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The cost of supporting Xandros is zero. ASUS basically outsourced the support to community-based forums (such as http://www.eeeuser.com/). How much cheaper can you go?

An excellent resource is for eeeXubuntu (and the Eee in general) is http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:home.

While being a work in progress, the wiki for eeeXubuntu is quite good. My installation was slightly different because I wanted to try eeeXubuntu before I committed to putting it on the internal drive. I have a 4GB USB stick that I partitioned into 700MB+3300MB, and made vfat32 + ext3 partitions. Then I booted the CDROM as mentioned on the wiki and copied in the CD files to the first partition on the USB. Then I booted the Eee from the USB and installed onto the second partition of the USB. I had to do some grub work on the internal sda to get it to dual boot.

After about a week of using eeeXubuntu from the USB I decided to overwrite my internal drive. I made a single partition, made an ext3 fs, copied over the data, updated fstab, and ran grub. Rebooted, and it works great.

Like many, I swapped out the 512MB SO-DIMM for 2GB. They're pretty cheap these days. Not sure if the DIMM is creating more heat and causing the fan to run. Also, I don't hibernate it - shutdown/startup is reasonably quick.

As for the comments regarding updates, I honestly don't recall seeing notices that updates were available (yes, the network was up). I hope Samba is fixed.

In terms of the original article, I have to agree with the other posters. C-net has gone downhill. The Eee isn't in the same league as 14.1" or 15.4" notebooks for under $1k (US). I should mention that you can also score a refurbed Dell XPS M1330 for under $1k (no, I don't work for Dell - I was just considering it as an option).

I agree adding apps to the eee delivered 'easy' mode is more difficult than it ought to be. But remember, Asus thought they were including all the apps their target audience would need. Not the first company to be wrong and it won't be the last to make this mistake! A suggestion for you, if you haven't found it yourself:

http://eeeuser.com/
There are forums, a wiki, and a large body of developers with solutions to many problems. For example, there is a developer with a set of Launcher tools that makes it much easier to add apps to the 'easy' mode.
I agree, different target audiences; different compromises made.

Easy Mode is the big problem with the Eee. I ripped the original OS out of there out of immediately and switched over to Ubuntu and later to eeeXubunto and have never looked back. As to the screen on the Eee. It's small. I wish it was a bit bigger but at the price the Eee is available at I'm more then happy to put up with it.... At least until there is a cheaper one with a bigger screen.

Personally, I'd keep the xandros. However, there's also a custom Debian install called EeeOS (http://wiki.eeeuser.com/debian:eeeos:home), that you can naturally strip down to your heart's content

I am very happy with my eeePC. Last night I installed a build toolchain using this howto.

At work I connect it to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse and it occured to me that Asus could probably sell a version without screen, keyboard and touchpad for a third the price.

First, I'll 4th or 5th or whatever we are up to on the eeePC.

You might look at the formating SD card section of the http://wiki.eeeuser.com/. I ran into this issue once and that fixed it. If I was going, I'd have a couple 16 Gb cards. They are available for less than $70. I also loaded eeeXubuntu, instead of the default Xandros. This allows you to customize it a little easier. I use this with the USBModem program on my Treo 700p to get internet away from a WiFi. Works like a charm with no extra data charge, other than my data plan on the phone. Data plans in other countries on a cell will most likely be more expensive, so syncing when WiFi is available is probably best.

Actually the details and link to the users wiki was posted by himself to http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=6380

That's true: not much interest from the market, only 350 000 EEE PC shipped by December 07... http://www.eeeuser.com/2007/12/22/350k-eee-pcs-shipped//

Just to clarify - no "hacking" needs to be done to install XP unless you intend to image a USB stick with an XP installer because you don't have a USB CD reader. If you have a USB cd reader it's as straightforward as installing on a typical pc. There are optimisations after install to minimise SSD writing - they are probably the most technical aspect of an "access-to-cd-drive" install.

Not to mention as a geek toy it sold 350,000 units, including one to my house as a christmas gift to my dad. He loves it, and so does my sister, both of whom are far from what I would even remotely consider geeks.

or go here: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewforum.php?id=12
which has a lot more information on a ton of mods, instead of some website with links to random blogs...

