Review of Asus Linux-Based Eee PC 701

Bongo Bob writes "CNET.co.uk has up a review of the Asus Eee PC 701 that runs Linux. According to the reviewer. 'It's hard to fault the Eee PC, mainly because of its price. It can be difficult to use because of the cramped keyboard, but it's better than similar-sized laptops like the Toshiba Libretto. If you're in the market for a second PC, or looking for something you can take with you almost anywhere, the Eee PC is definitely worth buying.'"

Comments

Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantastic!

[mrbill1234]

This is just what I want - a small, cheap thin client. I think this one will be on my xmas list.

Being solid state - i'm thinking that this thing will be ultra quite too.

Before someone asks

[mrjb]

Yes, it does run Linux.

Re:Before someone asks

[__aaclcg7560]

It runs Windows XP. :P

Re:Before someone asks

[Finallyjoined!!!]

The Eee PC is theoretically fast enough to run Windows XP, which is great news for those of us without beards.

Beards?

Re:Before someone asks

[ozmanjusri]

Yes, it does run Linux.

Have you imagined a Beowulf cluster of them already?

Re:Before someone asks

[Mistlefoot]

Actually, it comes with Linux.

It also comes with instructions on how to install XP as well as a disk containing all the needed XP drivers.

Wouldn't it be nice if all PC's were like this? Support for more than one OS.

At 8" x 6" x 1.5" and 2 pounds this is truly a device that is easily portable as well.

Re:Before someone asks

[ppc_digger]

Have you imagined a Beowulf cluster of them already?
Not yet, but I, for one, would like to welcome our new Linux-powered overlords.

Re:Before someone asks

[CrossChris]

If you installed XP on it, you'd have little drive capacity left. After you've installed the anti-malware, anti-virus, anti-this and anti-that which are essential with Windows, you might be left with a few kb for applications and data! Leave the poor thing alone, and let it run its small, efficient, reliable and secure operating system. It works very well straight out of the box!

Re:Before someone asks

[PopeRatzo]

After you've installed the anti-malware, anti-virus, anti-this and anti-that which are essential with Windows, you might be left with a few kb for applications and data!

But at least the wireless will work.

Re:Before someone asks

[dc29A]

If you installed XP on it, you'd have little drive capacity left. After you've installed the anti-malware, anti-virus, anti-this and anti-that which are essential with Windows, you might be left with a few kb for applications and data! Leave the poor thing alone, and let it run its small, efficient, reliable and secure operating system. It works very well straight out of the box! I run Windows without any anti-malware thank you very much! Just because the majority of people run Windows as administrator, use IE and blindly click on every retarded "OMG YOU WON AN IPOD!!!!oneone111!!!!" flashing banner, doesn't mean all people do. You can run Windows fine quite safe and secure without anti-malware software clogging your computer's arteries.

Re:Before someone asks

[vtcodger]

***But at least the wireless will work***

Ehrrrrrr. The correct phraseology is "At least the wireless MIGHT work". I made my living for a decade before I retired out of the reality that not everything that should work in Windows does work in Windows. I've had two "identical" brand new Windows machines with consecutive serial numbers exhibit significantly different behavior after Ghosting in an applications image. More than once, in fact.

I'd agree that 'might' is better than 'won't'

Re:Before someone asks

[stuntpope]

The wireless already works with the Linux that it ships with. According to the thread, it's Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon that has a problem with the wireless on it.

Re:Before someone asks

[aurispector]

In Soviet Russia linux runs YOU.

There. Happy?

Re:Before someone asks

[ppc_digger]

There. Happy?
I'm a vulcan, you insensitive clod!

Re:Before someone asks

[argiedot]

Yeah, if you read old war books, they refer to some young recruits as 'too young to have hair on their chin'. That's what I think he means :)

Re:Before someone asks

[Anonymous Coward]

> > It runs Windows XP. :P
>
>Leave the poor thing alone, and let it run its small, efficient, reliable and secure operating system. It works very well straight out of the box!

Leave the poor guy alone! If the guy wants to install some expensive niche operating system on his own hardware, that's his business. We just tell him it might work, but it'll be up to him to support it himself :)

Re:Before someone asks

[SwedishPenguin]

Yeah that was a pretty dumb statement. The funny thing is that he actually did try to put XP on it, almost immediately, and failed. So a colleague of his installed Ubuntu on it since he couldn't find any way to restore the original operating system.
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006278o-2000331777b,00.htm

Re:Before someone asks

[cerberusss]

I checked it out and the Asus EEE has the Marvell 8388 wireless chipset. This is supported in the vanilla Linux kernel since 2.6.22 (July 2007). Sooner or later this will work in almost every distro.

Re:Before someone asks

[BiggyP]

Now what reason to I have to RTFA?? Well it's a good question, from what i can see they spent about 5 minutes using the machine and taking notes of the supplied software before leaving it in a corner to run the battery down, not much of a review if you ask me.

Re:Before someone asks

[jagdish]

Yeah, but does it run Vista?

Re:Before someone asks

[orcrist]

Actually, it comes with Linux.

Once again, we see the urgent need for a slashdot moderation "+1 Whooosh!".

Why +1, you say? Well, of course it should be like "Funny", in that it doesn't give karma. But who wants to actually miss such beautiful examples of cluelessness? ;-)

Re:Before someone asks

[Anonymous Coward]

True.

But even practicing "safe surfing" doesn't keep cookie cruft from forming.

Re:Before someone asks

[arth1]

I checked it out and the Asus EEE has the Marvell 8388 wireless chipset. This is supported in the vanilla Linux kernel since 2.6.22 (July 2007).

Yeah, but the Eee 701 comes with 2.6.21.
And while the drivers work, from reports I've seen, there are problems with it not going up/down in speed reliably, i.e. if you connect at 54 Mbps and move away from the access point, you may lose connection as the speed drops a notch, and have to reconnect.

Excellent

[inflex]

Just want I've been wanting, something that's super light/portable but has enough facilities to let me reconnect to the world and/or do service work, throw it in the brief case or the car. Price is a nice change too (usually expect things like this to be 2~4x the price).

The Official CmdrTaco Review of the Asus EeePC 701

[Anonymous Coward]

No tablet capabilities. Less RAM than a Thinkpad X41 Tablet. Lame.

Student market

[meatflower]

If they advertise this right they could see big sales among students. I'm going to be taking some programming classes next semester and this looks like it would be great to carry around to practice with.

Re:Student market

[MBHkewl]

I'm sorry, but you are mistaken, somewhat.

This laptop is for non-IT students, since compiling on the Solid State Disk (SSD) will kill it with-in a few months.

Re:Student market

[Kelvie]

That's what SSH is for.

Re:Student market

[Anonymous Coward]

> This laptop is for non-IT students, since compiling on the Solid State Disk (SSD)
> will kill it with-in a few months.

Not true, with proper wear levelling (jffs2 on bare flash or a proper
hardware FlashTranslationLayer), it lasts as long as any hdd.

Re:Student market

[afroborg]

Hmm - despite the fact that this is no longer true with current wear-levelling techniques, you could quite easily compile to a RAM disk if you were really all that worried.

Re:Student market

[marcansoft]

Compiling isn't much different than any other disk activity. Now if you run Gentoo it might make a difference, but random one-off programs from class? That's probably equivalent to saving your average OOo document a few times.

Re:Student market

[MSG]

As I understand it, pretty much all flash drives do block rotation on their own, so filesystems like jffs2 aren't necessary to get wear leveling.

Re:Student market

[Hognoxious]

Don't like flash memory. Don't trust it. Is there an option with a proper disk, or is it possible to fit one?

Re:Student market

[RR]

Don't like hard drive. Don't trust it. The happy failure is when the /var partition goes wonky, and I can retrieve my data from the /home partition. The unhappy failure is when the drive (less than 3 year old Seagate Barracuda) stops reading my /home partition, and the Linux kernel starts complaining and making stuff up. This is why the stuff I really don't want to lose, I put in more than one hard drive. And DVDs with separate par2 disks.

Eee doesn't have disk option; it's soldered for cost, energy, and space reasons. It seems too small to fit any hard drive that I've heard of, but you could try some external hard drive. (Disclaimer: Nobody I've heard of has tried that particular external hard drive with the Eee.)

Re:Student market

[ceeam]

I doubt - suppose - 60% of my drive is full (data written) and 40% is free. Now I need to write a block of data to it. Where would the flash drive put it? It needs to pick a block that has no data written to it, right? Without having details from FS layer how would that work at all?

