ASUS EeePC

[Split from original thread]

fraggle said:

First screenshot.

It's still a long way from being finished though.

OMG teh hotness. It might be a long way but still, awesome.

As a sidenote is that your normal screen resolution and if so what sort of machine are you using?

John Smith said:

As a sidenote is that your normal screen resolution and if so what sort of machine are you using?

I'm going to guess that's his Eee PC. I have one, too, and use that resolution.

exp(x) said:

I'm going to guess that's his Eee PC. I have one, too, and use that resolution.

Correct. It is an Asus EEEPC 901.

Heh, has everyone got one? Yeah, I got one too and I'm in the process of setting it up as a mobile development platform. Quite impressed with it other than the fact my WiFi still refuses to work properly after days of messing with it. I'm so close to wiping Xandros...

No, I'm perfectly happy with a normal laptop and see no reason to get an Eee PC.

DaniJ said:

Heh, has everyone got one? Yeah, I got one too and I'm in the process of setting it up as a mobile development platform. Quite impressed with it other than the fact my WiFi still refuses to work properly after days of messing with it. I'm so close to wiping Xandros...

I wiped Xandros and went with Ubuntu. As for the wifi, I just use ndiswrapper instead of the native driver because the windows driver seems to work better, and I didn't want to have to recompile the module after kernel updates. Apparently the 901's touchpad has multi-touch support if you install the right driver, but since I hate touchpads and use an external mouse instead, it doesn't matter.

fraggle said:

Correct. It is an Asus EEEPC 901.

K then if you don't mind me driving the topic off further, is the Eee PC pretty competent for a subnotebook? I mean does everything run fine in general? Actually probably not terribly off topic, because the most resource intensive application I run on a non-desktop is probably Chocolate Doom. I was thinking of getting one for school, but I know nothing about them.

The EeePC 901 is great for non-intensive use. I often run firefox, xchat, pidgin, and other apps under Ubuntu simultaneously. Chocolate Doom runs nicely (although, I recommend this patch when running fullscreen). The keyboard takes some getting used to because it's so small, and the screen resolution can be annoying at times. I don't like the touchpad, but an external mouse with a retractable cord fixes that. The main reason I chose the 901 is portability. It fits in my backpack nicely and doesn't weigh much. If I need a big screen or more power, I have a desktop at home, and there are several linux computer labs on campus. As long as you don't need a desktop replacement, I highly recommend the 901.

John Smith said:

K then if you don't mind me driving the topic off further, is the Eee PC pretty competent for a subnotebook? I mean does everything run fine in general? Actually probably not terribly off topic, because the most resource intensive application I run on a non-desktop is probably Chocolate Doom. I was thinking of getting one for school, but I know nothing about them.

exp(x) has basically summarised everything I was going to say. It's a great piece of kit, and I've been impressed by the performance - I was expecting it to be slower, and the Intel onboard graphics is actually better than you'd think (my EEEPC can run cube at a relatively decent speed, for example).

The only real downside is the keyboard. It's cramped to type on, and although I'm getting better on it, it's rather uncomfortable for extended use. It also only seems to register three keypresses at once, which is problematic for Doom. So get yourself an external keyboard for when you're using it at home.

DaniJ said:

Heh, has everyone got one? Yeah, I got one too and I'm in the process of setting it up as a mobile development platform. Quite impressed with it other than the fact my WiFi still refuses to work properly after days of messing with it. I'm so close to wiping Xandros...

Heh. I was originally going to keep Xandros on there as well (if it ain't broke, don't fix it), but I accidentally pressed one of the function keys and was assaulted by some horrible buggy clippy-style talking voice control avatar thing. At that point I just gave up and installed Ubuntu out of sheer horror. If you set it up with the array.org repository, everything basically works. The only problematic bit is that the initial default Ubuntu install has a kernel that doesn't detect the wireless _or_ the onboard ethernet, so I had to copy the array.org kernel on there with a USB flash drive.

Ah thanks for the tip off, I might just go the Ubuntu route myself now.

As the others have said, its a very nice little system and as long as you don't expect it to replace "your" high-end XPS laptop (or indeed a desktop!) you won't fail to love it. Personally I don't have any problems with the keyboard but then my hands are probably smaller than most. The only issue I have with the keyboard is that I can't read the keys in the dark presently.

DaniJ said:

The only issue I have with the keyboard is that I can't read the keys in the dark presently.

You could always get one of these :-)

Ok. This Eee PC is starting to sound rather good. I've been thinking that when I go back to school I might want a desktop, something that has some power and oomf behind it (read: an iMac), but I don't really want to not have a laptop for class, or when I'm out or whaveter, so I thought I'd look in the subnotebook market.

So if money starts growing on trees or something of the like then you've pretty much convinced me that the Eee PC is a good choice. Thanks!

EeePC can run OpenArena

is that not a good enough reason for one? :)

John Smith said:

Ok. This Eee PC is starting to sound rather good. I've been thinking that when I go back to school I might want a desktop, something that has some power and oomf behind it (read: an iMac), but I don't really want to not have a laptop for class, or when I'm out or whaveter, so I thought I'd look in the subnotebook market.

So if money starts growing on trees or something of the like then you've pretty much convinced me that the Eee PC is a good choice. Thanks!

If you're hard-strapped for cash, wait a few months as I'm sure they'll come down in price in the run up to Christmas. My 901 was £300 (~$530), but the older 700-series EEEPCs first released a year ago have already come down to ~£150 (~$260) here.

I had an EEE 701 and it rocked...its so light, less than 2lb, could hold it with a single finger...in short, totally awesome for a netbook