o2smartphone on our forums has come up with a nifty way of adding a “start menu” to the easy mode of the Eee PC:
This is a great addition to easy mode, and perfect for those who are waiting for a more permanent advanced mode fix. For the complete details of how to replicate this, check out this thread on the forum, and specifically this post for the exact instructions.
JBrown, a user on our forums, has put together an Eee PC Interface Demo. Upon visiting the web page, you’re presented with a screen shot of the ASUS Eee PC Easy Mode desktop, and clicking will take you to a new screen shot of the destination. It’s a nice way of getting to see the interface interactively while you wait for your Eee PC to arrive!
Finally ready to hold an Eee PC 4G? The final price comes in at $399 for the 512MB RAM/4G Hard Drive/Webcam model. Directron customers have already reported receiving the Eee PC, according to this post on the forums. Newegg also has it for sale, as of today. For more retailers in North America, check out the ASUS where to buy list.
We were able to get KDE mostly working on the forum tonight (it was all thanks to oinker) without a lot of changes on the default Eee PC Xandros Linux install:
This should help those concerned about potentially only having the “Easy Mode” AsusLauncher interface as reviewed in the post previous to this. Of course, be careful trying this if you already have an Eee PC- this is more of a “it can happen” post than a “you should do it” post.
[Edit, 5:27am] After getting KDE going, you’ll also notice a new icon in the shutdown dialog box of your Eee PC: Full Desktop. Unfortunately, it still leads back to the Easy Mode for now- but there could be an easy configuration fix.
[Edit, 5:07pm] If you apt-get install ksmserver, the “full desktop” choice on the AsusLauncher easy mode shutdown dialog will take you straight to an Eee PC branded KDE interface without having to get into all the killalls with the linux console. If you choose Easy Mode from KDE, it will bring you back to AsusLauncher. Unfortunately, going into KDE and then shutting down does not keep KDE as the default window manager. It will still boot back to AsusLauncher easy mode. We’re not far away from a fully unlocked Advanced mode…
Introduction
One of the interesting aspects of the ASUS Eee PC is the custom interface installed by default under the Xandros Linux installation. It’s designed to be very organized and to allow users easy access to all of the programs on the Eee without much difficulty. The following is a rundown of the specialized interface.
Overall
As I posted in my initial impressions, the Eee PC both boots and shuts down unbelievably fast. When you turn on the Eee PC for the first time, it makes you create an account with your name and password, then shows you the interface. By default, you do not have to log in each time you turn on the Eee PC. The Eee PC interface has tabs at the top: Internet, Work, Learn, Play, Settings, Favorites, and Help. At the bottom, there is a system tray with a home icon on the way left- the equivalent of “show desktop” on a windows computer. To the right of that is the taskbar, then a system tray where you will find: Network adapter settings, battery life, number lock status, caps lock status, volume, and a clock (that is in 24hour mode, not am/pm.) To the right of these are the “SOS” application, “Eee PC Tips,” and an arrow that makes the whole bottom bar hide itself to the right. This is a nice feature- it allows you to get a little bit more vertical space when using the Eee PC.
Internet Tab
The Internet Tab has 12 options: Web Mail, Web, iGoogle, Messenger, Skype, Network, eBook, Google Docs, World Clock, Wikipedia, Internet Radio, and Wireless Networks.
If you click on Web Mail, it brings you to a new screen where you can choose from: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL. All of these open up in Firefox, the default web browser.
Web, of course, brings you to Firefox. It looks and functions just as Firefox does on any Linux or Windows installation- and the screen is wide enough for most web pages to appear normal. I find that it’s actually the height that seems more limited when viewing web pages, but the easy solution is to just hit F11, making Firefox expand to the whole screen. This really makes web browsing more enjoyable.
Messenger brings you to Pidgin, which allows you to use such services as AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo, and more. Instant messaging is easy to use, and Pidgin sits in your system tray when you are not using it. The windows can be slightly crowding on the small screen while setting up your accounts, but the buddy list looks great.