Re:Student market

[ceeam]

If I ever buy one (and I really wanted it with initial specs/price. Oh, well - if they produce not-much-more-expensive 1024xXXX version there's still a chance). So - if I do I intend to buy a 16 or 32 gig SD card and use it as my data partition (read-only system may well be on "internal" flash). When SD cards start wearing out I move all my data to a new card. Will that work?

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[NeoSkink]

And the Gutsy Gibbon seems to run great on them too! http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006278o-2000331777b,00.htm

Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[__aaclcg7560]

For general word processing, how would the Asus Eee PC 701 compare against the Alphasmart Neo?

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[OrangeTide]

Eee PC is slighty more expensive and has a shorter battery life. And the Alphasmart's keyboard is better for normal adult sized hands.

But the flexibility of applications and significantly more powerful wordprocessors available for the Eee PC makes it pretty attractive. Plus the ability to use wireless internet to have access to very complete online dictionaries, thesauruses and encyclopedias makes the EeePC a bit more versatile for writers. assuming you can get used to the keyboard.

I'm planning on getting two EeePCs, one for a writer and one for a programmer(myself).

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[MBHkewl]

Do you really use a laptop to just type" nowadays?

You're more likely to have a copy online (GMail?), to keep it in a safe place, and/or share it with certain people. So, the wifi comes in handy.
Having a general purpose tool is better than a restricted one, especially when they come at the same price.

Then again, you might have issues with the keyboard.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[__aaclcg7560]

Do you really use a laptop to just type" nowadays?

No, I got a manual typewriter. :)

Then again, you might have issues with the keyboard.

That's something I'm concern about. I want something that's small enough to throw into a bag without worrying about it too much. But I also don't need another gadget/paperweight to add to my collection.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[GreatBunzinni]

Since it is a full fledge PC and runs any text editor that you may think of along with software like TeX and LaTeX without a single problem, not to mention WYSIWYG office suits like OpenOffice and KOffice, I'd say that that the Eee PC deprecates that little toy in every single category possibly imaginable.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[DrXym]

For general word processing, how would the Asus Eee PC 701 compare against the Alphasmart Neo?

It probably wouldn't compare at all if the one and only thing you want to do is write documents. I would hope that any word processing device is going to focus heavily on keyboard comfort, text input because it doesn't have much else to worry about. I would expect a $220 word processor to feature a very comfortable keyboard.

Whereas the Asus eee pc is a small form factor PC that runs a word processor amongst other things. I doubt it would win a typing test, or a battery life test either. The keyboard is going to be cramped and the word pro has to be fired up by navigating through menus. But then again, the eee does a hell of a lot more than just text. It can browse the web, make calls, text, spreadsheets, presentations, edit photos, games and more besides. It is a full blown but very small PC.

Take your pick depending on your needs.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[Rob Simpson]

Except for the 700 hours of battery life (versus up to 4 hours) and desktop-sized keyboard parts.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[Simon Brooke]

That's something I'm concern about. I want something that's small enough to throw into a bag without worrying about it too much. But I also don't need another gadget/paperweight to add to my collection.

I used a Toshiba Libretto (with Debian, naturally) for years, and loved it. You very quickly get used to a small pitch keyboard, and within a couple of weeks will be touch-typing on it without difficulty. Keyboard feel, of course, is another issue, and I'd need to actually type on an EEE before I will know whether I want one. But it seems like an ideal package, and companies who are prepared to bring Linux products to the masses deserve to be supported.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[CrossChris]

The Neo is a wordprocessing appliance. The Eee is a fully fledged Linux based laptop computer. No comparison.

The Eee works wonderfully well here on my network as a wireless client - it's just the right size to carry with you, and is very robust. I just need to find supply of a larger capacity SDD - 4 Gb is filling up very quickly!

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[david.given]

I've always been rather intrigued by the AlphaSmart Dana (where do they come up with these names...). 25 hour battery, full sized keyboard, decent sized touch screen (looks like 640x200), wireless, USB, some mysterious expansion slots (can't figure out what kind), and above all it runs PalmOS. Which means you can use your own applications on it.

Does anyone actually have one? Or has seen one?

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[vtcodger]

***I'd say that that the Eee PC deprecates that little toy in every single category possibly imaginable.***

I don't know about the Alphasmart Neo, but when I did school IT, we bought the old Alphasmarts instead of real laptops for Special Ed students for one reason. The Alphasmarts are virtually indestructible. Like military computers, they may be mediocre at computing, but they are still mediocre rather than dead after being dropped, stepped on, used as weapons, or otherwise abused.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[faedle]

I worked for the company that makes the AlphaSmart machines for a while.

The Dana is pretty impressive for a PalmOS machine. However, it is worth pointing out that the Dana's odd screen size causes problems with a lot of PalmOS software. A lot of programs run, but are confined to traditional PalmOS screen formats. Other programs crash-and-burn.

The "mysterious" expansion slots are SD/MMC slots. IIRC, the machine has two of them and one of them is SDIO compatible. The "word processing" program included is basic, but a lot more powerful than the PalmOS memo pad function. It also includes Documents2Go, which means you have access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents on the machine (and Documents2Go does support the Dana's odd screen configuration).

It's a bit of an odd machine, however. The keyboard isn't horrible, which is a big plus. I don't know if the one I had was the latest and greatest PalmOS, but it seemed a little bit crash-prone compared to other PalmOS devices I've owned.

Battery life was.. fantastic, however. It can run on 3 AA batteries.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[soupforare]

I carry around my original Dana (not wireless) more often than I do my thinkpad these days. However, the brand-new price is very high. I picked up a couple for nothing from a school that was tossing them. Considering their primary market, schools and accessibility, I can understand why the price is a little high. It is certainly a very well built machine.
Even though I'm a long time PalmIII user, I don't really use any of the PIMs on the device. It's basically a portable typewriter for me. If you can find one for ~100USD, it's worth it.

Re:Asus Eee PC 701 vs. Alphasmart Neo

[rvw]

I used a Psion MX5 for a long time. I think the MX5 is significantly smaller than the eee, and thus has a smaller keyboard. I still could type with ten fingers, at about half speed because you had to press and release the keys a bit more thorough. I hope the eee keyboard will be as good or better. I liked the MX5 a lot back then, but now it doesn't make a chance anymore. I'm going to buy an eee, the 4 or 8 GB probably.

Link to the photos

[cerberusss]

Here's a .

And if it's slow, here's the coral cache: pic1
pic2
pic3
pic4
pic5
pic6
pic7
pic7
pic7


I've gotta say, this is one lovely machine. Full Linux installation etc. What irritated me was the comment that 'you can install Windows XP, for those of us who don't have beards'.

Ha. Ha. Ha. It's funny. Laugh.

Re:Link to the photos

[eddy]

How about some videos, complete with size comparison against a 15.4"'er.... Note the funny 'hey, a USB-memory just works on linux, huh?!' stuff in there. Hilarious if it weren't so sad.

Re:Link to the photos

[Anonymous Coward]

This eBay auction also has a bunch of pictures and close-ups of the interface.

Re:Link to the photos

[Anonymous Coward]

How about the preceding "It's Linux so there's open source software available". As in, Linux equals open-source, and open-source equals free-of-charge? Clueful, C|Net, indeed...

Re:Link to the photos

[dominux]

my kids aged 3,5 and 7 all use Linux and have never used Windows. None of them have managed to grow a beard. I don't have one myself. Neither does my wife.

Re:Link to the photos

[muyuubyou]

I wonder why didn't that guy use a real camera. Horrible pics.

Few nit-picks about this machine:
- a lot of real-estate wasted to the sides of the screen. Couldn't they put there thumb-pointers like those in the VAIO UX50? or at some cursor buttons? For reference: http://www.engadget.com/2006/06/08/unboxing-the-sony-vaio-ux50/
- a second, fanless, merom-based generation is already coming in April. If they keep the same price I'm in. http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20070904PD215.html

Going down to 7W from 11W looks pretty big to me.

Re:Link to the photos

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the kitten included? Want kitten! Kitten!

Re:Link to the photos

[Darundal]

They didn't note that a USB Thumbdrive was instantly recognized (which it would be) but that a wireless mouse was recognized and was working immediately upon insertion of the mouse's wireless adaptor. Which ultimately does seem to be the kind of thing that one would note if that person was not a Linux user. While you say it is sad that they note that, it is actually sad that it is worth noting. When I got my current mouse (an Ideazon Reaper which I won at QuakeCon) Windows refused to recognize it until I had installed the damned drivers for it, whereas with my Ubuntu install, it worked perfectly the second I plugged it in (DPI switching and all).

