Asus To Phase Out Sub-10" Eee PCs

jeevesbond writes "The Register reports that Asus president Jerry Shen has revealed his company will be phasing out all sub-10" Eee PCs. According to Shen, the 'standard' netbook next year will be a 10" model with a hard drive running XP. Shen also said XP is outselling GNU/Linux on netbooks by a ratio of 7:3. This is somewhat contrary to news from the UK earlier in the year that GNU/Linux units were out of stock while XP machines sat unsold. Are Brits more open-minded than the rest of the world when it comes to choosing an OS?"

Comments

Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[pembo13]

So I'll be going with the netbook with the most features when I am purchasing.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[pembo13]

Thus is the power of Microsoft... the invisible power over the minds of its users.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[westlake]

Why would you get rid of the smallest model and the most efficient OS? This smells of a backdoor M$ deal.

.

It could never be because the screen is too small, the keyboard is too small, and the Linux OS is unfamiliar and unwanted.

I installed the linux client for her. Point is, her first impulse was to return it rather than attempt the learning curve.

Of course it was.

Most of us don't have an all-knowing geek to call on for free, on-site, support. The Google search that returns 15,000 hits is of little help to the novice.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[Jorophose]

Xubuntu is a joke of a lightweight distro. It's Ubuntu with Xfce and Gnome. (yes, effectively both)

What you needed is something like a Debian install designed for it (think LXDE) or something like Ubuntu-lite. I think PCLinuxOS has an LXDE-based edition.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[jlarocco]

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you can't get Linux to run on a legacy PC, it's almost certainly a lack of effort on your part.

People seem to get confused by the fact that it's technically possible (and IMO relatively easy) to strip down Linux and make it run on old crap hardware. They seem to get the idea that Linux distros are aiming for that old crap hardware, so Linux will run on them out of the box. That's not true, and with few exceptions all of the popular distros are aiming for the relatively new PC market. So yes, you CAN strip them down to run on a given machine, but it's not likely to work well out of the box. You're going to have to do a little work. There are distros where the base install is meant for old hardware, but Xubuntu isn't one of them.

Trying to run Ubuntu or Xubuntu on an ancient crap machine is like trying to run the latest greatest version of Vista on it. I'm sure you can do it, but you'll need to spend some time tweaking things. The advantage of using Linux for old machines is that Linux makes that tweaking easy and offers more tuning knobs than Windows.

Re:Well "Works With Linux" is a feature to me

[timeOday]

Unless I'm misreading the article, Asus will continue to sell Linux netbooks - it's just the smaller screens that are disappearing. I can't believe people consider a 70/30 split in favor of XP to be a disaster for Linux, I think 30% is a pretty huge share for Linux! Heck, if Linux captured 30% of the general market, most hardware would have to support Linux and I'd call it "mission accomplished."

Or...

[wren337]

... did they overship Linux pcs by a ratio of 6:4?

Linux on Netbooks

[ArkiMage]

How many people buy the XP models and subsequently install Ubuntu or some other Linux distro though? For reasons of better RAM or Drive or battery option availability in the XP bundled version of the machine.

Re:Linux on Netbooks

[westlake]

How many people buy the XP models and subsequently install Ubuntu or some other Linux distro though?

.

Not enough to make a difference.

Never enough to make a difference.

The OEM system install has been the gold standard in the home and SOHO markets for thirty years.

You have a warranty.

You have a service contract.

If anything goes wrong, it is someone else's problem.

The geek thinks like a hobbyist. Everyone else is simply out buying a small appliance - and no more interested in installing an OS than in building a bread machine from a kit of parts.

news not contrary

[Khashishi]

The news that XP models outsell GNU/Linux models 7:3 is not contrary to the news that GNU/Linux models are out of stock, if the ratio of XP models to GNU/Linux models stocked is greater than 7:3.

Who'da thunk the ratio would be so close?

Good idea

[HalAtWork]

And since only a few percentage of computers ship with high-end graphics cards, we should just eliminate them altogether. Makes sense now that we're living in the twilight zone. 30% of your userbase asks for something? Who cares!

So no more small PCs?

[Microlith]

I thought half the draw of the Eee PC wasn't just the price but the size. Why are they going closer and closer to the size of regular laptops and away from the 8" size?

If they had released a 7" model without the huge bezel around the scree I might have picked one up. Looks like I'll be looking to one of their competitors.

Re:Linux versions are hard to get in some countrie

[spyowl]

Here's what I think happened:

Several years ago:

Asus: Hey, MS - we are making 8-9" netbook PCs that are going to be small, hip and cheap; wanna give us a good rate on XP - say $X?
MS: Hmmphhh... dream on - you guys pay what everyone else pays - $Y! No exceptions! Oh, and by the way, we'll be phasing out the XP, so plan on running and paying for Vista - $Z!
Asus: OK then, we'll use Linux.
MS: We've heard that before, good luck!

Later:

MS: Hey Asus, your netbook thingies really took off - they have to run XP - we want you to phase out your Linux version.
Asus: Ummm, can't really do that, sorry.
MS: We are giving you (and everyone else) XP licensing deal for $X for netbooks! You'd better do it, or we'll screw with your other products - you know how that goes.
Asus: OK, master, you are the boss, will do.
MS: Good boy.

Insightful? Bull shit.

[Petersko]

"Your entire complaint basically boils down to, "I don't know Linux, and I don't want to, but now I know it's not Windows." Good fucking job! I just always figured Linux and Windows were exactly the same, but now, thanks to your incredible insight, I'm aware that Linux and Windows are in fact different! Wow!"

There's nothing insightful about your comment. In fact, as near as I can tell, it's completely wrong.

Allow me to summarize the original post.

1. Attempted foreign language install. Never worked.
2. Installed Blackberry charging drivers - never worked.
3. Found out customizing shell involved editing text config files.
4. Got VPN working - turned out to be unstable.
5. Old issue - installing Ubuntu on 2GB flash dive. Failed with indetermine problems.

And so, here you come with your "insightful" reply, and claim that his whole post is that linux isn't Windows, and that apparently he doesn't want to know linux.

The only way your post makes any sense is if you think he's an idiot because he wants linux to work, and that just isn't "linux".

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