Filed under: Internet, OS Updates, Video, Features, Linux
Up close with the Eee PC user interface - part 1
by Brad Linder Nov 2nd 2007 at 1:33PM
November 1st has come and gone, and that means that Asus has begun shipping the Eee PC, a $399 ultra-light laptop that could give both the OLPC and major laptop makers a run for their money.
We're going to focus primarily on the software side of things, but in a nutshell, the first widely available model packs a 900MHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of solid state memory. It weighs just 2.1 pounds, has a 3.5 hour battery, and a tiny power adapter, making it a perfect machine for stuffing in your bag whenever you leave the house. But it also has a tiny 7 inch 800 x 480 pixel display, which can cause some problems with certain web sites and applications.
For example, Google Reader is almost unreadable in Firefox unless you do a little tweaking. F11 is your friend. Other friends include fullscreen add-ons like FullerScreen and Autohide. We've posted a few photos after the jump to show what a big difference a little Firefox tweaking can make.
Asus has done an excellent job of designing software that makes the hardware as easy to use as possible. The Eee PC runs a custom version of Xandros Linux. The operating system and preloaded applications take up a good 62% of the unit's memory, but you probably weren't going to use the Eee PC for downloading and storing huge video files anyway.
The interface almost looks more like a PDA UI than a computer. There's no start menu. There are tabs with different categories. And you often don't even see an application's full name. For example, to bring up Firefox, you click "Web." But unlike a PDA, the Eee PC can run full desktop applications like Firefox, OpenOffice.org, and Amarok.
Make sure to check out part one of our video series on the Eee PC too.
Thanks to the tiny 800 x 480 pixel screen, when you try loading Google Reader in Firefox, you'll only be able to see a few of your feeds.
You can recover a little space by hitting F11, or better yet, by installing an add-on like Autohide to hide the toolbar altogether when you hit F11.
You can recover a little space by hitting F11, or better yet, by installing an add-on like Autohide to hide the toolbar altogether when you hit F11.
And you can make the screen even more readable by using Google Reader's "U" keyboard shortcut to maximize the reading window.
For basic computing tasks, the Eee PC does it all. It can handle audio, video, and even web video. You can browse, work on office documents, and even play games. In part two of our video series, we'll show you how to install third party applications on the Eee PC.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kevin said 2:41PM on 11-02-2007
Can you make sure to give us an estimate of battery life please? :)
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Brad Linder said 2:22PM on 11-02-2007
Kevin:
I haven't timed it scientifically, but I think the official estimate of 3.5 hours seems right on target. It definitely outperforms my Toshiba laptop in the battery department.
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Kevin Archibald said 4:45PM on 11-02-2007
Very interesting!
Can it run VLC player and DIVX movies? Could i install codecs on it and watch movies off a memory stick or card?
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Brad Linder said 3:56PM on 11-02-2007
I haven't extensively tested its movie playing capabilities, but you can definitely watch movies from an SD card, a USB hard drive, or even a shared network drive.
It includes SMPlayer, which is based on the Linux MPlayer. It handled the DiVX videos I threw at it without a problem. I haven't tried WMV or m4a files yet.
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Brad Linder said 3:59PM on 11-02-2007
I haven't extensively tested its movie playing capabilities, but you can definitely watch movies from an SD card, a USB hard drive, or even a shared network drive.
It includes SMPlayer, which is based on the Linux MPlayer. It handled the DiVX videos I threw at it without a problem. I haven't tried WMV or m4a files yet.
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baron said 10:40PM on 11-02-2007
yawn.. this is a weak laptop running linux...
gateway or dell will sell you one for the same price with a real screen and windows
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jake said 11:03PM on 11-02-2007
What is the antivirus software?!
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Dirkson said 7:17PM on 12-31-2007
The anti-virus software is: IT RUNS LINUX.
There are roughly 20 viruses for linux, and because most distros use a sane method of software distribution, and because linux is actually well-designed as an OS, these have not spread beyond a handful of PCs.
Steve said 3:01AM on 11-03-2007
3.5 hours? That's absolute rubbish... Panasonic has a laptop that does 14 hours; Lenovo has Thinkpads that are pulling 8 and you can still add a battery to the cd bay if you wanted.