Re:Link to the photos

[Anonymous Coward]

Um... That's, um, gotta be the worse, um, reviewer I've ever, um, listened to. Um...

Re:Link to the photos

[Anonymous Coward]

What irritated me was the comment that 'you can install Windows XP, for those of us who don't have beards'. That was my first reaction, too. Eventually I concluded the author must be smarter than your average bear. How else could they have come up with such a clever euphemism for the factual statement of "you can install Windows XP, for those lemmings smart enough to reshackle ourselves."

Re:Link to the photos

[Chandon Seldon]

- a lot of real-estate wasted to the sides of the screen.

It may not show up clearly in the pics, but that's where the speakers live.

Re:Link to the photos

[Anonymous Coward]

Then they're massive for a machine this size. Would rather have controls/screen myself, too.

Re:Link to the photos

[chudik]

I've gotta say, this is one lovely machine. Full Linux installation etc. What irritated me was the comment that 'you can install Windows XP, for those of us who don't have beards'. I figured he just doesn't know the difference between Unix and Linux and therefore inappropriately applied the stereotype.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[this great guy]

It is more than quiet, it is completely silent. There are no moving parts: no fan, no hard disk, no DVD drive.

On a side note, the Eee PC has the same size and weight (within +/- 10 mm in width and 50 g) than the Panasonic R series (I have the R3, this year's model is the R7): http://panasonic.jp/pc/products/r7b/index.html However the R7 chooses another compromise: more expensive and more powerful.

User Site

[MrCopilot]

http://www.eeeuser.com/

Great Unboxing / Hands on review.

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

Re:User Site

[Superpiduh]

A nice review (with videos) here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2604764

Re:User Site

[AncientPC]

According to that site, the 4G will launch in US on 11/1/07. I wonder when the 8G will be available, and the prices for each model ($245 for 2G / $440 for 4G?).

A slashvertisment about Linux

[Anonymous Coward]

Is still a slashvertisment.

It looks very promising

[fredboboss]

This ASUS EEE looks to be very promising, small, light, it fills the gap between PDAs and UMPCs. And it's all about reliability, low power, almost no moving parts, and Linux (Xandros). A lot of people (like me) are getting really impatient, some are about to get mad. This site has also neat reviews of the thing : http://www.blogeee.net/ (translation) : http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogeee.net%2F&langpair=fr%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

What about installing fave Distro?

[mooterSkooter]

So, yeah, how simple would it be to install another distro and what distro is on there now? I mean, would ubuntu run well on it or would I have to use DSL (which I'm tinkering with right now)

Re:What about installing fave Distro?

[MBHkewl]

Your question is redundant, as someone already pointed that out.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[mrbill1234]

The wikipedia article implies that there is a fan and the next version of the Eee due in April 2008 will be without one.

Fantastic niche market machine

[asc99c]

There's my new support laptop sorted out. This looks very well targeted at the ever expanding groups of people who always just might need to get to a PC at any given time. I spend half my life on out-of-hours support for various systems.

There's a 15 minute response time so I can normally just throw the laptop in the car boot - as a result I've got a fantastic 17" laptop which is great for working on. But it's more luggable than portable. The occasions when I'm going to be more than 15 mins from the car, it's a real pain carrying a laptop weighing over 4 kilos.

I've been in the market for an ultra-portable for the last year. All it needs to do is run Putty, have a web browser, and VNC back to the office for any specialist applications. It'll probably only be used once or twice a week - and by used I mean carried around with me just in case - it'll get switched on less than that. Finally got something on the market at the right price.

Not that good value now

[reclusivemonkey]

I saw the news about this a while back before it was released. However I was recently bought a laptop by my sister for £300 from Tescos here in the UK. Its a Gateway ML3108b and runs Linux just fine (although the soundcard doesn't seem to work). When you look at the price of fully fledged laptops now, this doesn't seem much of a deal.

Re:Not that good value now

[mrbill1234]

I think the issue here is the size of the Eee, not the features. You won't find something of the Eee's side for that price.

Re:Not that good value now

[the grace of R'hllor]

Bad points:
- It's got a 14.1" screen
- It weighs 2.4kg ("System unit only". Does that mean without battery?)

From what I've found, the Eee PC 701 has a 7" screen and weighs under a kilogram, all inclusive. Normally you pay through the nose for that kind of size.

Re:Not that good value now

[glwtta]

That's twice the price of the Eee thing.

Also, you have an impressively flexible definition of "runs Linux just fine".

In other words...

[kiddygrinder]

It's not a tablet.

Re:In other words...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nor a moon.

Re:In other words...

[FishWithAHammer]

I could see it being a space station, though.

This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[DrXym]

The Asus EEE is the perfect device for using on planes, coffee shops, lecture halls, holidays etc. It has a decent suite of apps, has wifi, can (in theory) run anything Linux has to offer, it's tiny and it's very, very cheap. I imagine you could even use one of this on an airline tray which is impressive in itself.

The price is also important. It sucks if it gets dropped or stolen but not as much as if it happened to a Vaio costing 4x as much. I expect people will be tossing these eee devices into backpacks rather than hauling around enormous laptop cases. If I were Microsoft I would be very scared by the trend these ultracheap laptops will start. Not only do they demonstrate that Windows is not a necessity, they'll act as a wedge for Firefox, OpenOffice, and Linux too.

The same applies to the OLPC assuming they produce a commercial variant. They really should since I predict there is a lot of money to be made if they did.

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[Alioth]

I can use my 12in PowerBook on an airline tray (in steerage). But it did cost 4 times as much :-)

My trouble with airline trays is that I usually have some kid sitting in the seat in front, who insists on not slowly reclining their seat, but slamming it back to the stop at close to relativistic speeds. I've nearly had my display broken by that (trapped between the seat and tray), and nearly had my airline dinner on my lap because of that too. They should put a damper in the seats to limit the speed at which a passenger can recline them.

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[vtcodger]

***My trouble with airline trays is that I usually have some kid sitting in the seat in front, who insists on not slowly reclining their seat, but slamming it back to the stop at close to relativistic speeds.***

They should ship those things (kids) as luggage -- or, at the very least, tie them up and stuff them into the overhead bins. It'd make air travel much less stressful for non-related adults.

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[grumling]

I think it would make a lot of sense for airlines to divide up the plane into family and non-family sections, just like McDonalds. Forget about 1st class seating and service, just get me there without having to hear screaming and having the "cute little munchkin" in front of me play the turn-around-and-stare-at-me-for-2-hours game and I'll pay the 10% premium.

Besides, anyone who can afford first class these days is using NetJets

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[ColdWetDog]

I think it would make a lot of sense for airlines to divide up the plane into family and non-family sections, just like McDonalds. Forget about 1st class seating and service, just get me there without having to hear screaming and having the "cute little munchkin" in front of me play the turn-around-and-stare-at-me-for-2-hours game and I'll pay the 10% premium.

Pay extra so you can sit next to the bozo who tries to get his 17" laptop on his tray (and yours) while simultaneously trying to get his cell phone and ipod working?

Pay extra? Thanks. I think I'll just check into the cargo hold myself. I could fit pretty easily in one of those large dog kennels. Could probably bring my own drink. Hmmm. Could be an idea. Might have to look into that a bit more closely.

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[grumling]

Like this?

http://blaaguuu.home.comcast.net/~blaaguuu/futurama_truman_65.gif

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[Zaiff Urgulbunger]

They should put a damper in the seats to limit the speed at which a passenger can recline them.

or kids in storage. I favor the latter!

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[Zaiff Urgulbunger]

Thinking about your idea, it'd make sense to divide the plane into kids and adult sections. That way, in the kids section, they could have more, smaller seats, and the adults section could have more leg room. I know it wouldn't work in practise 'cos there would always be a bunch of them wailing for their parents... but it could *almost* work! :D

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[JonathanR]

play the turn-around-and-stare-at-me-for-2-hours game and I'll pay the 10% premium. If you're apt to throw money about, I'd suggest you offer the 10% to the parent as an incentive to control their kid...

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[Anonymous Coward]

They should ship those things (kids) as luggage -- or, at the very least, tie them up and stuff them into the overhead bins. It'd make air travel much less stressful for non-related adults.

Actually, I find sitting near children on flights to be VERY relaxing... especially compared to sitting next to a lady downing shots and having to wonder if she'll get her car just as smashed as herself (yes I reported her condition to police upon arrival at destination).

