Tux

...making Linux just a little more fun!

Subnotebooks

Mike Orr [sluggoster at gmail.com]


Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:37:37 -0800

Anybody tried the ASUS eee PC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eee_pc) ? I'm thinking about getting the 8GB model which costs $500. It's a 2 lb subnotebook with 1 GB RAM, 8 GB flash "memory", and Xandros (based on Debian/Corel), and compatible with the Debian repository. I haven't seen one and they seem hard to find even mail order, though some Best Buys have the 4 GB model. My main concerns are the small keyboard, 800x600 screen, and one-button touchpad. But as a second computer for running Python, Firefox, Kopete, gvim, and maybe the Gimp when traveling, I think it might do OK.

Any opinions on the other Linux (sub)notebooks which have begun appearling? I thought about the Zonbu but it has a nonstandard version of Gentoo tied to their subscription plan.

-- 
Mike Orr <sluggoster@gmail.com>

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Rick Moen [rick at linuxmafia.com]


Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:46:24 -0800

Quoting Mike Orr (sluggoster@gmail.com):

> My main concerns are the small keyboard, 800x600 screen, and
> one-button touchpad.

The 800x600 screen would be a deal-breaker, for me. X11 simply sucks at less than 1024x768.

Here's my reply to my mother-in-law, when she asked me about a different (but related) "EEE PC" model:

Quoting Cheryl Morris (camorris@mars.ark.com):

> Any opinions or info on this?
>
> http://www.physorg.com/news115288648.html

Hadn't seen or heard of, before today. I note the link to http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15490/ , making clear that ASUS is violating the copyright of Linux kernel maintainers and shipping binary-only support for their ACPI firmware (possibly ineptitude rather than malice, but it's still clear copyright violation). Also that they've put "warranty void seals" over the RAM bay and mini-PCI opening, in violation of US consumer law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC says there are actually four models with the name "ASUS EEE".

It's pretty severely anemic: 900 MHz Celeron, 256MB standard RAM, 7" display maxing out at 800 x 480. (Ouch!) Solid-state flash memory is used as mass-storage, which is permanently soldered to the motherboard. Preinstalled Linux distro is gimmicked to not see any RAM above 1 GB (if you void your warranty and add RAM).

Motherboard is an Intel "Alviso-GM" aka 910GML, one of the "Centino Mobile" series. Northbridge is 82910GML. Southbridge is one of the ICH6M class. Integrated Intel GMA900 video.

Basically, if you want a severely limited machine offered by a manipulative firm with an attitude problem, it might be OK, but you can get a much better machine for the same money on the used market. The screen is a particularly nasty limitation, because you can't upgrade to fix it, even in theory.


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Ramanathan Muthaiah [rus.cahimb at gmail.com]


Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:24:32 +0530

> My main concerns are the small
> keyboard, 800x600 screen, and one-button touchpad.  But as a second
> computer for running Python, Firefox, Kopete, gvim, and maybe the Gimp
> when traveling, I think it might do OK.

Mike,

Recently, while visiting a car exhibition in Bangalore, I laid my hands on this gadget (of course, it seems not connected, car exhibition and subnotebooks !).

It was on display by an Indian company (SPIN something???) and I managed to play around with this toy inspite of my daughter's insistence to move on to the bigger stalls :-)

The guys at the booth allowed me free access; it was loaded with a modified version of Debian. Certainly, the screen and the keyboard are a limitation if you consider to use it continuously for long periods. Should be suitable for use while on the road :-)

Sorry, I could not offer much on the applications' availability, system features and other things.

One last thing, I did launch OpenOffice and used the Writer to type (scribbled, to be correct) in few sentences to feel the keyboard. That's when I felt the keyboard thing.

/Ram


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Thomas Adam [thomas.adam22 at gmail.com]


Mon, 24 Dec 2007 08:34:15 +0000

Hey Mike --

On 24/12/2007, Mike Orr <sluggoster@gmail.com> wrote:

> Anybody tried the ASUS eee PC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eee_pc) ?

Yes -- a colleague of mine has one at work. They're retailing for ~ ?250 here in the UK which is very cheap. It's a nicely designed laptop, works well with Ubuntu, but the screen is rather small IMO, at just 1024x768 resolution maximum.

-- Thomas Adam


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