access to the “shared folders”. But this access was already enough to make it “convenient to work” and test this guest operating system. As for access to folders via the SMB protocol, additional research is needed here.
First, JoliOS as an operating system is one of Canonical's Ubuntu Linux clones, with all its “birthmarks”, for which I do not like this family (this is my personal opinion, IMHO). His desktop interface is average between the Tiled interface and Gnome. The very version of Ubuntu, judging by the interface and menu design, is not the freshest, somewhere in 2009. But this is even good, because in every new version of Ubuntu old errors are fixed and new ones appear (see Linux Format journals).
In friendliness this interface can not be denied. It has the simplicity of Linux and the “steepness” of the JoliCloud interface, so the interface can be called friendly. In my opinion (again, IMHO!) It’s best to start exploring Linux with this distribution.
')
Secondly, the shortcomings of this distribution is the lack of support for the new time format in Russia (+4 hours from Greenwich, there is no daylight saving time). Also, there is no normal support for the sound card and the screen resolution for the ASUS X58C series notebook, as it already was with the “native” versions of the Ubuntu operating system. This "feud" continued even after buying a new laptop.
Incidentally, after installing the distribution and running the operating system update, most of the problems have been fixed.
Thirdly, without an Internet connection, this operating system works “no matter”. Since not all homes have a modem operating in the “router” mode, a home router or even just the Internet via Ethernet or Wi-Fi channel (such a connection is still very expensive in the provinces), this may prevent the widespread use of this service.
For the normal operation of this operating system, I advise you to install it on a virtual machine with a virtual network card operating in Bridge mode (for a smaller load on computer resources, as compared to NAT). After that, you must allow your modem to set IP addresses using the DHCP protocol, and you will have no problems installing and loading this operating system.
Fourthly, the su command in this system is blocked in this operating system, as in Ubuntu. However, unlike Ubuntu, it has a “root console” application, which allows you to run programs with superuser privileges from the command line. Calling this console allows you not to use the commands: “sudo bash”, “su root” and other “crutches” to obtain superuser privileges. I did not check the presence of an SSH server in the system.
Fifthly, my sound card was incorrectly defined. The default sound card should be Realtek HD Definition Audio. Instead, I have a Realtek AC'97 sound card driver installed and not being replaced.
Sixth, apparently, the programs on JoliOS are updated, and immediately when you connect to the Internet. So, after reconnecting to the JoliCloud account, some of its flaws were “automatically” corrected (a Russian interface appeared on the command line, the modules required for operation were loaded);
Seventh, this system has a strict security check of JoliOS loadable and installable modules (applications). However, when installing modules all the time there were problems with expired certificates and non-authorized applications. Because of this, the installation of programs was very slow (maybe they were tested for the presence of malicious code). So, I installed the Midnight Commander module for more than 10 minutes! Samba module (out of ten packages), I installed in the same time. Probably, these modules were certificates.
Subsequent testing of the virtual machine: JoliOS revealed the following:
1. JoliOS, in principle, can work without the Internet (like a normal Ubuntu Linux machine). True, the “remote services” will not work;
2. For the normal operation of this guest operating system, I needed to install: the Midnight Commander file manager, Emacs text editor, programs for supporting NFS and Samba networks;
3. It is important not to allow conflicts in machine names and their correspondence to IP addresses in all files: hosts, lmhosts and hostname, otherwise “unexplained errors” are possible;
4. In JoliOS, all applications located on the local computer are located in the Apps folder on the last JoliOS “desktop” screen. All programs are located in the form of tiles in the file manager "Nautilus". From there, they can be run;
Configuring the Samba server on a “guest computer” with JoliOS on a VMware virtual machine was not possible immediately and not in full. For this, I had to:
5. Update the / etc / hosts file on the virtual machine, making it identical with the % SystemRoot% \ system32 \ drivers \ etc \ hosts file on the host machine;
6. Delete the lmhosts file on the “guest” and host machine from the directories: / etc / samba / lmhosts and % SystemRoot% \ system32 \ drivers \ etc \ lmhosts ;
7. In the /etc/samba/smb.conf file, in the size of WORKGROUP, specify the “workgroup” for this network. This group is registered on the host computer in the file:
% SystemRoot% \ system32 \ drivers \ etc \ networks ;
After that, I had access to hard drives on the host computer (with administrator privileges), but I did not have access to the “shared folders”. But this access was already enough to make it “convenient to work” and test this guest operating system. As for access to folders via the SMB protocol, additional research is needed here.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/146426/
All Articles