Children are fantastic and can help us see ourselves and the world better. Suggesting they are a burden is (IMHO) a very poor perspective.

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[orcrist]

I'd suggest you offer the 10% to the parent as an incentive to control their kid...

Only someone who has never had anything to do with kids could seriously mean a retarded statement like this. I am including having ever been a kid. What, were you delivered to Earth by aliens as a fully-formed adult?

In any case, as annoying as kids can be on a flight, I have been annoyed just as much and just as often by so-called adults; e.g. try sitting next to one those jerks who seems to think his dick is sooooo big he has to sit with his legs at a 45 angle - grrrrrrr. Or the example above of a kid who leans the seat back too quickly? Talk about confirmation bias: I've NEVER experienced that from a *kid*; mosts kids aren't even heavy enough to be able to do it quickly. No, that particular problem is one I've experienced time and again from *adults*, the same ones who incidentally repeatedly 'forget' to put their seats up for landing and take-off.

Re:This and the OLPC are going start a revolution

[timothy]

Same here -- if at all possible, I like to be seated next to an actual baby (18 months or smaller, say), both because they tend to be hilarious to watch (if parents don't mind) and because they never steal my armrest. And unless I have a truly terrible headache, if they cry I just try to convert it to singing in my head, which works more often than it sounds like it would.

timothy

OLPC is better. This is a tepid deal at best.

[Anonymous Coward]

For the same price you can buy and OLPC and give one away. This used to be a deal
when it was announced back in June that the eee would cost $199, now it's not even
competitive given its undersized screen and keyboard. You could also buy Nokia 800
internet tablet now for about $240

Too bad it has Xandros aboard

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry Asus, I'm not giving a single cent to companies that bend over to Microsoft.
The day you sell the Eee PC without a preloaded distro, or with a different one, is the day I'll start considering this machine.

Call me trollish, but it's the only known way customers can use to discourage Linux businesses to get in bed with Microsoft.

Re:Too bad it has Xandros aboard

[Vinegar Joe]

Asus has also been making notebooks for Apple for many years.

Re:Too bad it has Xandros aboard

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, but my complaint was about the Xandros adoption, not Asus itself. If I buy this laptop it's possible that some money goes indirectly to Microsoft, therefore my choice to not buy it until they remove/change Xandros.

Re:Too bad it has Xandros aboard

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus, you can't fucking please some people.

Re:Too bad it has Xandros aboard

[walter_f]

Asus has also been making notebooks for Apple for many years

Even worse.

Another foe to GNU/GPLed FOSS software.

But as long Asus doesn't pre-install Windows, billing me the usual rate, _and_ as long as I can install my favourite Linux distribution instead of Xandros... ;-)

Re:Too bad it has Xandros aboard

[westlake]

The day you sell the Eee PC without a preloaded distro

The day a retailer tries to sell a laptop without an OEM system install is the day they go bankrupt.

The Geek can play Roulette with distros that may or may not support his hardware out-of-the box. The rest of us can't afford to gamble hundreds of dollars on the chance that we can probably get this thing to work.

The day the hardware manufacturer ignores Microsoft [Q1 revenues up 25%] is the day they go bankrupt.

Re:Too bad it has Xandros aboard

[Anonymous Coward]

The day a retailer tries to sell a laptop without an OEM system install is the day they go bankrupt.

Rubbish.

The day the hardware manufacturer ignores Microsoft [Q1 revenues up 25%] is the day they go bankrupt.

More rubbish.

More like...

The day retailers and hardware manufacturers ditch Microsoft is the day Microsoft begin the road to bankruptcy.

The Geek can play Roulette with distros that may or may not support his hardware out-of-the box. The rest
  of us can't afford to gamble hundreds of dollars on the chance that we can probably get this thing to work.

This is why you check hardware specs and availability of drivers before ordering, see also Windows/OSX upgrades!

Note also that the OP actually said; "without a preloaded distro, or with a different one". This means he'd buy it if it came with any distro that wasn't prepared to sell out to Microsoft. As would I and others who have commented on this story say this is what's preventing them from buying it too.

...but will it run Vista?

[adamofgreyskull]

Seeing as everything from a battleship to your grandparent's electric blanket will run Linux, I think we need a new meme...

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[Per Abrahamsen]

With 512 MiB in the "large" model? Not likely.

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[solevita]

But can it perform cunnilingus on a hardwood floor?

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[the_brobdingnagian]

Yes, but does it run OpenBSD? Seriously, I would like to know if all devices (wireless, graphics...) work under OpenBSD.

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[awrowe]

I'm sure you could do something with this and a willing partner...

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[rvw]

But can it perform cunnilingus on a hardwood floor? If you have the optional 3G-spot card installed, you will have a triple eeegasm.

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[Anonymous Coward]

Rule 34 of the Internet, if it exists, there's porn of it. Haha.

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[Nazlfrag]

You could try furnitureporn.com for some hot hardwood action, but I'm having trouble finding an ASUS model.

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[IHateEverybody]

But can it perform cunnilingus on a hardwood floor?

You'll need a Roomba for that job.

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[Anonymous Coward]

Really? Any baldy midget pr0n out there?

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[Aceticon]

But can it perform cunnilingus on a hardwood floor?

You'll need a Roomba for that job.

So what about if ones reverses the direction of the motor in a Roomba?

Re:...but will it run Vista?

[Anonymous Coward]

Only if it's Tongue and Groove flooring.

TV Output

[adderofaspyre]

Does anyone know if the D-Sub VGA connector could be used for TV output? Watching movies from an USB drive on the TV with this small thing would be nice.

Re:TV Output

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would you ask something like this? Why would you ask in this way? VGA D-sub is meant for VGA D-sub. What are you _really_ asking?

Re:TV Output

[Anonymous Coward]

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/

Re:TV Output

[Anonymous Coward]

Fine. But there's no fucking way that it would be able to decode an HD H.264-encoded video punctually. For example, I've currently got an Athlon 1700+, and it can barely decode a video fitting the above description. There's just enough time to put it on the screen, but not at a high resolution. It's able to fire 640x480 pixels about 30 times per second to the screen while doing that. A quarter of the real resolution. In other words: not worth it. Granted, I've got a sucky video card.

Re:TV Output

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're using Mplayer, something is wrong with your system.

I can play 1080i on a PIII Slot 1 400Mhz Katmai CPU equipped PC with a whole 128megs of RAM. Plays just fine with Mplayer output to the TV is great. Perhaps you're a Windoze luser. That might explain it.

Re:TV Output

[NMikkila]

You are playing low-bitrate MPEG-2. GP talked about H.264, which is much harder to decode. With libavcodec (that MPlayer uses), playing 4 Mbps H.264-encoded 1080i25 requires at least a 3 Ghz Pentium 4 or Athlon XP 3000+. CoreAVC is faster and threaded better, so playback on Windows systems can be at least as good as MPlayer on Linux, even with the small DirectShow overhead present on Windows.

Re:TV Output

[NMikkila]

Nowadays (flat-screen) televisions commonly have direct VGA input, but if you don't have that, there are commercial scan converter boxes and DIY adapter schematics available (building one is easier if your TV has RGB Scart input).

Re:TV Output

[ajs318]

It depends entirely on whether or not you can program the graphics chip -- which I haven't seen -- to sync as low as 15kHz and display 625 lines interlaced. You also need to generate a composite sync signal, which may require some additional hardware. Some graphics cards already put out a composite sync on the line sync pin: look at it with an oscilloscope, or feed it into an audio amplifier and listen for a low pitched sound like power hum. Alternatively, if you can get both the line and field syncs negative-going, all you need do is join them together.

On the TV end, your composite sync (however you managed to generate it) goes into pin 20; pin 17 is sync return. Pin 15 is red signal, 13 is red return, 11 is green signal, 9 is green return, 7 is blue signal and 5 is blue return. Pin 6 is LH audio, 2 is RH audio and 4 is audio return. You will also need to pull pins 8 and 16 "high" in order to make the TV display from the RGB input. If the picture looks oversaturated, then you will need to add a resistance in series with each of the colour signals: a TV is expecting a peak of 1V into 75 ohms, a monitor is expecting 5V peak into an open circuit. 300 ohms would do the business, which you can make with 150 + 150 in series.

Once you have the hardware sorted, you then need to run xvidtune. Remember that LCD monitors are not as likely as cheap chinese CRT monitors to be damaged by dodgy settings, and TVs are next to bombproof (the sync inputs are tightly filtred; a TV set has to be able to handle static when not tuned to any station). If you can get one of those spiffy LCD digital TV sets with a VGA input, even just for trying it out, so much the better.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[this great guy]

Oops, you are right. (I read a misleading article claiming it was fanless a few month ago.)

