[NCLUG] Re: Eee PC Xandros

[bwood at beww.org]

On Wednesday 03 December 2008 17:05:07 Chad Perrin wrote:

>
> No, I don't think there's a Linux version available.  Before I got one,
> I'd just check into its support for open source OSes.  Since it's just
> idle speculation at this point, though, I don't know that I'll get around
> to even finding out how well it's supported by anything in particular;
> I'm just not likely to buy one any time soon.

It's more that I just hate sending Bill more money for something I do not want 
and will not use. I don't see a price difference between the Linux and 
Windows netbooks, which seems odd, either MS is giving it away cheap or the 
makers are pocketing the difference.

I was happily surprised to find no "Crapware", no demos, trials or other sales 
pitches, and no "Your computer might be at risk..." (a true statement under 
any circumstances whatsoever, so I'm sure legal approved it). Another 
advantage to a Linux box, until they figure out that loophole.

>
> > The Lenovo does have the 950 graphics though. If it's pirating main RAM
> > for video then the 512MB begins to be a problem.
>
> This is true.  It can probably be upgraded, but that's additional
> investment, of course.

DDR2 SODIMMS are getting almost cheap, but when your competitors are selling 
1GB units for a similar price it's time to look at your marketing policy.

Especially problematical running XP. You can get a Linux system down to a 
pretty low RAM requirement, but XP in under 512M is pretty slow no matter 
what you do.

Being a Windows box, you KNOW idiots will try and run games on it, thus taking 
up a lot of RAM for video.

>
> > I tried to get 2GB of RAM into my Eee, no-go. From what I have read they
> > are picky and will only work with some 2GB SODIMMs, but some users have
> > reported that it needs to be running on AC power to use the 2GB RAM, a
> > pretty much fatal flaw for a portable. Too bad, 2GB RAM would make it a
> > pretty powerful little box.
>
> Yeah, that's a pretty big flaw.
>
> > Ubuntu Eee is definitely an improvement over Xandros. What was Asus
> > thinking? Shipping a machine that doesn't support all of the integrated
> > hardware, and having applications on the disk that can't be accessed by
> > the included interface???
>
> I'm sure Ubuntu is an improvement -- as would be FreeBSD (and I hear
> FreeBSD is working pretty well on the Eee).
>
> What hardware doesn't work with ASUS' modified Xandros?

The camera did not work with Skype (an included app), though it was easy to 
find instructions to correct this on the net. The audio was goofy as well, 
and there was an issue with WiFi not waking up from a suspend. Nothing fatal, 
but annoying, included apps and hardware should work, at least minimally.

Selling these machines to nonLinux-savvy buyers will likely lead to "Linux 
doesn't work" thinking, and I really couldn't blame a Linux-naive purchaser 
for thinking that.

Most of the problems could be solved, and are basically software or setup 
issues. It's not like this machine just came out, the Eees have been around 
for a  while. I don't think they are putting enough effort into testing and 
de-bugging.

Maybe PC makers are just too used to being able to lay off this sort of thing 
on MS or the hardware vendor's (Windows) driver.

>
> There is an "advanced" interface on the Eee, as well.  Basically, it just
> has a proper window manager hidden on it.  I don't remember off the top
> of my head how to get to it, but I found it via Google when I was helping
> a friend get to a better interface than that very limited clueless luser
> style interface.

The "advanced" interface is really KDE (Which I like, and use on my home 
desktop). I found several different sets of instructions on the net to get 
this running, some were mutually exclusive, and I think dpendent on the 
precise version of the machine/software you happened to get.

I finally just decided to just give Ubuntu Eee a try, so far it seems better 
than the included Xandros. Everything works except I had to tweak the audio 
setup.

Might give FreeBSD a try, it's certainly easy enough to change OSes. I have a 
USB DVD drive that makes that easier.

-- 
beww
beww at beww.org