| ASUS EEE PC on XP Contributor: len February 25, 2008 With Linux (Xandros Distribution) Installed 7.0/10.0 With Microsoft Windows XP Installed 9.0/10.0 |
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Copyright © 2008 itsonlysteam.com
I’ve been looking at a replacement for one of my desk top computers for a
while. Specifically, I wanted to get something portable again. I was thinking
along the lines of a low end Apple laptop and then my nephew mentioned
something I’d been looking at but dismissed because of the size of the Solid
State hard drive. He mentioned purchasing the Asus EEE PC, specifically
one with a 4 GB flash hard drive. He said he found the Linux, Xandros
Distribution, simple to use and fully functional for his purposes. With further
research I found it came with XP drivers and even without tools like XPlite, it
was quite capable of handling XP. I was intrigued since I’ve been waiting for
a laptop like this since the small form Fujitsu LifeBook P-2120 laptop with a
Transmeta chip came out in 2001 (which I passed over after investigation
revealed reliability problems). On the surface, it appeared the EEE would
make this machine look like a tank.
while. Specifically, I wanted to get something portable again. I was thinking
along the lines of a low end Apple laptop and then my nephew mentioned
something I’d been looking at but dismissed because of the size of the Solid
State hard drive. He mentioned purchasing the Asus EEE PC, specifically
one with a 4 GB flash hard drive. He said he found the Linux, Xandros
Distribution, simple to use and fully functional for his purposes. With further
research I found it came with XP drivers and even without tools like XPlite, it
was quite capable of handling XP. I was intrigued since I’ve been waiting for
a laptop like this since the small form Fujitsu LifeBook P-2120 laptop with a
Transmeta chip came out in 2001 (which I passed over after investigation
revealed reliability problems). On the surface, it appeared the EEE would
make this machine look like a tank.
I also purchase a 4GB flash drive at the same time knowing the experience of many who installed
XP on these machines. When you get back to a 4 GB hard drive it becomes obvious why many
call Microsoft Operating Systems ‘bloat ware’. It just keeps growing and storing stuff. To be
honest all this recovery caching and saving files from service packs and upgrades has never
saved me from a system crash. Inevitably I always blow the operating system out and start from
scratch. I never store my data on my system drive and yes, I back it up.
On this first machine I didn’t even play with the Linux and proceeded to hook up a USB DVD ROM
and boot to it with my Windows XP CD with my EEE driver disk ready. It went normally but after
installing Service Pack 2 it was already becoming obvious Windows was getting expansive on me
and I purchased a license for XPlite from www.litepc.com. Then I moved my documents directory
to my SD flash card which I called the D Drive and also installed all my applications on the flash
card. After fine tuning my XP installation with XPlite, I also moved my temp directories to the flash
drive in the system properties. With the security software installed on C Drive as well as a large
number of Windows functionality I wanted to keep that left me with 1GB left on my C Drive with
the swap file set at 256/320 MB.
XP on these machines. When you get back to a 4 GB hard drive it becomes obvious why many
call Microsoft Operating Systems ‘bloat ware’. It just keeps growing and storing stuff. To be
honest all this recovery caching and saving files from service packs and upgrades has never
saved me from a system crash. Inevitably I always blow the operating system out and start from
scratch. I never store my data on my system drive and yes, I back it up.
On this first machine I didn’t even play with the Linux and proceeded to hook up a USB DVD ROM
and boot to it with my Windows XP CD with my EEE driver disk ready. It went normally but after
installing Service Pack 2 it was already becoming obvious Windows was getting expansive on me
and I purchased a license for XPlite from www.litepc.com. Then I moved my documents directory
to my SD flash card which I called the D Drive and also installed all my applications on the flash
card. After fine tuning my XP installation with XPlite, I also moved my temp directories to the flash
drive in the system properties. With the security software installed on C Drive as well as a large
number of Windows functionality I wanted to keep that left me with 1GB left on my C Drive with
the swap file set at 256/320 MB.
When I asked my nephew about the keyboard and whether the format
was useful and his reply he found it easy to use, I went shopping. I
started online at www.ncix.com which has a wide selection of them but I
remembered my local computer store had a couple of them. I went to
see if they had one. When they had them in stock, I then proceeded to
purchase the 4GB flash drive version with the camera (EEE PC 4G).
was useful and his reply he found it easy to use, I went shopping. I
started online at www.ncix.com which has a wide selection of them but I
remembered my local computer store had a couple of them. I went to
see if they had one. When they had them in stock, I then proceeded to
purchase the 4GB flash drive version with the camera (EEE PC 4G).
I was so impressed with my little machine that I sold my bulky old PC that I used in my basement
office. I find the keyboard to be fully usable and I don’t have small hands. The placement of the
shift keys and others to minimize the size of the keyboard is perfect. With this arrangement and
the size of this unit, why put up with a qwerty keyboard! Then there is the issue of performance.
