Up close with the Eee PC - part 2: Installing unsupported programs

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Up close with the Eee PC - part 2: Installing unsupported programs

by Brad Linder Nov 2nd 2007

Sure, the Asus Eee PC comes with a cool new user interface that makes the tiny laptop with the 7 inch screen easy to use even if you know nothing about Linux. But can you play Doom on it? Well yes, we're pretty sure you can, but we didn't try.

What we did try was adding unsupported Debian Linux repositories that let you install a whole slew of applications beside the 40 or so that the Eee PC ships with. In part one of our series we looked at the "easy mode" interface. Now let's take a look at some of the hidden goodies Asus packed into this little box.

For example, you can pull up a terminal, open Konqueror, and use the Synaptic package manager to install programs. Since the Eee PC is based on Xandros Linux, you're probably best off installing applications from Xandros repositories, but you might have some success installing any Debian based packages. For example, I added "deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main" in order to install Audacity.

For more tips on adding repositories and making advanced changes, check out the EeeUser forum and Wiki.

If you have any more questions about the Eee PC interface, feel free to leave them in the comments. In the meantime, here are a few notes:

The VGA-out port works like magic, and can even power a 1280 x 1024 pixel monitor with ease
Web applications like Picnik and Snipshot work great in Firefox.
The battery seems to be good for the stated 3.5 hours.
The keyboard certainly isn't as comfortable for typing as a full sized keyboard, but it sure beats a Treo/BlackBerry/Sidekick/iPhone thumb pad.

Tags: eee-pc, linux, repositories, Xandros

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

josearoldan said 10:23PM on 11-02-2007

I'm looking into getting one of these to use it for basic email/web surfing and maybe travel around with it since I don't do anything that requires high end programs. It would be a great replacement for my rock solid 5 year old Thinkpad R30 :D. Also I was thinking if it would be possible to hook it up to an external cd-rom and install Ubuntu or something on it?

tobevers said 12:03AM on 11-03-2007

Both part 1 and part 2 of the videos list as no longer available when trying to view them.

steve said 9:08AM on 11-03-2007

Have you guys gotten VNCviewer to run on it at all? Please let me know! That would probably be the most useful app for me besides Web Surf/IM.

Brad Linder said 9:09AM on 11-03-2007

I haven't tried VNC because I use www.logmein.com to connect to other computers on my home network. But I might just have to give it a try.

Kevin said 2:45PM on 11-03-2007

Thanks for answering my earlier question about the battery life :)

Next question... what version of SDHC does it support? How large of an SD card are we able to insert for extra storage?

Water Bottle said 12:04AM on 11-04-2007

I don't suppose the eee can run the slingbox software. It'd be great to have a lightweight computer just for streaming to other TVs.

Brad Linder said 12:08AM on 11-04-2007

I don't believe there's a Linux version of the SlingPlayer available, but I could be wrong. You can, however install Windows XP on an Eee PC if you happen to have a spare license lying around. The computer ships with detailed instructions for installing XP and in the future Asus plans to offer a versino with XP pre-loaded, which will probably add about $40 to the price if we can believe what we've been reading. Seeing as we'd originally heard this would be a $200 laptop, I'm a bit skeptical about any price related rumors though.

Brad Linder said 12:55PM on 11-06-2007

It's possible, but I wouldn't recommend it. Because of the Eee PC's non-standard screen size and hardware, you might find that menus don't look right on the small screen and your favorite distro might have issues with the wireless card or other hardware.

That said, a lot of hackers are already working on these problems and it's probably a safe bet that we'll see Eee versions of Ubuntu and other distros coming soon.

TJ said 8:16AM on 11-07-2007

Brad - does the Eee have enough oomph to run the logmein.com remote control software? I'd like to use it to control my windows machine via the logmein.com remote control browser option.

Brad Linder said 8:17AM on 11-07-2007

TJ: Logmein works great. The Eee PC also has a remote desktop client, so you can control any machine running VNC software as well.

Shagbag said 4:37AM on 11-08-2007

Is it possible to install any linux distro on to it, eg. a user's favourite distro?

RB said 12:01PM on 11-15-2007

Hi, im confused!! Is it possible for me to install (Ebays turbo lister) on my eee pc. Every time i double click the exe. i get a screen asking what i want to install with or open with etc. Is it possible for me to install?
THANKS!!!!

Brad Linder said 12:02PM on 11-15-2007

RB: Unless you installed Windows XP on your Eee PC, then the answer is no. The Eee PC runs Linux, which means it doesn't know what to do with Windows executable files.

You could try installing the program using WINE, a Windows emulation layer for Linux (www.winehq.com), but if you've never used WINE before, I'm not sure I'd recommend trying it for the first time with your Eee PC. It will take a lot of customizing to get it right.

tre4 said 11:40PM on 11-18-2007

Kevin:
I've been using a Patriot 16GB SDHC card in my eeePC for 2 weeks now: No problems at all.

Ian said 9:38AM on 11-30-2007

Is it possible to use built in webcam on the eeepc with skype? MSN? Flixn?

amber said 9:19AM on 12-15-2007

you can use the built-in cam on the eee with Skype...just need to download the beta version: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/linux/beta/choose/

sean percival said 8:46PM on 12-12-2007

I blogged about how i installed xp on my asus:

http://www.seanpercival.com/blog/index.php/2007/12/10/how-to-install-windows-xp-on-the-asus-eee-pc/

Claude said 2:33PM on 12-23-2007

Does anyone know of a GPS application that can be installed on the eee?

Nick said 5:21PM on 12-29-2007

There is a guides here: http://www.eeeguides.com/2007/11/installing-windows-xp-from-usb-thumb.html
for install xp to the EEE pc with a usb flash drive.

chris said 9:40AM on 1-12-2008

hey i was wondering if u can download games like mmorpgs would it work

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