I haven’t used much of Skype, as I do not have any of the premium features on my account or even any minutes. I can say that it loads fine and fits in the window height properly.
Network and Wireless Network allow you to connect to wired and wireless connections. It’s a great interface that makes it easy to use even for novices. I had no trouble connecting to my network, and I find that it detects far away networks and receives a perfect signal from my router.
eBook takes you to the “My eBooks” folder of File Manager. The file “manual.CHM” comes with the default install, and loads in FBReader.
World Clock is KDE World Clock, and allows you to gain a visual image of not only times of a wide variety of cities across the world but also where the sun currently is up and where the sun isn’t up!
iGoogle, Google Docs, Wikipedia, Internet Radio all are direct links to their respective web pages via Firefox. Internet Radio takes you to “MediaYou.net”
Work Tab
The Work Tab has 9 options: Accessories, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, PDF Reader, Mail, File Manager, Dictionary, and Notes.
Accessories brings you to a new screen where you can choose between Calculator, PIM, and Screen Capture. Calculator is KCalc. PIM is Personal Information Manager from KDE- I’ve found that I like it a lot. It has a nice interface and allows you to keep track of your important information. The Screen Capture utility is how I took the photos included in this review. It’s a nice interface- allows you to capture a full screen, Window under cursor, or even a region.
Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations all lead to Open Office. They all look fantastic- the windows are slightly scaled down to look completely proportional on the Eee PC screen. It’s easy to read and write on all of them- plenty of screen real estate. They all load quite fast as well.
PDF Reader leads to Adobe Reader. In the first impressions, I noted how it was difficult to read PDF documents where pages were next to each other, book style. In fact, I’ve become used to it already, and you can see how it looks in the screenshot above. It loads and scrolls fast, as well.
Mail takes you to a standard install of Mozilla Thunderbird.
File Manager is a great, right from KDE. It reminds me of the days of Windows’ file manager before explorer came along. It’s easy to manage all of your files from it. It’s also the only way to access a Linux console: press ctrl+t.
Dictionary is not just a simple dictionary. It’s the Longman Dictionary, and not only does it give standard defintions but it also translates from English to Chinese as well.
Notes are yellow “sticky notes” that stay on your screen, allowing you to keep track of your information. The program is managed via the system tray.
Learn Tab
The Learn Tab has 5 options: Science, Language, Math, Paint, and Web Learn.
Science brings you to a new screen that allows you to choose between Periodic Table and Planetarium. Planetarium is actually KStars.
Language takes you to three educational games: Typing, Letter Game, and Hangman Game. Typing is actually kind of fun in a “playing games at school” kind of way, but I haven’t had a chance to try the other two yet.
Math takes you to Fraction Tutorial, Tux Math, Geometry, or Function Plotter.
Paint allows you to choose between Paint and Tux Paint.
Web Learn loads “skoool.ie” in Firefox, an Interactive learning website.
It’s clear that ASUS has put a lot of educational software on the Eee PC, as this tab is full of many different programs.
Play Tab
The Play Tab has 7 options: Games, Media Player, Music Manager, Photo Manager, Video Manager, Webcam, and Sound Recorder.
Games leads you to a choice betwen Solitaire, Frozen Bubble, Crack Attack, Penguin Race, Sudoku (nice!), Potato Guy, and L Tris. It’s a nice variety that are useful on the go.
Media Player loads SMPlayer, which I find to be my personal favorite media player in Linux. It resembles Windows Classic Player and allows you to load a variety of media files.
Music Manager is a nice jukebox style program that allows you to create playlists of your song files. It minimizes into the system tray when closed, for a continued experience.
Photo Manager allows you to view the photos on your computer, and opens by default to the folder that stores the photos you take with your webcam. It is a nice interface, similar to the file manager.
Video Manager is essentially File Manager- but when you click on a video it loads it in the Media Player in full screen. Included on the Eee PC is a product demo video with photos of the Eee PC.