I had a 1.4 GHz Athlon Compaq laptop (with XP Home) in which I could only install 384 MB of RAM
and this 900 MHz Celeron M with 512 MB blows it away. Then I was looking at the 15” LCD
display I had and wondered how it did dual monitor. Man is this slick, and the drivers actually are
simple to use and work. Really, I just use the normal windows display set up and click the box to
extend display area over second monitor and off I go. Then I plugged in a USB Mouse and
transferred some data between different USB external hard drives I have (SATA and PATA) and
it never skipped a beat.
office. I find the keyboard to be fully usable and I don’t have small hands. The placement of the
shift keys and others to minimize the size of the keyboard is perfect. With this arrangement and
the size of this unit, why put up with a qwerty keyboard! Then there is the issue of performance.
I had a 1.4 GHz Athlon Compaq laptop (with XP Home) in which I could only install 384 MB of RAM
and this 900 MHz Celeron M with 512 MB blows it away. Then I was looking at the 15” LCD
display I had and wondered how it did dual monitor. Man is this slick, and the drivers actually are
simple to use and work. Really, I just use the normal windows display set up and click the box to
extend display area over second monitor and off I go. Then I plugged in a USB Mouse and
transferred some data between different USB external hard drives I have (SATA and PATA) and
it never skipped a beat.
| Dualing EEE's ... Linux and XP |
| EEE PC Linux Interface |
Getting back to my love affair with the little machine. Given my daughter’s experience, I was glad I
just went ahead and proved a manner to install XP on it. I’m still deeply wounded from being
sucked into the OS/2 Warp hype eons ago so didn’t want to fight an operating system I didn’t know.
So for me this is the perfect little laptop. If I had to go through the purchase again, I would go for
the EEE PC 8G because of its slightly larger Solid State Hard Drive (8GB) and 1GB of RAM. After a
while I laid down the 40 dollars and installed a 1GB DDR2 667 MHz SODIMM in my EEE to replace
the existing 512 MB of RAM. The extra memory made a noticeable difference when I start opening
up a number of applications or working on large files.
In all I have a hard time saying anything bad about this machine. ASUS did a magnificent job
keeping the cost down and keeping it functional. Outfitting this machine with XP after the fact gives
you something far superior than any micro laptop out there especially those with qwerty keyboards.
Leaving this machine as a Linux Appliance is also compelling given the price.
There is one ancillary conclusion I came to playing with this computer. Microsoft needs to keep
Windows XP alive until this type of hardware catches up with Vista.
len
just went ahead and proved a manner to install XP on it. I’m still deeply wounded from being
sucked into the OS/2 Warp hype eons ago so didn’t want to fight an operating system I didn’t know.
So for me this is the perfect little laptop. If I had to go through the purchase again, I would go for
the EEE PC 8G because of its slightly larger Solid State Hard Drive (8GB) and 1GB of RAM. After a
while I laid down the 40 dollars and installed a 1GB DDR2 667 MHz SODIMM in my EEE to replace
the existing 512 MB of RAM. The extra memory made a noticeable difference when I start opening
up a number of applications or working on large files.
In all I have a hard time saying anything bad about this machine. ASUS did a magnificent job
keeping the cost down and keeping it functional. Outfitting this machine with XP after the fact gives
you something far superior than any micro laptop out there especially those with qwerty keyboards.
Leaving this machine as a Linux Appliance is also compelling given the price.
There is one ancillary conclusion I came to playing with this computer. Microsoft needs to keep
Windows XP alive until this type of hardware catches up with Vista.
len
Right now I’m typing this review up on Word, listening to Itunes and have 4 web pages tabbed
open IE 7 and this isn’t the most I’ve taxed this little machine.
To go back a bit, when I had the EEE for about a week I decided I’d ask my daughter if she
wanted one. Heck I’d saved a considerable sum leveraging my existing computing resources and
purchasing this $400 machine.
She spent a happy week with it at home and thinking it wouldn’t be that hard to set up her
installation to do everything she wanted she headed off back to school with it. There is one hitch
however and that is Linux and installing applications. If she could get the UNIX version of a
firewall shim ‘PUTTY’ to work she would be laughing. Maybe her Linux friends can still help her
with this as it is just 2 days into that struggle as I publish this.
open IE 7 and this isn’t the most I’ve taxed this little machine.
To go back a bit, when I had the EEE for about a week I decided I’d ask my daughter if she
wanted one. Heck I’d saved a considerable sum leveraging my existing computing resources and
purchasing this $400 machine.
She spent a happy week with it at home and thinking it wouldn’t be that hard to set up her
installation to do everything she wanted she headed off back to school with it. There is one hitch
however and that is Linux and installing applications. If she could get the UNIX version of a
firewall shim ‘PUTTY’ to work she would be laughing. Maybe her Linux friends can still help her
with this as it is just 2 days into that struggle as I publish this.
| ASUS EEE 4G running Windows XP |
| EEE Blogging with ITunes |