This is already a pretty sweet little device and this just makes it even more interesting.
I’ve dabbled with Linux for a long time and only recently started using it semi-full time on my eeePC.
Now while this IS pretty cool, I think I’ve spent my gadget money for awhile. Maybe Nokia’s Blogger Relations can hook me as I’d love to check one out.
Always curious to try new things, I figured I’d try out Ubuntu (gutsy) on my eeePC. The nice thing about Ubuntu (and many versions of Linux these days) is that they are available in ‘live cd’ versions which means you just boot up the cd image that you burn after downloading and then you can take a test drive of that version without actually committing to it, meanwhile whatever operating system is actually on your machine is left in tact.
Knowing that it only takes a few minutes to wipe the eeePC and restore the default Xandros linux back onto it, I took the plunge and installed Ubuntu to see how it would run - a live cd install is slower than a normal install since it’s all running off of the cd and swapping into your system ram. Turned out there was a fair amount of tweaks that would be needed to get it fully operational on the eeePC so I went back to Xandros the same day.
Then I stumbled upon Xubuntu which has a distribution for the eeePC (surprisingly called eeeXubuntu) which you can read about (and download it) here.
Here’s a not-so-brief video (not mine) of the bootup sequence and some basic system usage:
I’ve only had it running on eeeXubuntu for a few days but so far, I’m really impressed. It is much more user friendly and consistent than the default Xandros was. It’s also much easier to add applications, customize settings and generally tweak than the other OS’s I’ve tried on the eeePC so far. Boot up is a little longer than Xandros but the nice thing it seems to remember all the session info correctly so that probably makes up for the extra boot up time. The battery indictor also works much better with a time remaining as well as a percent remaining indicator. With the battery hovering around 4+ hours with wifi on, I’m pretty happy!
I also really like the nicer user interfaces for customizing things - in some ways it feels more like a Mac than I expected it to especially when compared to other flavors of Linux.
The only real issue I’ve encountered so far is the occasional bootup that doesn’t recognize that I’ve got an 8gb SDHC card in the SD slot but that is usually resolved by a simple eject and reinsert.
Now if only Google Reader was more accommodating on the small eeePC screen - even with a compact Firefox theme and the toolbars dialed down, it’s still hard to navigate my feeds. Sure I could use the mobile version but it’s too stripped down for my power-usage.
Well, shortly after selling my Powerbook, I discovered and acquired an Asus eeePC - pronounced ‘E-pc’ - the three e’s stand for “Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, Easy to Play”.
I’ve only had it a few days and can safely say that it has exceeded my expectations. It’s been fun taking this $399 wonder to work and showing coworkers the device. You’d swear I brought a puppy in by the way people have been reacting to it “Ah, it’s so cute and small!”… not to mention the procession of people coming by to check it out….I think Asus owes me a commission or two.
I’ll spare you the technical specs but so far it’s done everything I’ve wanted it to do considering the 512mb of ram and 4gb solid state drive. It ships with a custom version of Linux that has really impressed me with its speed and completeness.
They’ve really done a great job in making an accessible linux variant that my mom could easily navigate. It’s pretty easy to reconfigure it for a power user as well (aka Advanced Mode).
The dvd that comes with the unit also has Windows XP drivers so you can go that way (I’m happier with Linux) or you can track down on your favorite torrent site a special build of Tiger or Leopard OSX to install. As I previously posted, I wasn’t too successful but I’m sure it’s just a simple install config that I didn’t set correctly. I’ll try it again soon as it’s easy to restore back to Linux with the included restore dvd.
Here’s my initial impressions:
Good:
it’s friggin small!
build quality is much higher than expected
onboard speakers sound pretty decent considering their size
comes with a nice, long power cord without a giant brick, just a medium sized wall wart plug with collapsible prongs
boot up and shut down are FAST
the onboard webcam is decent with a fast refresh
the Linux install is quite speedy and I haven’t encountered any performance issues really
Bad:
the keys are a little cramped (duh)
limited theme/skin choices in Linux
Skype didn’t support video chats out of the box (you had to download the beta)
the mouse ‘rocker’ switch feels like it will be the first thing to break
There are other things to talk about in future posts so I’ll wrap up this one with a ‘mini’ video review from the Dallas Morning News:
If you are thinking of upgrading to Apple’s new OSX 10.5 (aka Leopard), you might want to take a look at this post on MacFixIT (and all it’s comments) to see if any ‘important to you’ apps are on the no-fly list.
I haven’t had any issues since doing a clean install on my iMac, but I also haven’t really done much reinstalling of software yet. My Powerbook is still running Tiger with all the ‘mission critical’ stuff humming along fine.