Most of the Eee PC versions seem to have a webcam, too: http://wiki.eeeuser.com/eee_pc_701

Awesome! I think I'll sit on the sidelines for this class of machine for a bit, but I'll probably eventually get one. I suspect prices will drop to the previously promised $200 range. Anyway, I always install Ubuntu on my Dells, and if I get one of these, I'm going to install the EE PC version of xbuntu. I strongly suspect the main reason these machines are currently in the $400 range is lack of competition. That will change.

I really hate how this article summary is written. I *love* my eee. It's tiny. I take it everywhere. I don't worry about a hard drive crash (it's an SSD). I don't care that it's a slower system, I use it as an Internet/troubleshooting machine. It's plenty fast. I hacked Xandros to put Gnome on it, and it works great! I'd definitely recommend the eee to people, Linux gurus and novices - the default GUI is damn simple to operate, and it's still Xandros (Debian-based) underneath.

Check out www.eeeuser.com if you want to get the real story.

Why the Eee? I reviewed one for the local alt-monthly newspaper, and even after I was done with the review, I wound up keeping it. In a nutshell: it's nifty to have an inexpensive, super light, teeny wifi laptop with a crisp, bright screen -- I've been using it primarily for a RSS/CBR reader myself. My advice is ditch the standard OS, which is lovely but would never fully satisfy most slashdot readers and install Ubuntu 7.10. It's easy enough to do and works great after a few tweaks. One caveat to keep in mind is that I can't seem to find any place that sells additional power adapters (yet) so the portability is slightly diminished by having to lug around the adapter too. but I'm sure that will be rectified soon, as Asus has done a great job so far responding to customer complaints and suggestions.

Why the Eee? I reviewed one for the local alt-monthly newspaper, and even after I was done with the review, I wound up keeping it. In a nutshell: it's nifty to have an inexpensive, super light, teeny wifi laptop with a crisp, bright screen -- I've been using it primarily for a RSS/CBR reader myself. My advice is ditch the standard OS, which is lovely but would never fully satisfy most slashdot readers and install Ubuntu 7.10. It's easy enough to do and works great after a few tweaks. One caveat to keep in mind is that I can't seem to find any place that sells additional power adapters (yet) so the portability is slightly diminished by having to lug around the adapter too. but I'm sure that will be rectified soon, as Asus has done a great job so far responding to customer complaints and suggestions.

Check out eeeuser.com hacks & mods forum to find some more interesting "hacks" such as adding a touchscreen.

Have a look at the post count on eeeuser. Posts about windows installs are significant but not overwhelming.

The chip is rated at 900Mhz and some reviews quote 900Mhz but if you go to here you'll find that people have been trying to figure out how to get it to run at that speed for quite a while. It turns out that the FSB is set to 70mhz making the actual CPU speed 630Mhz (I wrote the wrong number earlier). Other BIOSes are available that have allowed 100Mhz FSB but causes artifacts like waves or stability issues.

Specs.

Unless you count the Asus EEEPC, which (depending on the model) has either 2, 4 or 8 Gig drives that come with Linux. They don't run Vista, but they do come with instructions & drivers for installing XP.

I'm sure Dell & such would follow suit much sooner if M$ would let them load XP instead of Vista, but Dell isn't afraid of Linux and will even be introducing solid state 32G laptops (I'm assuming running some sort of Windows) soon.

eeeuser.com has a post on this. It can even output 1600x1280
http://www.eeeuser.com/2007/10/21/eee-pc-capable-of-outputting-1600x1280-resolution/

Great Unboxing / Hands on review.

Can't wait for them to go on sale stateside.

Asus is raising its prices. The cheapest is now a $249 verison without webcam, 256MB memory and 2GB flash drive. The really good ones look like they're going to start at around $400. http://www.eeeuser.com/

The EEE went from being a fantastic deal to expensive toy and it hasn't even been released yet. The Palm Folio is staring to look good in comparison.

I read they anticipate selling millions of their compact laptop Asus Eee with linux pre-installed. I'm sure many ppl are keeping their eye on it as it develops. Looks like specs are falling and prices are rising. I also just read that it only has one mouse button, wtf?! Anyways:

Asus Eee user/info site

Besides this and OLPC, any other low cost wifi enabled cheap compact linux laptops for sale or announced to be released soon? I'd like a portable unit on occasion for web/internet stuff, but I don't want or need a full blown high-powered system, just simple and basic, and I want linux just cause. If I wanted a full blown portable system I don't think anything would beat a MacBook or MBPro...