Costs as little as £169

[Anonymous Coward]

"Costs as little as £169"

[http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=eee+701+asus&um=1&ie=UTF-8 not really]

Yay!

[Anonymous Coward]

Understatement: This is among the most exciting new things in a long time.
(i.e. 'I am so happy', etc.)

Re:Yay!

[coastwalker]

I'm impressed. I have been living with a JVC mininote laptop for the last two years. It cost £700 and runs XP, has a 7" screen, WiFi and goes everywhere with me. Plugs into a usb dock fed by 3 hard drives, 20" monitor and keyboard & mouse at home. I think every man and his dog will be buying one of these - if it edits video then it will go in the hand luggage along with the digital camera on holiday.

I am suprised that it took so long for this form factor to come in at a low price. Portable computing power just rocks. Add a 2.5" portable hard drive and you can take your entire (300Gb?) media collection with you too.

Alto I'm going to buy one of these because it has a linux distro on it and I'm not ever going to buy a Vista machine, so I'm going to change the market by voting with my wallet.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[kripkenstein]

And the Gutsy Gibbon seems to run great on them too! http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006278o-2000331777b,00.htm Well no, not according to that article:

There are some problems to fix. The wi-fi adaptor isn't working (it's an Atheros I haven't encountered before), there have been a couple of odd battery messages, and selecting power down from the desktop doesn't actually turn the PC off. No wifi would be a showstopper for me personally. But anyhow, it does seem like this might be workable. Perhaps somebody will throw together an Eeebuntu? :)

Hm..

[Hsien-Ko]

no one mentioned the video hardware, or i'm too tired to find where at least. Hope it does OpenGL :/

Re:Hm..

[Aladrin]

You are correct, nobody talks about it. All of the technical specs only say 'Intel chipset' and don't actually say that includes the video, but it does. Downloading the Chinese WinXP driver and extracting it shows it's either:

Intel GMA and part of the G965 series.
Mobile Intel(R) 910GML Express Chipset

I'm betting on the latter, and the rest is just stuff they forgot to remove when they were hastily throwing together the XP driver.

Re:Hm..

[Constantine XVI]

It's an Intel GMA 950. Not much, but it does do OpenGL, and can even do Compiz if you want to on this thing.

Just one little drawback ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Given the smallish keyboard real estate, it would have been nice to put an IBM trackpoint instead of the bulky 'laptop scanpad' ... I even find them easier to use on the long run ...
But, who am I to complain while it's preloaded with Linux ... and at such a low price tag ...

Travel computer

[Error27]

I'm thinking about buying the Nokia n810 for something to dork around with while bike touring. The advantage to the Eee is the large keyboard and possibly lower cost. It looks slightly sturdier too. The advantage with the Nokia is the built in GPS and longer battery life.

I'm conflicted.

Btw. It would be cool if someone sold a battery powered external usb DVD drive. Like say if I bought a DVD on the road but I didn't want to run my main battery down.

Re:Travel computer

[Skuldo]

I just typed that into Google and bingo:
http://www.google.com/search?q=battery+powered+usb+dvd+drive

Re:Travel computer

[Ceres54]

I also was conflicted when I first saw the eee pc line, but less so now. I have seen 1 review that said the shell was thin and the reviewer didn't think it would stand up to books in a back pack. The second along these lines showed one with a cracked screen after, reportedly, normal treatment. I think I will go for the Nokia 810. I have a 770 that I have been very happy with. It has terminal and ssh, browser and pdf reader, and a fantastic developer community. The only thing that worries me is that the 810 has no screen cover. My 770 has a metal shield that slides over the screen. I really can just toss it in a back pack. Other than that, if the 810 is made of the same stuff as the 770, it will be very sturdy.

Re:Travel computer

[darjen]

Yeah, I got an N800 a couple of months ago after reading quite a bit of reviews and wondering whether I should wait for the eee. But the bottom line for me was that I already had a laptop, and I wanted something just like the N800 that I wouldn't have to lug around. And that I can use it as a wifi skype phone pretty much sold me on it. It was very useful on my recent trip to NYC. I could literally throw it in my jacket pocket and take it around with me to the museums and such. Try doing that with any laptop... even the eee.

Not through the nose

[DingerX]

Asus, for example, makes an UMPC with the same processor, 7" 800x480 screen, and a 60GB drive, plus all kinds of bonuses for twice the price of an Eee.

I debated waiting for the Eee, but watching the prices climb and the features drop, I ended up getting a Nokia 800 (4.1" 800x480 screen), which you can equip with memory and a keyboard for the price of an Eee. Even smaller size and weight, slower processor, but an "always on/rarely plugged in" philosophy that is better for certain tasks.

So it's not that "you pay through the nose", but that, in the race for power and portability, the measuring stick has been Windows. Once you junk it in all its forms (Vista, Tablet Edition, CE), you can put together a slim OS that does exactly what you need the hardware to do, and does it with a lot less overhead.

So normally you'd pay through the nose for a super PC shoehorned into a tiny box. Here, we have an underpowered PC in a tiny box. And it is enough to start the revolution.

Re:Not through the nose

[aurispector]

"And it is enough to start the revolution"

The unique thing is these three things in one package: price, size and linux. My luggable-not-portable inspiron 1200 filled the "cheap" niche but loses on size and was only available with xp.

This thing just might be wildly popular if it turns out to be as great as it looks. If it is, the overall price of pc's and laptops in particular ought to be dragged down. Linux gets a free boost since non-linux users attracted to the package will give it a try and undoubtedly like it. The ultraportability makes it obvious that you CAN'T expect it to run heavy duty apps - it's a web surfing/email box.

Out of the box, it will do what it was obviously designed to do and please almost everyone. I sincerely doubt many current non-linux users will really care about the lack of Windows once they see how well it works.

I also hope is ships soon as it's really annoying to have to keep emptying this drool bucket.

pointer

[Anonymous Coward]

Touchpad? No pointing stick? Reject :-(

Speech recognition

[ladoga]

What speech recognition software does Eee PC 701 use?

I'm asking as I couldn't find it mentioned anywhere. It seems and sounds like something that would be fun to launch apps with on my Thinkpad X41.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aK3PVacIXc

You mean ...

[MPAB]

The EeCC1701 runs on Linux?

go figure ...

Re:Microsoft patent tax

[Anonymous Coward]

That's right, I'm a troll for wanting an Eee PC but not wanting to encourage greedy linux distributors to sell us all out to Microsoft.

No way on Earth will I ever pay for a distro that pays* protection money to Microsoft.

* Although currently Microsoft pay-off the distributor so they get to claim everyone has some financial obligation to Microsoft if they use linux. How else can they build a successful extortion racket based on unsubstantiated and nonspecific threats?

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[ydrol]

See first comment in TFA :)

RE:["the Eee PC is definitely worth buying"]

[FudRucker]

except it comes preloaded with xandros, and i wont buy the Asus Eee because Xandros signed a deal with Microsoft...

i refuse to support any Linux Distributer that signs deals with the enemy of GNU/GPLed FOSS software, the friend of my enemy is my enemy too...

Installing Linux on a Dead Badger

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20040405/badger.shtml

Re:Installing Linux on a Dead Badger

[foobsr]

... more easily on a female geek's beaver -- http://freshpics.blogspot.com/2007/04/beaver-pc-modding.html

CC.

Re:Installing Linux on a Dead Badger

[Anonymous Coward]

snake snake snake!!!

Alphasmart makes me sick.

[Fantastic Lad]

The two things which have kept me away from Alphasmart have been. . .

1. The small LCD screen. --I find it very hard to write on something where I cannot see the whole paragraph I'm working on. And. . .

2. Their outrageous prices. $600 for a keyboard and a very small LCD screen? What's that? Like $10 in parts? --It was obviously a greed-inspired ploy to sell lots of units to schools on government contracts. This seemed criminal enough that I swore I'd never buy one of their products until their pricing dropped to non-criminal levels. The funny thing is that they panicked with these new small notebooks coming out, like the OLPC, and dropped their prices so that they're only making a 2000% profit, but even in so doing, they are not a company with even a shred of actual altruism.

The only two things Alphasmart has going for it are battery life and a big keyboard. But their business practice still makes me want to drop them like a warm bag of shit, and I sincerely hope their business goes belly up. Also, I picked up a used HP Jonada810 for my portable word processing, and it does a great job. The 4 hour battery life on that thing suits me just fine, since I'm rarely away from a power outlet for that long.

