Instant Desktop: We All Shine On (with Presto)

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OK, I admit that I generally lump hardcore Linux users in the same category as carriage drivers, pursuit hunters and Wolfram Alpha users- people who make things way harder than they have to be.  A few years ago, I installed Linux on a computer I built.  Several hellish days later, I wiped the hard drive, grabbed my shotgun and went looking for some penguins to kill.  Since then I have avoided Linux the way Cormac McCarthy avoids punctuation.

But at the same time, I get extremely impatient waiting for my various computers to load.  Generations of moths are born, live a fine moth-life and die in the time it takes my desktop to boot.  And my various laptops aren’t much faster.  It’s semi-bearable at home, but it can be a real drag (pun intended) when I’m trying to access email or the web from the road via my laptop.  Windows is never going to get within sight of the “instant on” ballpark, so I decided to look for another solution for quick access to basic laptop functions.

Guess what I settled on. . .

Linux.  In the form of Presto (here’s the FAQ).  Presto is a stripped-down Linux system designed to load quickly on just about any computer.  It installs on your Windows hard drive, just like a regular Windows program.  Once installed, when you boot your computer you have an option to boot into Windows or Presto.  Pick Presto and, presto, you have an almost instant Linux desktop.

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I installed Presto on the 64 bit laptop I’m using to test Windows 7.  If I select Presto at bootup, less than 20 seconds later I have a completely loaded operating system, with immediate access to the web (via Firefox), email (via Gmail), Skype, and even Word documents (via OpenOffice).  There’s even an App Store where you can find additional software to install.

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Presto costs $20.00, but the fast loading time and preinstalled applications make it worth it for the impatient traveler.  I have found that I use it even more than I thought I would.  This tells me that speed is king in the new application age.  And that the cloud will be good for alternative operating systems, and probably bad for Microsoft.

I’m never going to use Linux as a primary operating system, but for quick access to email or the web, Presto is a fine alternative.

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This entry was written by Kent and posted on May 20, 2009 at 2:11 am and filed under Tech. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
  • Hey Kent,

    You know I couldn't let this one go without a comment. ;)

    The recently released version of Ubuntu (9.04) cold boots to a login screen in 20 seconds and then it's a further 20 seconds to a desktop.. and that's running inside Virtualbox on my laptop, an actual install would no doubt be significantly quicker.

    Also, I think you shouldn't base your judgement of Linux on a 2 or 3 year old experience (and you didn't say which distro you tried at the time).

    In Ubuntu, application installation could not possibly be easier. Under the "Applications" menu there is a choice called "Add/Remove..." which of course brings up a huge assortment of installable software organized by application type, rated with star ratings for popularity and a search entry box to quickly find apps that might suit your needs. Any of those thousands of applications are installable by clicking a checkbox (or a series of them for installing multiple apps) and then clicking the apply button. It is *much* easier to install apps than on Windows IMO.

    Incidentally, the deb package you talked about on the podcast is the Debian package system, which Ubuntu uses as well. You can also download deb files from places like getdeb.net and double click them to install.

    So I'm glad Presto is useful for you, but be aware that the major Linux distros are equally efficient and useful, and likely more so.
  • It is *much* easier to install apps than on Windows IMO.It's much easier provided that the application you want to install is on that list. My last experience with (Ubuntu) Linux was mostly positive and I probably would have stuck with it if it weren't for WiFi problems that suddenly started developing after a couple weeks.

    The crux of my experience, though, was that Linux makes it super-duper easy to do the things that it's made an effort to make easy, but outside the sandbox it felt like I needed to learn everything to do anything.

    I wish the trial period for Pesto was longer than seven days. It might be worth my time if it were 30 days or something.
  • I will take a look at Virtualbox and Ubuntu. It looks like getting that set up may be a bit of a chore for a Linux newbie like me, but I am digging Presto enough to consider a more robust distro.

    I also expect that Will is right. I'm sure I can get the easy stuff installed, but if I get off into the woods, it may be harder.

    But I'm interested enough to experiment a little.
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