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Mark Alexander said 9:12AM on 11-03-2007
Is this a joke? What a poorly designed product. I don't get the point? It's ugly, the screen looks like it could be twice as large. Like what's with all that black stuff around the edge?
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user200 said 9:13AM on 11-03-2007
Come on. Who cares about Google Reader when you have full-blown office apps on Linux?
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Alex93053 said 9:13AM on 11-03-2007
Can you guys show the webcam running in part 2?
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Tony said 9:14AM on 11-03-2007
baron & steve - you are missing the point. The device is tiny, it is not supposed to be a full fledged PC - it is supposed to be an ultra-portable quick use productivity device.
It is being marketed in the uk for kids by RM. And the price is very good over here £199 for the 4GB version. Especially as something like the AlphaSmart typing device used by SEN children costs £170...
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Brad Linder said 9:15AM on 11-03-2007
Mark: That was my thought at first too (about the screen). But the black bits on the left and right are speakers. And having the small screen helps keep the price down and the battery life high. Asus has mentioned plans to release a version with a 10 inch screen in the future.
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xz said 6:18PM on 11-03-2007
the black area around the screen is the speaker
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nate said 7:44AM on 11-04-2007
For a size comparision...
Take 2 DVD movie cases and stack them on top of each other. The EEE is slightly wider, slightly deeper, and thiner.
This thing is __SMALL__. If you like cargo pants you can stick this in your pockets.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eeeuser/1769612791/
The screen is the same type of screen you have in UMPC. Same size, same resolution. Its actually good quality.
And if you want to compare Asus quality vs Apple vs whoever.. Asus are the actual iBook maker. Apple buys it's ibooks from them.. As well as other OEMs like Sony.
Right now I can go to Walmart.com and get a Linux PC for under 200 dollars, but that's not the point. The point of the thing is have a ultra-mobile device that is this side of $1000. If you go and look at people's offerings of smaller-then-12 inch laptops you'd see that the vast majority of them are over $1500.
This thing is unique. It has no peer.
But it's not for everybody. It's for people that want real mobility and are willing to pay for it through reduced capacity and performance. If you need it on the bus everyday or want a computer to use in the subway or carry in your backpack.. then this is it.
If you want a laptop for occasional mobility and desire performance and capacity over size then there are a wide veriety of very good Linux laptops provided by people like System76 for around $700
http://system76.com/index.php?cPath=28
And another thing to understand is the OEM vs ODM relationships between laptop manufacturers.
The people who actually build laptops are companies like Quantas and Asus. People like IBM/Leveno, Apple, Sony, Dell, HP, and so on and so forth (as well as smaller folks like System76) order their laptops with customized plastic shells and the like from those big companies.
The people who make your laptops are:
1. Quantas
2. Compal
3. Winston
4. Inventec
5. Asus
6. Uniwell
And then a bunch of other ones like Acer.
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Iain said 3:47PM on 11-05-2007
Hi,
I bought the eeePC and was excited when i got it. had it 2 days now and i am sat in front of my real computer websurfing and posting this comment on my eee right now!
The linux OS is KDE based with a strong Suse influence. The comments made in the video dont quite go far enough to explain that not only is the add/remove software utility very limited but there is no easily accessible package manager. if anyone knows how to launch it from the terminal please let me know.
I have however run a ventrilo server and had perfect ping with 3 LAN connectees using it from the minibook and unzipped and configured a java runtime environment for it.
on battery life i would say it definately lasts 3.5 hours, I don't run the wireless very often however. I believe i have had it working over 5 hors before but i wasnt really counting strictly.
It gets rather warm but is comfortable enough for exposure to your legs for a reasonable level. Also i cannot disagree strongly enough with this reviews assessment of the games on the minibook. Penguin racer is an addictive and punishing SSX-lite style game, it also has a clone of tetris, tetris attack, puzzle bobble and the learn section has TuxMath where you enter sums to prevent them falling on your cities. It may not sound like much but i wonder who hasnt wasted the battery life the device was shipped with by playing the games till the machine cried (it has good warning systems and a very long low battery time indicator)
Very impressed customer
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doublej said 3:58AM on 11-08-2007
with Server message block - I guess I can access my Windows home LAN ?
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