ASUS brings out mobos with Linux integrated in BIOS, and internet access.

ASUS brings out mobos with Linux integrated in BIOS, and internet access.

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Who needs an OS ;-)?

This is the funniest joke on MS bloat. Asus mentions as advantages 'instant boot' and 'not sensitive to MS virusses'.

They will implement this on all future mobos, and start with 1 M pieces a month.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje
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You're old enough to remember when some PCs came with all of DOS in ROM, right? (Back around the DOS 3.3 days, as I recall...) Never really caught on, presumably because it really was ROM back then (not flash ROM) so upgraded required physically installing new chips.

It's an interesting idea, although of course there are millions of boxes already out there booting lightweight Linux Kernels out of flash... just many don't have a display and most don't come with a web browser. Notable exceptions being Internet tablets like the Nokia N800, cell phones, etc.

Lightweight Linux isn't actually that much lighter weight than Windows Mobile (ne Windows CE).

Reply to
Joel Koltner

On a sunny day (Thu, 29 May 2008 09:04:01 -0700) it happened "Joel Koltner" wrote in :

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Well I remember I used an IBM (original) PC with BASIC.

The great thing (from my POV) is that soon millions of PC users will have Linux, they will likely prefer it for online activities, and hopefully they will ask themselves why they would need Vista. Sure there will be soft that only runs on that MS OS, but somebody will figure 'mount /dev/hdX1 /mnt/hdX1' (if it is not already a mouse click option), and try some Linux stuff, that will be free.

Well, but it is open source.

I have been playing with eeePC (also ASUS) this week, and was wondering shall I buy this, shall I not'... An other small Linux.... MS better be very good with Windows7, else they will be wiped out of existence.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

DOS-in-ROM PCs might not have been as popular as I'd like to believe. The Tandy 1000 had it, though

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I'm waiting for the eeePCs with the bigger screens to be available, but people are saying those newer models are going to be running >$400, at which point low-end laptops with a lot more CPU power start to compete.

Yep, agreed. Vista has definitely been a bit of a black eye for them.

Reply to
Joel Koltner

A friend has one, I'm not overly impressed. He has difficulty getting it to work with printers (limited driver availability, I guess, and he's definitely not in the "write his own driver" camp), and the thing is too small on the screen on the one hand, and too big on the package .vs. screen size on the other hand for my taste.

For that kind of money you can buy a used Powerbook / iBook / Macbook and run MacOSX for a full-featured GUI on top of a unix core, or a used PC laptop and build your own unix+gui, if so inclined - either of which has a full-scale screen and keyboard, and probably a faster processor, in most cases. Not to mention a lot more ways to plug in, etc.

I'd hope some of the package distributions will also get you to the latter (unix+gui on a wiped former windows machine) without too much geeking, but I have not had time/money to investigate them, much. Drivers for laptop-specific parts are often a problem, I know.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by
Reply to
Ecnerwal

Advise him not to buy hardware from idiots.

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*-very-active-*-*-*-*+*-reduced-the-barrier-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+Linux-supports-more-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+vertical+perception+*-few-companies-*-*-*-*+free+myth+already-*-handled-*-*+difficult+*-number-of-developers-who-*-*-*-*-*-*-help-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+*-*-*-*-well-documented-*+Microsoft-*-*-statement

Reply to
JeffM

"

s.

caught

raded

many

k option),

bile

all I buy this, shall I not'...

ence.

I bought an Eee pc a couple of weeks ago with the intention of probably returning it, but it's just too good to give up. My wife, who hates computers, uses it to read newspapers in bed (wireless). I use it for the same thing at the breakfast table. I could use my Macbook to get a better screen size, but it takes up too much room on the table and it's too bulky for bed.

-- Joe

Reply to
J.A. Legris

Yes; and they had the first supported full color display.