Webcam loads UCView, which provides an instant view through the lens of your webcam. You can pause, save still images, record video, or do adjustments to the video feed itself.
Sound Recorder loads up a simple application to record and save audio messages with the built in microphone or though the external microphone input.
Settings Tab
The Settings Tab contains the largest amount of options: 13. They include Anti-Virus, Volume, Instant Shutdown, Printers, System Info, Date & Time, Personalization, Add/Remove Software, Touchpad, Disk Utility, Diagnostic Tools, Desktop Mode, and Voice Command.
Anti-Virus lives up to it’s name by being a complete Anti-Virus scanning program. You can of course scan, update definitions, and view Quarantined files as well.
Volume brings up simple volume adjustments for the main system volume, microphone, and allows you to change the left and right balance.
Instant Shutdown brings up the menu that you can also see by pressing the power button or clicking the red icon on the right of the system tray. It allows you to choose between the Task Manager, Standby, Restart, or Shut Down.
Printers shows you currently installed printers and gives you the ability to add a printer. Unfortunately, my printer is not compatible with Linux, so I can’t go into huge detail here.
System Info tells you the system BIOS version, BIOS date, Software version, Build Info (date manufactured), CPU type, memory size, motherboard version, and battery status.
Date & Time allows you to set the date, time, and time zone. Unfortunately, I still have not found a way to set the time on the system to AM/PM instead of 24hour. Judging by the fact it is 24hour on all of the software and the BIOS, this may be impossible to change.
Personalization allows you to set your full name, passwords, desktop theme, keyboard layout, and whether or not to log you in automatically when turning on the Eee PC and whether or not to Turn off the display after 5 minutes of inactivity.
Add/Remove Software does not have many options yet- just updates for Skype, Dictionary, and a BIOS update (which we have determined to add great features but to also make the system possibly unstable, see previous post). It’s a nice piece of software though for users to easily update system software.
Touchpad lets you choose the specifics of the touch pad. I’m still working on getting mine to be the style I am used to- but you can adjust the sensitivity, tapping time, vertical scrolling, horizontal scrolling, circular scrolling, and edge options.
Disk Utility shows the hard disk space used by the system, the user, and what is still available. It also has an option for an “Extra Drive” which I do not really know much about yet.Diagnostic Tools allows you to do two things: view system information and complete several system tests. You can view your BIOS information, CPU information, RAM size, VGA information, Harddisk information, Ethernet Adapter information, and Audio device. The system test tools allow you to diagnose your modem, audio, network, webcam, panel, usb, and storage. You can also choose to test all.
Desktop Mode is for when you hook the Eee PC up to an external monitor- it has choices for viewing only the external, both screens at the same time, etc. It also allows you to choose resolutions for the external monitor.
Voice Command is another application I have not had the opportunity to play with in great detail yet. It loads in your system tray, and apparently allows you to dictate commands to your Eee PC. Nifty!
Favorites Tab
The Favorites Tab comes with two options: Asus.com and Customize. While Asus.com simply takes you to their website, Customize allows you to choose any of the programs installed on the Eee PC and put them on this one screen. For example, if you use Web and File Manager a lot, you can put them both under the Favorites category. I was hoping they would allow website shortcuts or other user-installed programs as well, but it doesn’t look like this is possible. It may be by editing files via the Linux console.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Xandros and ASUS have created an excellent interface that allows easy use of the Eee PC. I find that it’s not too simplified as some were afraid it might be. They have included plenty of applications that allow you to do most of the things you need to do, most of which come from KDE. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to install other applications- there are not many choices in Add/Remove programs. This, however, may change with time.
One last note- the Xandros Linux install includes a Task Manager program, similiar to that of windows. It shows active processes and allows you to kill them if necessary. I haven’t had to use it at all yet- the system is very stable.
I’m hoping to now give Windows XP and Ubuntu a shot, but I think over time the Xandros Linux install may turn out to be the best overall for daily use on the Eee PC!
You can view the full gallery of screenshots here.