So, depending on the keyboard qualities, I'll either be picking up one of ASUS' machines or an OLPC. --And I don't think I'd mind taking a small tech disadvantage (if there is one), so that I can make sure that when I buy a machine, a kid somewhere can benefit from a free laptop. Connecting the world is a great idea!

-FL

Re:Alphasmart makes me sick.

[faedle]

To defend AlphaSmart:

Part of the reason why the machine had an "outrageous" price is mostly because it's a specialty device manufactured in small quantities, and AlphaSmart provides a whole lot of support to their purchasers. They never intended to market the device to end users: it was designed, marketed, and sold primarily to the educational channel. A lot of the larger educational customers weren't paying full list for the product, but even so, it's been priced at under $500 for quite some time.

The Neo is currently $219, which seems totally in line with a mature product based on a low-end 16-bit CPU (IIRC, the Neo is a 68000-derived chip) and Flash memory. While the parts might be $10.. I don't know if you've ever done small-run production before, but it would not surprise me if it cost them (today) $50 per unit to build at a typical job shop. That margin is totally in-line with a lot of other specialized electronics.. you think the $3000 plasma sets at Circuit City cost more than $600 to make? They don't.

Additionally, AlphaSmart used to be very "friendly" with repairs and returns. A lot of the cost of the device included after-sales support. I worked in their repair shop (at least a number of years back, they did ALL of their repairs here in the US), and you'd be surprised what kids can do to these things in an educational environment. Often times, we'd be rebuilding machines for free, or for parts-cost if it was a broken display. We also refurbed the units for schools on a regular basis (send us your entire stock, and we'll clean them up, put the latest software, etc.) dirt cheap.

Lastly, to AlphaSmart's credit, the machine isn't a sloppily assembled Chinese piece of crap toy. It is sturdily built, well thought out, and well supported by the company...

Re:Alphasmart makes me sick.

[downix]

> low-end 16-bit CPU (IIRC, the Neo is a 68000-derived chip)

While yes it is a 68000 drived chip, the 680x0 series is 32-bit, not 16-bit, altho some models have a 16-bit external bus. All internal functions remain 32-bit.

Eclipse

[Bloater]

But can I run eclipse on it? and fit the gcc/g++ toolchain and all the intermediate build files for my projects on its flash storage?

Re:Eclipse

[realdodgeman]

On the 4GB version the OS itself uses 33% of the storage space, so fitting eclipse wouldn't be to hard.

Re:Eclipse

[VVelox]

most likely not well... Eclipse is memory hungry and none of the flash is probally devoted to swap... you may not be able to at all if you have the 256M version

Re:Eclipse

[glwtta]

Yeah, and AutoCAD - anyone know how well it will run AutoCAD? And what about POV-Ray, that's gotta run pretty well, right?

Re:Eclipse

[netdur]

yep, on my computer, Ubuntu + Aptana takes 3.5 GB

Re:Eclipse

[Bloater]

POV-Ray should run fine. I used to run it on a DX4-100 with 4MB ram and only about 100MB spare disk.

Re:Eclipse

[znark]

But can I run eclipse on it? and fit the gcc/g++ toolchain and all the intermediate build files for my projects on its flash storage?

Why run those kind of things directly on that kind of tiny machine? The Eee is about ultra-lightweight portability. Run the heavy apps on your desktop PC, and use the Eee as a graphical terminal - harnessing the processor power and storage capacity of a much more capable machine with VNC or rdesktop, or whatever. Then you can even be running things like AutoCAD or large cross-compile toolchains seemingly "on" your Eee.

Re:Eclipse

[Bloater]

The problem with running the heavy apps on my desktop PC is that it'll break those flimsy tables you get in train carriages, and it'll be awkward to carry to the park - especially with the monitor, keyboard, and mouse too.

connectivity to my home PC will be expensive and the bluetooth->GPRS latency might well be too high even for nomachine nx.

Re:Eclipse

[nonos]

Yes, but your PC was connected to a wall socket...

Re:Eclipse

[petermgreen]

A fine idea if you only work in areas where you can get reliable high bandwidth low latency connection back to your desktop PC.

2 steps forward, one jump back.

[Anonymous Coward]

For years we couldn't get reasonably priced, current-spec laptops without paying the windows tax. Thankfully that's largely changed and now this nifty, desirable, linux installed sub-notebook comes along -- complete with a more sinister variant of the Microsoft tax we waited years to be rid off.

I'd order one of these things today but I'm lending no credence to the idea that linux distros contain anything that requires users pay a tax to Microsoft. Those of us who know about the Microsoft deals would be how many levels of stupid to fall into the trap? Hopefully Asus can offer an alternate vendor or OS-free special orders for the second generation memron based machines.

Re:2 steps forward, one jump back.

[aurispector]

I wonder how much the xandros distro adds to the cost? So long as there isn't any weird hardware any distro ought to be ok with a bit of tweaking.

You can't really blame Asus for picking a commercial distro. All Asus has to do is hand them a unit and some money and say "make it work". I don't know what kind of deal they have, but if end users get OS support through Xandros, then it makes even more sense for Asus do go that way since they are expecting non-linux savvy consumers to buy the unit.

Could be that once this thing starts rolling they'll offer a slightly cheaper naked version.

I want one.

[babbling]

I'm in Australia. Does anyone know how I can get one within the next few weeks?

Re:I want one.

[Fred_A]

I'm in Australia. Does anyone know how I can get one within the next few weeks? I'm sure there is some sort of international delivery service in place to Australia via FedEx or whatever similar global corporation.
Just buy it wherever it's currently being sold and have it shipped.
(Asus typically has worldwide warranty, your keyboard might have amusing characters on it depending on country of purchase, you may have to pay customs tax)

Build quality

[SpooForBrains]

Apart from the fact that I wouldn't touch a gateway with a barge pole. Yeah, you can pick up a reasonably specced laptop for hardly any money these days from some manufacturers - I still wouldn't spend MY money on one. Asus, on the other hand, are a brand I DO trust.

Re:Build quality

[himurabattousai]

ASUS is the only laptop company to actually build their own machines--they are, after all--one of the world's largest motherboard manufacturers. Dell, Gateway, Apple, etc. can't make that claim. Also, ASUS started a really great two-year warranty program where the first year is, for all purposes, no-fault replacement. Add in their build quality, and you have three very good reasons to trust and buy ASUS.

Given the size of the Eee, I'd hope it's covered under that new warranty program. I think there will be a lot of people buying this who aren't accustomed to owning such a small machine and that there will be a lot of accidental breakage the first time around. I like the idea of these ultra-small laptops and other similar devices, but I stay away from the specifically because I'd probably break them precisely because their size makes them easy to toss in a bag or car, and then forget about and sit on or something like that. Having a one-year no-fault replacement warranty would be a huge draw for any laptop computer--and even more so for one this size.

And, no, I don't think they'll void your warranty if you install XP.

Re:Build quality

[Anonymous Coward]

> ASUS is the only laptop company to actually build their own machines ... Dell, Gateway, Apple, etc. can't make that claim.

You think they're built by Joe's Garage Laptops? Quanta isn't exactly inexperienced at this sort of thing, you know.

Re:Build quality

[himurabattousai]

True, true. However, Quanta != Dell. ASUS laptops have ASUS motherboards. Dell makes no motherboards, therefore, Dell laptops cannot have Dell motherboards.

Deal done.

[blind biker]

I'm buying this. I'd be crazy not to: small form factor - check, runs linux (HW completely supported) - check, totally affordable price - check, I needed a laptop anyway - check ("how did you survive so long without one?"), looks cute (chicks will dig it) - check. Latter is important in classroom environs.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[zombie_monkey]

I have the same Atheros in my Toshiba laptop. It works fine with (the last few versions on) ndiswrapper and the net5211 driver for XP.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[Anonymous Coward]

At 219 GBP (~450 USD) it is hardly cheap. And only 4GB HDD? What are we in 1998?

Ordered one last week

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been wanting a laptop of sorts for a couple of years now but they're just to big, recently started looking into UMPCs because they mostly have the same functionality of a laptop but are significantly smaller, when I saw this one I ordered it pretty quickly and I'm glad I did because I fear it's going to be slashdotted, as in if you haven't pre-ordered one you're going to have trouble getting one before christmas.