Reply to
Robert Baer

On a sunny day (Thu, 29 May 2008 17:26:28 -0700 (PDT)) it happened "J.A. Legris" wrote in :

I bought it :-) I must say that I am impressed. Not only does it play all my music, it also plays the DivX-4 videos I made years ago, without motion problems. The internal speakers are not much though. And yes, I can access nytimes.com without problems too. I give Asus very high notes for this, I use a 4GB USB stick with some music and movies, just plugged it it, it found it, extra memory. I intent to port this news reader (NewsFleX) to it, so I can read and write Usenet in a more practical way (then google groups).

One reason for me is that I also have this scooter, and this thing fits in it, so I can take it, great in the city. Also the fact that it is solid state is a plus in this case, went over bumpy roads with it today, no problem. And it can read my video camera's SDcards... Plays youtube... what more can you want.

Well, a RS232 port ;-)

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

On a sunny day (Thu, 29 May 2008 11:19:10 -0700) it happened "Joel Koltner" wrote in :

I bought it today, bough the demo, go a discount, at least i know this one is OK, as I tested it, there were a few with bad pixels it seems. Solid state, take with you on motor or scooter.

Why wait, money must flow....

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

roads

you want.

USB-RS-232 works on them. I've seen 2 so far work.

--
"I\'d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"

"Daily Thought:
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Reply to
Jamie

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option),

buy this, shall I not'...

MS has another problem, the *nix world is pretty well 64-bit up to speed. MS and almost all of their collateral application vendors are not. Plus *nix is far better at SMP than MS. Not to mention WINE is nearly mature.

Reply to
JosephKK

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option),

I doubt that the BIOS system will be much more than a kernel, a shell, busybox and a few tools needed to boot a disk or network based system or debug the hardware.

--
Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
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Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

On a sunny day (Fri, 30 May 2008 21:39:05 -0700) it happened "Paul Hovnanian P.E." wrote in :

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Strange, it includes Firefox, Skype, etc, read the link.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

On a sunny day (Fri, 30 May 2008 20:00:10 -0400) it happened Jamie wrote in :

Thank you, I will get hold of one, nice to test embedded stuff.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

option),

I think that would've happened already if it were easy. Linux on some Asus motherboards has been around since last autumn or thereabouts, in expensive models like the P5E3 Deluxe. Phoronix reviewed this back in October,

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The problem is that you get a very limited and locked system. You can run the apps they provide and nothing else. The Firefox is a crippled version, no plugins so no adblocking. There's absolutely no disk access either. In fact, the company behind this who calls their product "Splashtop", went so far that they have their own OS kernel which loads first and then that loads Linux. Seems like useless complication to me.

There's a explanation of the system at

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Well, they do claim they are working on an SDK.

It would've been nice if they had taken the existing LinuxBios project and brought that to Asus motherboards, then you'd have a real Linux booting in a few seconds and access to any hardware you want...

... but I suppose that would be impossible. Bios vendors would probably see it as a way to supplant them and stop working with Asus. Then again, Phoenix is doing a similar thing with their "HyperSpace".

Reply to
Anssi Saari

On a sunny day (Sat, 31 May 2008 14:07:30 +0300) it happened Anssi Saari wrote in :

option),

Well, it says in your next link it has mplayer plugin for Firefox, also Flash, and Web and Skype are now accompanied by a chat program, photo viewer, music player, video player, and standalone DVD player Thats is not a little bit, mplayer plugin plays NASA TV (was watching for shuttle launch).

I dunno about adblocking, is it important? I simply ignore ads....

Well, maybe here you have to be a bit more Linux experienced, if I can get a root access I have disk access..... Of course I dunno if they sealed that of.

Agreed.

Had the same thought, Award & others must be nervous. Maybe the in future the whole thing will shift more and more towards Linux. After MS shares go as junk...

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

Just add the qualifier "consumer" to that. *Nix and IBM had such many years before.

people

Reply to
JosephKK

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upgraded

option),

How big of a "flash" drive do you have? (I have not bought one for years and have a 1 GB) What is the current cost of an equivalent?

Reply to
JosephKK

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