The Eee PC BIOS has five tabs: Main, Advanced, Security, Boot, and of course: Exit.
The main tab gives a general system overview. You can find out your BIOS revision, core version, Eee PC build date, firmware version, processor type, system memory. This is also where you can set the system time and date. Of course, since my sample Eee PC is a 4G, I have 512mb of RAM shown. The build date was 10/5/07.
The advanced tab has 3 sections: IDE Configuration, Onboard Devices Configuration, and OS Installation. The IDE configuration section allows you to choose the IDE master and IDE slave devices. My IDE master is the SSD hard drive, known as “SILICONMOTION SM223AC.” There is no IDE Slave. Onboard Device Configuration allows you to turn on and off: usb ports, onboard LAN, onboard Audio, onboard WLAN, onboard Camera, onboard Speaker, and the onboard CardReader. Interestingly, all are enabled with the exception of the onboard Camera- even though it works fine once booted. Finally, the OS installation feature has the option of “Finished.” The help text states: “Please switch the option back to finished once the OS installation is complete.” I initially wondered if it had to do with boot device order, but that setting is under the Boot tab. Anybody have any idea what it does?
The security tab allows you to set and change supervisor and user passwords.
The boot tab has sections for Boot Device Priority, Hard Disk Drives, Boot Settings Configuration, and OnBoard LAN Boot Rom. Boot device priority allows you to set the order in which your Eee PC will boot. The default is: Removable Dev., HDD, and ATAPI CD-ROM. Hard Disk Drives is the next option, and it shows that the 1st Drive is the HDD:SM-SILICONMOTI, while the second is the USB2.0 CardReader. Yes, you can boot from the SD card slot. Boot settings configuration has settings for Quick Boot and Quiet boot- both are enabled by default. Onboard LAN Boot ROM comes Disabled by default.
Exit allows you to save changes or quit without saving, as you would guess!
I hope this helps for those interested in the BIOS of the Eee PC. You can view the rest of the gallery right here.
ASUS has released a first revision to the Eee PC BIOS, version 8804. Features include the ability to use 100mhz FSB, USB2 now working, and apparently the use of the webcam in skype (see this thread). However, some users are reporting problems with the update, specifically with stability issues (see this thread). While the new features are interesting, I’m personally going to hold off upgrading until more information comes out.
[10/27/07 2:07am edit: had to switch the galleries to flickr as the self-hosted one uses up way too many resources]
[10/26/07 3:44pm edit: more pictures can be found here]
Click here to view the first impressions gallery (more pictures coming tomorrow)…
Let me begin by summarizing the Eee PC in four words: It’s worth the wait.
Four months ago, ASUS announced the Eee PC- a tiny, affordable, full-featured laptop. It was music to our ears- the ultimate portable gadget. Most of us have spent those last four months “guestimating” on when they would be released- and tormenting ourselves with excitement over speculation. To be fair, four months is actually pretty fast in getting a product to the market- much faster than many recent tech items. The Eee PC 4G was recently released in Taiwan on October 16th, and will be launching in the United States in the coming days.
Thanks to the folks at ASUS, an Eee PC arrived at my doorstep this morning. It was love at first sight.
The first shock came while opening the mailing package. Inside was the Eee PC product box. It was small- about the same size as a motherboard box. For some reason, I expected it to be much bigger.
Soon, I had the ASUS Eee PC 701 4G in my hand. It’s tiny. Good tiny. Tiny as in: take two DVD cases and put them on top of each other and the result is just slightly smaller than the Eee PC. From front to back, the Eee PC is about the size of a Nestle Crunch candy bar and from left to right it’s about 1 1/3 Nestle Crunch candy bars. I put the Eee PC in my shoulder bag today and barely noticed it in there, unlike how i always can notice when i carry my current 12″ notebook.