So far the nicest looking (features & looks) UMPC I've seen online is the Fujitsu LifeBook U810 UMPC, but it isn't yet widely available and with a price tag of $600 that'll translate into £400 easily (damn rip-off UK)

Did anyone else see that the CNet reviewer nuked the OS on the Eee he was reviewing? ZDNet found out when they used it after him and installed Ubuntu http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10006278o-2000331777b,00.htm

Amish anyone?

[tepples]

i wont buy the Asus Eee because Xandros signed a deal with Microsoft...

i refuse to support any Linux Distributer that signs deals with the enemy of GNU/GPLed FOSS software, the friend of my enemy is my enemy too... If you're serious about trying that hard to avoid paying Microsoft, good luck in your new Amish life ;-)

Re:Amish anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're serious about trying that hard to avoid paying Microsoft, good luck in your new Amish life ;-)

How does it follow that opposing the behavior of one company makes someone a tech refusenik? The ABM crowd are no more the Amish than Microsoft are the Nazis. Grow up!

Re:Amish anyone?

[tepples]

How does it follow that opposing the behavior of one company makes someone a tech refusenik? Because this one company has its finger in just about every tech pie on the planet.

Re:Amish anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then you should have no problem listing the Microsoft patented "inventions" we should all be paying royalties on? Feel free to list any stuff that isn't available as part of royalty free standard (CSS, Joliet etc).

I need more information...

[B5_geek]

I will buy this on one condition.

Does anybody know if it has a glossy screen or a matte finish?

Re:I need more information...

[hack slash]

From all the pictures I've seen of it (and I've been spending far too much time looking at them cos I'm waiting for my real one to arrive in a couple of weeks), it has a matte finish to the screen - for example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eeeuser/1769360555/in/set-72157602733827163/

Re:Dear CNET's Rory Reed, go fuck yourself.

[Goaway]

What's the matter, is your beard itchy this morning?

Linux users still whining

[Anonymous Coward]

You've all been whinging that no normal users are remotely interested in having a Linux desktop. Then, the biggest thing EVER to happen to Linux desktop (ultracheap laptops with Linux installed as standard) come along and what do you do?
Perhaps you write an eloquent paragrah on how Linux desktop is finally ready for the mainstream? No. You cry like babies because the reviewer made a joke.

For all the propaganda, Linux users are more concerned about their egos being hurt than they are about the Linux revolution. For shame.

Battery life?

[adnonsense]

The review says:

Battery life was quite impressive. Asus claims it will last approximately 3.5 hours depending on what tasks you're performing, and this was in line with our own experience. With very light use, the machine lasted as long as four hours, though your own mileage may vary.

Not bad, but my 2005 iBook (G4, ca. 2kg) is rated at "up to 6 hours", and in real use I still get at least 4.5 hours out of it (provided I'm not playing DVDs or running the screen at max brightness or compiling Emacs). I'm considering getting a new laptop soon, and battery life is important to me, so I wandered through a computer store checking the PC laptops, and was surprised to see that hardly any had battery lives which even touch on those of Macs (typically 2 - 3 hours vs about 6). Even those in the same price / weight class as the Macs.

This isn't a "My Mac is better than your PC" thing pissing contest (all I need is a UNIXy OS which plays well with the laptop hardware and power saving stuff), but is there any reason why "PC" laptops generally pack that much less juice?

Re:Battery life?

[adnonsense]

Addendum: having said the Eee PC 701's battery life (given its weight, size and price) is not at all bad - the question is will it support a UNIXy OS without too much hassle, and looking at the ZDNet review mentioned elsewhere, it looks like the usual story: looks like more trouble than it's worth (for me at least).

Re:Battery life?

[adnonsense]

And doh to me, who evidently can't read: it comes pre-loaded with Linux...

Re:Battery life?

[ncryptd]

A couple reasons:

• the G4 is a fairly efficient chip (some users never knew the iBook had fans)
• Up until recently, Apple was one of the few manufacturers to use high capacity LiPo batteries.
• OS X is very, very aggressive in its power management. It shuts off as much hardware as soon as it can.
• Apple markets to students, etc. where battery life is a concern. If you look at laptops marketed to travelling groups (Thinkpads, for example), you'll probably find better numbers.

I have noticed that battery life has gotten better on the PC side, especially after they ditched the P4.

CNet is just embarassing

[ealar dlanvuli]

"The Eee PC is theoretically fast enough to run Windows XP, which is great news for those of us without beards."

This is not the quote of a professional review. This is what I would expect to read in a slashdot post written by a astroturfer or a troll. CNet has become increasingly worse, but now I think it may have jumped the shark into tabloid land. I can't believe any competent editor allowed this drivel through, and even worse a professional writer thought it was acceptable if it wasn't put there by one of the editors.

I think it might be time for /. to stop linking to CNet. At least, ones with Rory Reid, Jason Jenkins, and Shannon Doubleday involved in any way.

Sean

Re:CNet is just embarassing

[Anonymous Coward]

"The Eee PC is theoretically fast enough to run Windows XP, which is great news for those of us without beards."

This is not the quote of a professional review. This is what I would expect to read in a slashdot post written by a astroturfer or a troll.

I don't get it.

Re:CNet is just embarassing

[Anonymous Coward]

Cry me a fucking river. Dude, if you are so easily upset, perhaps it's best that you never leave your parent's basement.

Deal with it, live with it. Your whining is even more annoying than any troll.

Re:CNet is just embarassing

[IntergalacticWalrus]

Do us a favor and get yourself a sense of humor, pal.

Re:CNet is just embarassing

[hey!]

"The Eee PC is theoretically fast enough to run Windows XP, which is great news for those of us without beards."

Which means ... women can't use Linux. Men of east asian descent like me could use linux, but we don't because people would laugh at the kind of linux use we could manage.

Re:CNet is just embarassing

[Spacezilla]

Jeez, it's a joke, lighten up! If you're going to go through your entire life being insulted that easily, you're in for a rough ride and you're going to be missing out on a lot of fun!

Re:CNet is just embarassing

[Anonymous Coward]

Do us a favor and get yourself a sense of humor, pal.

Or a beard. There's probably a HOWTO somewhere.

Re:CNet is just embarassing

[Tetsujin]

Jeez, it's a joke, lighten up! If you're going to go through your entire life being insulted that easily, you're in for a rough ride and you're going to be missing out on a lot of fun! It might be a different story if it were a funny joke... :) Much easier to overlook a dickweed comment like that if it's actually funny.

It's TurboLinux - Just signed with MS

[Anonymous Coward]

It runs TurboLinux, the company that just signed a patent peace agreement
with Microsoft. No thanks. Not even free. I know I can put whatever I
want on it, but Microsoft and TurboLinux will quote sales figures to "prove"
that the patent peace leads to great financial rewards, and I don't choose
to help them.

Not the battery, but the usage

[The Monster]

is there any reason why "PC" laptops generally pack that much less juice?

It's not that they "pack" less juice, it's that they suck it up faster. Windows tends to do a lot of busy work, while Linux more frequently runs out of things to do, at which point it idles the processor until the next interrupt triggers, saving power consumption.

If I'm using my laptop under Windows, I don't get as much time on battery as I do under Linux.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[philpalm]

So will it warm up your lap faster than a lapdancer?

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[Anonymous Coward]

The one thing that bothers me is that Asus claimed this would be released for 200$ USD, so why is it now 200£ GBP?

Humour impaired much?

[Anonymous Coward]

All sorts of professionals use humour in their work, even those working in far more serious, far more dangerous lines of work (eg. doctors who dress in funny clothes when working with children, pilots who tell jokes over the intercom to put passengers at ease). If you are so humour impaired as to not understand that there is room for a bit of humour in nearly all lines of work, please try to stop being such an emotionless robot and join the rest of us out here in the real world.

Good for road warriors

[nurb432]

Something small and light like this and that is cheap for when you destroy it is a good thing.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[blitziod]

right now at walmart i can buy an acer with 80g hd, dvd combo drive, 14" monitor and windows for less than 500 bucks. It will also have 512 ram and a modern( likely single core amd 64) cpu. I am in the market for a cheap laptop( not desktop replacement) that plays DVD's, surfs web and does email. I will likely run ubuntu on it. I would love ubuntu pre installed, but for the money these guys want this PC is a no go for me.

Re:Dear CNET's Rory Reed, go fuck yourself.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Hey Rory Reed, your comment is perfectly shitty and out of place."

No kidding. Especially since my 6-year old daughter uses Linux. She clicks on the icons and buttons just like she would do in any other operating system. And she isn't a gray-beard.

