I received my eeepc back from Asus on February 6, 2008. I have had no problems with it, it is working great. I am not certain, but it appears to be a brand new one unless they replaced the case and changed the serial number. Thanks Asus for replacing it.
I thought that I wold post a couple pictures so here they are. I took them on my camera phone so they are a littler blurry so sorry. I might review my phone later and I might review my Palm TX that I used for a size comparison.
Several months ago I officially switched to Ubuntu Linux as my primary operating system. For those of you that don’t know what Linux is, Linux is an alternative operating system to the likes of Windows XP, Windows Vista, and OS X. The reason that you might not have heard about Linux before is because Linux used to be only for the major computer geek, it was not something that the average person could use efficiently.
Ubuntu is a version of Linux that is considered one of the most user friendly versions available. This for this reason that it is one of the most popular, maybe even the most popular version. If you are new to Linux it is the one that I believe you should start with. Before Ubuntu I had tried other versions of Linux with not much success on getting it to work correctly. I tried Fedora and Suse and did like the part that I got to work correctly, but I alway had problems with certain parts such as getting the correct screen resolution so that my screen did not look distorted and setting up my wireless card. What really kept me from switching to Linux was not being able to get dual boot to work correctly. I have XP and Vista installed also and when I would install the GRUB boot loader that allows me to choose which one I want to use at startup, it would sometimes not recognize XP and Vista and I would have to repair them by reinstalling them again. I know that it is not necessary to reinstall them, but they had slowed down over time anyways so it was a good idea to reinstall. After trying this a few times I finally gave up and settled for Windows for a while, that is until Ubuntu 7.10 came out. I had head that it was much improved to the earlier version which I had tried and had fail to recognize Windows.
So I tried it, I put the disk in and booted up the live CD and clicked install and went through the steps to install it. I resized my NTFS partitions and made a new one for Ubuntu and followed the simple install process. When it had finished I rebooted and GRUB came up and had the option to go into XP and Vista along with Ubuntu. I went into XP and Vista first and they both still worked so I went into Ubuntu and it worked great. It already had the screen resolution set correctly. The only immediate problem that I had was my wireless card was not setup with the correct driver and failed to work. After so research on the Ubuntu forums and several hours later I was able to get it working by disabling the driver that was not working and and using NDISWRAPPER which allows you to use the Windows driver for that card in Linux.
Now that I had Internet I could start to install programs to make it work better. The first thing I did was install the video card driver using the restricted drivers manager. This allowed me to have 3d acceleration so that I could play graphic intensive games and also enable Compiz. Compiz adds the eye candy that makes Vista look like Windows 9x. Compiz gives you a 3d cube with virtual desktops and wobbly windows.
Wobbly windows make your windows flex and gives you the feeling that your are physically doing something when you move it because it has a response like real objects, plus it looks really cool. There are several other cool things that you can do with Compiz that I can’t cover here, so check the Ubuntu forums.
Linux is finally reaching the point where the average user will be comfortable with it. If you want to try something different than what Micro$oft has to offer Ubuntu is a good option. I am not saying that Micro$oft is bad (I know some Linux users will disown me for saying this). Micro$oft is just more expensive (Ubuntu is free) and in many, but not all way inferior to Linux, especially when it comes to stability. If you do not consider your self capable of installing Linux yourself I would recommend either installing it on an old unused computer that you can’t hurt or having a geeky friend of yours install it. Or if you are looking for a new computer Dell has some models that you can get preloaded with Ubuntu Linux. Now that Linux is ready for the average and the geek it is becoming a competitor to Micro$oft.
Some of you might not want to install Linux because there are compatibility problems with it and Micro$oft you don’t have to worry too much because with programs like OpenOffice.org you can use Micro$oft formats. You can also run many Windows programs in Linux using a program called Wine. With more competition to Micro$oft out there Windows will have to improve in stability and in security and listening to customers. So go try Linux and watch for either Micro$oft to decline into nothingness or to greatly improve.
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I recently purchased the new laptop from Asus, the eeepc, You can hardly call it a laptop, it is more of an ultra-portable. It is extremely tiny as you can tell from the picture on the above website, it feels smaller when you hold it in your hands for the first time. The eeepc is a really nice computer, I can take it wherever I go, I even carry it in my pocket when I don’t have my backpack. I take it to school with me and use it to write all of my reports in class when I have free time. I am extremely impressed with the performance that this computer has, it runs a version of Xandros Linux that makes it run really fast on the modest processor that it has. I personally prefer Ubuntu Linux, which I will review in a future blog, but to keep the computer running fast this was a good choice for Asus to choose Xandros. If you do not like Xandros you can choose to put another operating system on it, even Windows XP. You can also boot from an SD card or a flash drive and have an option of which operating system you want at boot. I have installed Ubuntu on an SD card and ran it, but boot time was really slow, the main problem was that I had a slow SD card that caused it to run slower.
Everything about the eeepc can’t be good so here are the problems that I have had. The screen is very small and makes it more difficult to see things on the screen, this is mainly a problem when I am using it for web browsing and I have to scroll horizontally. If a big screen is what you need or want you should get a full featured laptop. The eeepc is a product for certain people, it is not for everyone. Another sometimes limiting feature of the eeepc is that it lacks a CD/DVD drive. The only time that I dislike this is when I want to watch a DVD or install a different operating system. This problem can be solved by getting an external USB CD/DVD drive for when you really need it. Now for the big problem that I have had with this computer. This is the reason that I am not using it to write this now. The one that I had started to freeze up on me at intermittent times. It was not a software error because I restored it to the factory defaults and it did not fix the problem. So I had to contact Asus support to get an RMA number so that I could send it back, so I sent an email to Asus requesting one and then I waited five business days and did not get a response, so I resent that email and three days later I got an email and this is basically what it said: “For eeepc support call this number.” This is where the tech support got better, I was on hold for about five seconds and all together I was on the phone for maybe seven minutes at most and I had a RMA number. The people that I talked to also spoke English as a first language. I would highly recommend calling Asus instead of emailing. I can not say for sure that their email tech support is bad because at this time the company is working on splitting into two companies so it is most likely hectic at this time. I have not heard any bad tech support stories over at eeeuser on the forums, but I have heard some good ones. I would highly recommend going to eeeuser if you are interested in getting an eeepc or need help on problems you might be experiencing with yours.
I have not yet received my eeepc back from Asus so I am hoping to get it soon, should be today or tomorrow, so I hope that they tell me what was wrong with it.
All in all the eeepc is an excellent computer to own. I would recommend it to anyone that needs a computer that they can take anywhere with them. Someone that wants a computer that can do most tasks easily and quickly. The eeepc is also very affordable with prices starting as low as $299, I have the $399 version that has the webcam and four gigabytes of storage instead of two.
Like what you read? Help pay for my college? Donate with PayPal, you don’t need an account just click continue near the bottom left of the page, above the credit cards, every dollar counts. Thanks,
At geek_tech_blog I will be writing reviews and making informative videos and tutorials on geek related tech. Such as web related services, computer programs and operating systems. I do not have any info up at this point because I am still getting started, stay tuned for exciting stuff coming soon. If you are not a geek I will try to make my information understandable and applicable to you as well.