Also in the box were guidebooks, an AC adapter, and a case. I haven’t had a chance to read the guidebooks yet, so I’ll get back to you on that later. A quick glance did show that they include instructions for installing Windows XP, instructions for doing a system restore, and a CD with the manual and Windows XP drivers on it. The AC adapter is great- small enough that you can take it with you without taking up much space. But even better: the plug prongs are both small (instead of the one small one large variety) so you can plug it in an electrical outlet upside down if needed. The case is a form fitting neoprene sleeve- something that I would have actually paid extra money for as an accessory. It’s nice quality.
The best way to describe the Eee PC would be: proportional. The keyboard, screen, and touchpad all seem to be the proper size. Nothing is too big or too small. I’m not saying that a larger screen size on it wouldn’t be a welcome addition for some- but the screen is great how it is. The keyboard is not that much of a switch from typing on my Dell 710m laptop, just a little smaller. The touch pad is nice as well. I’m not too fond of the tightness of the physical mouse button(s)- i know that sounds ridiculous- but the button is a little tough to push down and it makes a loud clicking noise. I’m sure that over time it will soften up- and besides- I tend to do the tap-on-the-touchpad for a click anyway. By the way- the physical button is both a left and a right mouse button depending on which side you press it at.
Turning on and off the Eee PC is shockingly fast. It turns on in about 20-22 seconds and off in about 9 seconds.
The screen is absolutely gorgeous. It can go from very dim to very bright with many settings in between. I’m interested to see how the different brightness levels affect battery life. Whites are especially vivid and crisp. The screen is definitely high quality and makes the Eee PC a pleasure to use. The resolution is good as well. There’s enough screen real estate for almost all websites to work perfectly. PDF files look great on the Eee PC as well, so long as you view one page at a time. If you try to view pages side by side, it is still readable, but the text is a bit too small for me.
Of course, to the left and right of the screen are the rather large speakers. Unfortunately, if you turn the Eee PC against light properly, you can see that there are only speaker openings at the top- the bottom is just decor. Still, the sound quality is good- they are your typical laptop speakers.
The Eee PC comes loaded with software- Firefox, OpenOffice, Pidgin, etc. The Linux interface is really nice- very polished. There are plenty of different settings to play with as well, and four different “themes” for the Eee PC interface. I was surprised not to see a “terminal” application- in fact, I still can’t even find the Linux terminal. It must be around there somewhere…
The wireless networking card is great. It found many more networks than my other wireless devices can find, and the range appears to be superb. The network manager too is solid and works well, remembering the networks that you connect to often.
I’ve shown the Eee PC to several of my friends in person and all of the responses are always positive, even from people who are not extremely interested in technology. People are impressed with the size and functionality, and sold once they hear the price range. Many people guess that it is much more expensive.
There are, however, several quirks. The battery indicator only shows the percentage left- but does not estimate the time left. I suppose after I use it for a while, I’ll have my own idea of how much time is left, so it’s not too big of an issue. The clock in my system tray is in 24h mode rather than 12h am/pm. Not sure if I just missed a setting, maybe? Also, there is no ~` key in the top left of the keyboard. [Edit: The ~` key is oddly placed to the right of the esc key.] Granted, in all the years of computing I’ve probably used that key only once or twice. What makes it odd on the Eee PC, however, is that the “1″ key is where the ~` key normally is, so i’ve been hitting “2″ instead of “1″ accidentally. [edit: Also, F1 is not directly next to Esc.] No big deal- just a little something to get used to.
Ultimately, the Eee PC meets all of my personal expectations and actually exceeds many as well. I’m really pleased with the size of the Eee PC along with the high quality screen. The software interface is also easy to operate. I’m excited to explore further the features of this device in an upcoming full review, where I will focus on battery life, benchmarks, wireless ranges, and many other things.
On the official ASUS Eee PC website, ASUS updated the product information table to include launch dates:
As expected, the Eee PC 4G will be the first model to be released in the United States on November 1st.
According to this article at Digitimes, one of the main reasons for ASUS not meeting the $199 price point was because of unexpected rises in the prices of small sized LCD screens over the past year.