Expandability

[youthoftoday]

It looks like you can't get at the command line from the built-in shell. Will this be at all useable without a reinstall?

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[Zarel]

And the Gutsy Gibbon seems to run great on them too! [link] I would not define "running at VGA" to be "great". 640x480 is too small to fit Ubuntu's dialogs - quoting your link: "some of the dialogue boxes have their selection buttons off the bottom of the screen".

Your link also seems to suggest that 640x480 is the Eee PC's native resolution, while the rest of the Internet knows that its native resolution is 800x480. Since most web sites require a screen width of at least 800, this is a showstopper.

Windows and Office site licenses

[tepples]

FudRucker wrote:

i refuse to support any Linux Distributer that signs deals with the enemy of GNU/GPLed FOSS software I stated that only by abandoning PCs entirely can one avoid buying PC products that involve no money going to Microsoft. Anonymous Coward wrote:

Then you should have no problem listing the Microsoft patented "inventions" we should all be paying royalties on? It's not Microsoft's patents but Microsoft's copyrights. Most companies that manufacture or distribute technology products have a site license for Windows and possibly Office, and some of what you pay for products goes toward paying for those site licenses. Unlike a EULA for a retail product, a site license is obviously a contract or "deal". This way, most tech companies have signed some sort of "deal[] with the enemy".

Re:Windows and Office site licenses

[Anonymous Coward]

Most companies that manufacture or distribute technology products have a site license for Windows and possibly Office, and some of what you pay for products goes toward paying for those site licenses.

In the case of hardware, how far down the supply chain can you go before you hit a windows shop? It's not practical to demand all suppliers run certain software and nobody is asking for it. The objection is to paying Microsoft a fee for this undisclosed "stuff" supposedly in linux distros. "Stuff" which Microsoft refuse to identify.

EEEPC vs Ipaq

[Supercooldude]

What advantage would this have over a high-end Ipaq or Blackberry, which also have wifi and can run Firefox and surf the web like a normal PC, but are small enough to fit in your pocket?

Re:EEEPC vs Ipaq

[SpooForBrains]

In the case of the Blackberry, you mean apart from not being shit?

Re:EEEPC vs Ipaq

[White Flame]

A real (enough) keyboard, x86 binary compatibility, being able to sit down with it for extended periods of use.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but that's not free (as in beer) and therefore it's totally teh Gheyz0r.

Sincerely,
    RMS.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel the same way. Hell, you could get a full Compaq laptop for only slightly more.

Unless Asus cuts the cost at least in half, I won't even consider the Eee.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[Almahtar]

Dude my dad's HP laptop BSODS (with WinXP Pro, I kid you not) on shutdown. He bought it last year. If this thing doesn't "actually turn the PC off" I'd say that's not such a difference with current "desktop ready" OS's. At least it doesn't crash requiring a disk scan on reboot. Yes, this is a known problem for his model. No, it doesn't happen in Ubuntu.

Building my own?

[Town Czar]

My old Thinkpad X-series is on its way out, but I'm going to get a new laptop before I go off to college next year. I love the idea of the Eee PC but I don' think I would spend another $250-400 buying an Eee PC if I'm just going to buy a new laptop next summer. How hard would it be to build my own?

I'm thinking one of these:
http://www.memory4less.com/m4l_itemdetail.asp?rid=fd_01&itemid=27208117

Combined with Xubuntu or some similar lightweight operating system in my current Thinkpad X24, and I would have a relatively quick machine that uses little power and weighs less than 3lb (actually, it already weighs something like 2.8lb). In other words, the advantages of an Eee PC without the full investment.

I'm willing to tolerate only 4gb of storage space. My only concern is if it'll work: I've heard things about the volatility of flash storage and how if power goes out, the data is all lost. Given that it's a laptop (and one that's been having battery issues recently), I wouldn't want to risk that, assuming it's true.

Any suggestions? I'd really like to give this a shot if it were possible. It would be a simple project with useful results.

The Network is the Stereo

[meehawl]

Add a 2.5" portable hard drive and you can take your entire (300Gb?) media collection with you too.

Who carries disks around anymore? Add a 3G phone with unlimited dataplan and tethering and you can stream/copy your entire media collection to your PC on demand.

Re:The Network is the Stereo

[fractoid]

Add a 3G phone with unlimited dataplan... Where do you get one of these magical 'unlimited dataplan' thingies from? How much for? I (in Australia) have to pay $0.50/MB for my net access! Not that I ever go over my 10mb, it's just used for email, but still...

Re:The Network is the Stereo

[petermgreen]

right, that assumes that

1: you can afford to pay for an unlimited data plan in every country you spend significant time in.
2: you only travel to countries where unlimited data plans are availible.
3: all the areas you travel to have good cell coverage.

If they do, you usually can't.

[SanityInAnarchy]

jffs2 runs on a raw flash device. It won't work on a normal block device, or hard disk, etc. There's an emulation layer that could make it work, but there'd be no point.

Just guessing here, but I think you'd want jffs2 if the flash supports being read as flash by Linux, and some other filesystem (ext3 or something else, but that's another flamewar) if it appears as a disk.

Don't bring the disc.

[SanityInAnarchy]

I used to have a machine very similar in use to this thing, though it cost quite a bit more. It had a 15 gig hard drive (actual, spinning, iPod-like drive) and a 1 ghz processor.

First, that's probably not enough to play movies. Maybe it was the video card, too, but while it was fine for fansubs (anime), it sucked for actual DVDs.

But second, I'd recommend taking stuff on the hard drive, anyway. Load some 5 gigs worth of pre-encoded stuff (and let a desktop do the encoding), or get some more memory and rip the whole DVD.

The last thing you want to spend battery life on -- any battery -- is spinning a huge plastic disc.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[Anonymous Coward]

If it is a manufacturing problem, why didn't he have HP replace it?

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[fractoid]

Your post confirms this quote from the article:

The Eee PC is theoretically fast enough to run Windows XP, which is great news for those of us without beards.

No Wizards in Oz

[meehawl]

How much for? I (in Australia)

Ah, Australia, you have my deepest sympathies.

In the US, I got my plan through Sprint, which has abysmal service but is by far the underdog when it comes to subscriber numbers so seems to be trying very hard. For US $30/month, you get 500 daytime minutes, unlimited nights+weekends, unlimited texts, and unlimited Evdo internet, which works out at anywhere from 600 Kbps to 2 Mbps/s download and around half that upload. I've regularly used the phone to download several multi-GB torrents *while* also streaming a movie. Works pretty well.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[harrkev]

Well, the one thing that you WON'T get with other laptops in this price class is small size.

The Eee is targeted at people who want a laptop that will dissapear inside a purse or small pocket of a backpack.

Yes, you can get a LOT more power for the same money, but you will have to lug it around.

In other words...

[ifwm]

You have a beard and run Linux, so you hate that they're right about you.

"This is not the quote of a professional review."

Hmm, it was a review, by a profesional, so what exactly made you think it was disqualifued since it meets all the criteria.

What I think you meant to say was

"WAHHHHHHHHHHH I'm an uptight beard wearing virgin who runs Linux, stop making fun of me WAHHHHHHHHH"

How do you get those prices ?

[curri]

I just went to sprint's site, they offer 450 mins for $39.99, and their data rates are $39.99 for 40MB or $59.99 for unlimited. I'm near Atlanta, GA, so maybe it's just geography :(

Windows Officially Supported

[danFL-NERaves]

According to Asus the Eee PC will have models with Windows as the preinstalled OS. Guess that means it will run some version of Windows but the press release has very little in the way of details. Bet the price difference will be stark given the probable additional hardware requirements and Microsoft licensing fees.

Re:Smalll inexpensive linux thin client - fantasti

[orclevegam]

And only 4GB HDD? What are we in 1998?

As several people have mentioned, it's a solid state HD. As in flash. A 4GB flash drive is pretty good when going for what amounts to a souped up web browser. If you need more space than that and can't use some sort of external device you're probably trying to do something with the Eee that you're better off doing with a beefier system anyway.

I also think the quoted price might be a bit off. Originally these were supposed to be going for ~$200, but ASUS later said that was an initial estimate and that they'd be a bit more expensive, but I'm pretty sure it's still less than $400. According to the wikipedia entry at least it's supposed to be between $299 and $399.

Sero

[meehawl]

Sero dude, Sero. It's US-wide. Also, Sero brought my $550 smartphone down to $125 after special pricing and rebates, so it's pretty sweet. With unlimited data you can run Skype and Microsoft's video VOIP ("Portrait") so it works out pretty well.