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Review: Asus Eee PC (smh.com.au)
The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald reviews
the Asus Eee laptop, which runs with a customized Xandros Linux
distribution. "It does mean not being able to use your favourite
Windows software but, fortunately, the Eee PC comes with dozens of
programs, including the familiar Firefox web browser and Skype for online
phone calls. Others on the roster cover email, instant messaging (for
Windows Live, Yahoo and Google), playing music, video clips and organising
your digital photos." (Thanks to Mark Tall)
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Review: Asus Eee PC (smh.com.au) Posted Dec 3, 2007 21:58 UTC (Mon) by icin (guest, #28193) [Link] PC Pro has a very positve review, I noticed today, and added the Asus to their A list, quote below
hidden os Posted Dec 4, 2007 1:56 UTC (Tue) by ccyoung (guest, #16340) [Link] looks very generic - dare anybody to study one and come up with the word "Linux". I played with one over thirty minutes and could not find a terminal.
hidden os Posted Dec 4, 2007 2:30 UTC (Tue) by dkite (guest, #4577) [Link] ctrl-alt-t. Ask your icewm wonks. They will tell you all the details. Derek
not such a hidden os Posted Dec 4, 2007 2:33 UTC (Tue) by sbdep (subscriber, #13282) [Link] I guess you didn't hit Ctrl+Alt+T then did you? :) Not sure if I am misinterpretting your comment, but no one is hiding the fact that it runs Linux. Sure it has a custom Launcher/Desktop application for the "easy mode" but it is a basic KDE environment running on Linux. (disclosure, I work for Xandros, though I haven't had anything to do with the EeePC software)
Close.. no cigar. Posted Dec 4, 2007 14:23 UTC (Tue) by mbottrell (guest, #43008) [Link] The Eee PC website for those that want a closer look. Personally, I would prefer a bigger screen.. the black borders are a killer and very ugly.I will wait for the next generation.
Close.. no cigar. Posted Dec 4, 2007 20:46 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] You have to see them in person before making a judgement. With a computer of the size of the EEE the black borders are actually not as big as they look in the photos. Debian Testing/Unstable with a 2.6.23 kernel runs very well on these machines. I used a squashfs root with aufs overlay to get 1.5-2gigs of disk space into 500 megs. (this is easily done with 3 files added to /etc/initramfs-tools directory) The only thing I dislike is the choice of Atheros wireless. That just pisses me off since there are very good Intel wireless avialable and with the Atheros stuff the only way to get it working is through NDISwrapper. If you check out eeeuser there is guides for Ubuntu that work well for Debian.
Close.. no cigar. Posted Dec 8, 2007 17:39 UTC (Sat) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] As a update to my previous comment. Atheros released a patch for the Madwifi hal that enables support for the EEEPC's wifi stuff. It works much better then the ndiswrapper stuff so far.
Close.. no cigar. Posted Dec 4, 2007 21:47 UTC (Tue) by frazier (guest, #3060) [Link] If it filled that flip top area with 1024x768 screen, I'd own one. Trackpoint would be nice. I was one of the few people stoked about the Palm Folio because I really liked the form factor.
stand corrected Posted Dec 4, 2007 16:27 UTC (Tue) by ccyoung (guest, #16340) [Link] the store sales people and I worked on this together, who didn't even know it was linux. and nothing in the sales promos helped. and none of my searches for "terminal" or "xterm" in it's Help helped. thanks
stand corrected Posted Dec 4, 2007 20:47 UTC (Tue) by drag (subscriber, #31333) [Link] The UI for the default install is KDE based. So when you open the file manager the defaults key-combos for Konqueror work.
hidden os Posted Dec 6, 2007 10:39 UTC (Thu) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] Given that some idiots are advising not to buy Linux, I would say that can even be positive.
Eee--game-changing PC Posted Dec 5, 2007 6:57 UTC (Wed) by ldo (subscriber, #40946) [Link] Asus claim they're shipping one of these every six seconds. It's in short supply in Europe, and it's already sold out in Australia. That item also says that Microsoft is offering a 30% discount for those who want to put Windows on it. Now, what's so special about Eee users, that Microsoft is going to offer a special discount to them that it won't make available to the rest of its customers? Answer: it's terrified at the prospect of millions of these things going into use without Microsoft Windows on them. The era of desktop Linux has begun.
Eee--game-changing PC Posted Dec 5, 2007 19:26 UTC (Wed) by bfields (subscriber, #19510) [Link] That item also says that Microsoft is offering a 30% discount for those who want to put Windows on it. Now, what's so special about Eee users, that Microsoft is going to offer a special discount to them that it won't make available to the rest of its customers? Answer: it's terrified at the prospect of millions of these things going into use without Microsoft Windows on them. I'd have said it was because the remaining 70% is still enough to make them money, and because the Eee occupies a sufficiently distinct niche that they're unlikely to be competing with sales of ordinary Windows laptops. I'd expect them to continue to offer lower prices on less expensive machines. As the cheaper machines find uses that bigger ones might not, the overall market may grow even if their per-unit profit decreases.
Review: Asus Eee PC (smh.com.au) Posted Dec 5, 2007 12:28 UTC (Wed) by pheldens (guest, #19366) [Link] "..the battery lasts for well over three hours...." urgh, not unique for this thing, but when will they focus more on real usability problems.
Review: Asus Eee PC (smh.com.au) Posted Dec 5, 2007 21:17 UTC (Wed) by i3839 (guest, #31386) [Link] Am I the only one that doesn't consider buying anything with less than, say, 8 hours of battery life?
Review: Asus Eee PC (smh.com.au) Posted Dec 6, 2007 0:03 UTC (Thu) by djabsolut (guest, #12799) [Link] Are there such machines which are also affordable?
Review: Asus Eee PC (smh.com.au) Posted Dec 6, 2007 0:58 UTC (Thu) by i3839 (guest, #31386) [Link] Not that I know, I didn't buy anything yet. :-/
Review: Asus Eee PC (smh.com.au) Posted Dec 9, 2007 1:06 UTC (Sun) by shane (subscriber, #3335) [Link] Battery life is not the most important thing, but it is helpful, at least for those of us who fly semi-regularly.
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