Asus EEE PC 710
New Asus EEE PC710.
I pre-ordered my Asus eee at the beginning of November, but because of high demand and supply problems I didn’t receive it until a few days before Christmas.
Unpacking the unit, I was pleased by the overall build quality particularly given the low price. The keyboard is a a little cramped, but the key action is nice and crisp. You can certainly type articles of moderate length with no problems. You could attach a full size keyboard via one of the usb ports if you wished.
The first couple of days I spent playing with the pre-installed Xandros Linux and bundled applications. Asus have designed a very user friendly interface any anyone who normally uses a computer, Windows or Linux powered, should be able to use the Asus with almost no learning curve.
The bundled applications will meet most people’s needs. I connected to the Internet using the built in wireless with no problems. However, I had to install a hacked version of mplayer to play videos encoded for my iPod. Apparently Asus chose to use a version of mplayer without the codecs for H263 compiled in to avoid patent problems. Video playback is fine, with just the odd slowing down for a second because of the relatively low processor power. However, videos are perfectly watchable.
After a couple of days use I found that some of my favourite applications weren’t available in the Xandros repositories. I use emacs as or of my main productivity tools in conjuctions with org mode. I did manage to install emacs by including some Debian repositories in the default Xandros setup. However, my attempt to install Yakuake completely screwed things up.
Time to bit ht bullet! My normal OS is Kubuntu, The excellent Asus eee users site contains several very good tutorials on installing Ubuntu. I opted to completly replace the built in Asus Xandros based OS with Kubuntu. However, it’s quite possible to install Kubuntu on an SD card an boot from that leaving the default Xandros untouched.
I should mention that the eee has a separate recover partition and if you completely bork your install you can restore back to factory defaults by holding the F9 key at boot time.
I now have Kubuntu installed and all the built in features lke the webcam, Atheros wireless and suspend work perfectly. Emacs and org mode work perfectly and I am typing this article in emacs.
I don’t feel constrained by the 4 GByte built in flash, as I can easily add more storage via SD cards, or usb thumb drives. I keep my important stuff in a Truecrypt encrypted container, so if the Asus was lost or stolen it wouldn’t compromise my data security. In fact I could easily boot two or three different operating systems from SD cards, including Windows XP (not that I would want to use XP).
I have access to a huge range of applications via the Ubuntu repositories.
When away from a Wifi hotspot you can use a bluetooth dongle as a modem to connect via your phone, provided you have a data plan. Browsing on the Asus screen is a much more pleasant experiance than using your smartphone.
So what are the pros and cons compared to a conventional laptop?
- Compact form factor, but still big enough to allow me to comfortably type.
- Screen size and resolution is adequate for things like web browsing, email and writing.
- Makes a nice portable video player. I can either store videos on an SD card or copy them temporarily from my iPod to an SD card to take advantage of the bigger screen on the Asus.
- The Asus is not pocketable. However, you can easily hold it in one hand and it weighs almost mothing. If I was going away for a few days, I would much rather take the Asus than a full size laptop.
- Windows users shouldn’t find any difficulty in using the built in Web, email and Office applications.
- Outlook addicts may well be disappointed. However, the KDE PIM app Kontact, is very functional. In any case Outlook addicts should seek therapy for their problem:)
- Battery life is around 3 hours. I am not normally away from some sort of mains for longer than this, so it’s not a problem for me.
Overview.
- Good build quality.
- Most people will find it does all they need straight out of the
box. Asus interface is very functional.
- Based on Xandros - a Debian distro.
- Will boot from usb or SD, so can use different distros without
overwriting existing install.
- Recovery partition - press F9 at boot to restore.
- Couldn’t install all the apps I required from Xandros repos, so
installed Kubuntu.
- Good for viewing videos.
- Keyboard a bit cramped.
- Low cost.
- Browse web using phone as a bluetooth modem.
Applications.
Here is a partial list of apps I have installed, apart from the kubuntu standard stuff:
- Conky
Handy system monitor application. Very configurable.
- Wireshark and Nmap
Network security and monitoring tools. Useful when travelling and debugging problems on other people’s networks.
- Truecrypt
I keep all my sensitive data in a Truecrypt container. When mounted this appears as just another directory. If my Asus is lost or stolen my privacy and security shouldn’t be compromised.
- KGPG
KDE front end to Gnu PGP.
- YaKuake
Nifty terminal app. Just pop it up over whatever you are doing by pressing F12.
- Emacs
All my todo lists, projects and calendar are kept in emacs org files. I am typing this on emacs! I have a hacky way of keeping my Google calendar and emacs in sync.
- Vim full
I am not a zealot, sometimes vim is better tha emacs and it’s nice to be able to use both.
- GtkPod
For getting stuff on/off my iPod. Used mainly for transferring video files from the iPod to view on the bigger screen of the Asus.
Page created: 2010–02–04
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