Text 37418, 69 rader
Skriven 2007-09-25 11:10:02 av Jeff Guerdat (1:123/789.0)
  Kommentar till text 37347 av Alan Zisman (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Moka5
=============
Alan Zisman -> All wrote:
 AZ> Users interested in running other OS's in virtual sessions might want to
 AZ> check this one out (www.moka5.com); it's built on top of the free VMware
 AZ> Player (which a Moka5 installation installs), but it seems to work with
 AZ> a store of virtual OS's kept online, and downloads them as desired.
 AZ> (There are Windows (XP and Vista) and Linux versions).

 AZ> (Obviously, dial-up users need not apply!)

 AZ> Apparently, there are ways to store virtual systems on other network
 AZ> servers or on local machines, but I need to play with it more. As well,
 AZ> apparently, users can create their own virtual systems-- and store them
 AZ> online.

 AZ> User-created documents can be saved onto local machines...

 AZ> By default, it downloads a small Linux image that it calls Fearless
 AZ> Browser, caching it on the local system... that loads Firefox and the
 AZ> light-weight Xfce user interface.

 AZ> Anyway, I'm going to play with it some more, and would encourage people
 AZ> here to check it out and let me know what they discover or think...

Welp, I've had a chance to play with Moka5 and find it mildly useful. It would
likely be more useful in a corporate setting where you could connect to a
server, grab your image (fast speeds help for first startup - it was rather
painful to grab them here at home on cable) and run your app.  It's sorta like
a reverse terminal server - you run the software locally as opposed to on the
server.  That makes it useful to be able to play in a "sandbox" where you can't
screw things up and it can't screw you up, a strong point of VMs in the first
place.  What makes this unique is that 1) it's a prettier GUI front-end to
VMware, perhaps making it a bit more friendly to novice users and 2) it easily
allows you to access server-stored VMs.  Neither is impossible with VMware in
the first place but this seems a bit more polished for the intended market.

Since it caches the VM locally, it's not a whole lot different from VMware. 
What IS different is that it compares the server-based VM with what you have
locally and grabs the update automatically (not sure if it has to grab the
complete VM or just an update file - probably the former).  Since it can be
installed on a thumb (or other removable) drive, you can take it with you
without the need to install the player on any other machine so it's similar to
PortableApps.com in that regard.

If I were on the go and needed to use whatever hardware happened to be in front
of me, this could be a useful solution.  Many folks have laptops that they
carry so this would be of limited utility.  For those without laptops or who
simply can't/won't carry one with them, this could be handy - carry your
"computer" on a thumb drive.  Could be useful but it's almost an answer to an
unknown question.  'Twould be nice to be able to go on the road, access an
Internet cafe' computer and use your own environment safely but that's just
simply something that I haven't had the need to do.

BTW, I am trying out the One Laptop Per Child LivePC to try it out before the
November "buy two, give one away, take one home" sale that was announced
recently.  We're thinking about it for a 1st grader in my daughter's life.  The
poor little 650MHz., 256MB laptop could use some help, as could the LivePC
(either it's not up-to-date or features are lacking/not working).  However, it
seems to be something that a VMware user could create and distribute equally as
well...

-- 
Jeff Guerdat

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough
to make us love one another.
                                              Jonathan Swift

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