EEE PC gets windows xp..

Finally got round to it and boy and I glad I did it - it's excellent! ASUS' drivers disk was bang on and had an all-in-one installer so no hassles.

I've got a fully updated, completely unstripped version of XP (Pro) - with 1.48GB free of the 4GB disc which ain't bad at all. I got rid of all the windows updates backups as well as various other rubbish that I don't need/care about. Original disk free (with a few apps) was about 500mb so it was well worth doing.
I've disabled the pagefile and she's got 2gb of RAM. Boot time? About 20 seconds! Hibernation not required nor necessary lol.

Pro's over the shipped linux:

- wireless is much easier and much smarter. More options / less hassle.
- 2gb of RAM visible versus 1gb (apparently i'd of needed to recompile the kernel - ideal)
- screen rotation - enabled by default by the intel GMA drivers - it's an eee book reader now :)
- compatibility and (frankly) ease of use. As much as i respect linux.. Well you know ;)

Con's:

- possibly more writes to drive: personally i'm not bothered. I've disabled as much as possible to mitigate writes. You can install to SDHC but this is likely to be much slower in action.
- 153 updates (post SP2!) took a er.. while :)

Performance? Feel quick and responsive to be absolutely honest (i didn't expect that). Streaming video now works (the built in linux player refused to play files over the network) via Winamp and of course i can use remote desktop etc.

Todo:

I'm going to do the touchscreen mod - i can't resist the idea of turning it into a giant pda as well as a tiny weeny pc.


Thinking of trying it on your eee? JUST DO IT!

Was unable to get into my office last week (OFSTED inspectors in the room next door, and I wasn't allowed through), so started doing this on one of ours (we've got 2 4gb jobbies to play with). Home time before I got to play with it, but XP Pro is on it, the drivers are installed. Just need to switch her on and have a play myself now. Just as painless on any other PC so far, and driver installation was, as you say, a breeze. :)

I installed nVidia purevideo on it last night - and now i can use it to watch tv recorded by the media centre wirelessly.. I could pop one of these behind the telly in the bedroom and use it as an extender (almost).

Also come across a driver hack that lets you run > resolution than the lcd screen natively supports.. Going to try this once i've imaged the drive for a backup.

dangel do you have the hack running on the XP build on the eee to get the larger screen res etc? I know you can take it up to 1024x768 and seen a few that will take it to 1200x900 i think it is.

Just waiting on the 8gb version myself before I buy one but the 800x600 res would be a nightmare.

EDIT: Just seen your post, can you let me know how the driver hack goes with the screen for the larger resolutions :)

Does anyone know if the eee pc 10" screen is actually happening as Asus are saying there is no plans but some of the stories I've read show their German operations manager saying there is one on the way.

Yeah no problems - i just want to back it up (now it's running perfectly) before I try anything dodgy ;) I'll report back here (probably tomorrow) along with a link for it (found it on the eee user forum).

Surprisingly, the res isn't the issue you'd think - for browsing you just hit f11 (full screen) and there's enough space for it to be useful (it's 800x480 btw natively). Use opera (it's the fastest browser too) and it's built in zoom function as well and you're sorted.

Thanks :)

Was looking at getting one of these so when I am out and about I can continue the work I need to get done. Only reason for a slightly larger screen res would be for coding on. The rest of it would be general open office, email and browsing.

small keyboards suck for coding. i did my wrists an injury writing a few thousand lines of code on a 12.2" laptop - an eee would have been ten times worse

Quote:

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Originally Posted by directhex

small keyboards suck for coding. i did my wrists an injury writing a few thousand lines of code on a 12.2" laptop - an eee would have been ten times worse

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I once tried to write a simple amendment to my connect 4 playing LCS on a tablet pc.

Most pointless exercise ever.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by directhex

small keyboards suck for coding. i did my wrists an injury writing a few thousand lines of code on a 12.2" laptop - an eee would have been ten times worse

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Yeah I would limit myself to the time I spend doing that type of work. 99% of the time it would be for browsing whilst at the girlfriends and also the fact of just a small portable there and then you could chuck in your bag and doesn't have a hefty price tag to match it.

Yeah it's not really aimed for lots of typing - but OTOH there are rollup/fold out keyboards etc. and plenty of usb ports.. It'll drive my 1600x1200 monitor just fine too.

Look forward to the res test then :) if it works I will hang about for the 8gb version and see if that 10" screen version actually happens if not then I will just get the 8gb 7" version

Interesting, I need 6.5GB free and 800x600 resolution for portable World of Warcraft. Sounds like it is nearly there :D

Space can be had merely by plugging int a SDHC card..

Users report WOW works but is 'generally laggy'

Put XP and 2gb on mine a week or two ago, it flies! The SSD is fantastic, Office 2007 apps open instantaneously! As good as the Linux distro was, XP is just easier! Very useful little tool this, always raises and eyebrow or two at presentations!

Yup - no doubt the linux distro was great but really XP has taken it a whole new level for me.

Am I even allowed to say that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dangel

Yup - no doubt the linux distro was great but really XP has taken it a whole new level for me.

Am I even allowed to say that?

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As long as we do it quietly... the penguins won't hear us...

They're crap at running anyway ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dangel

Space can be had merely by plugging int a SDHC card..

Users report WOW works but is 'generally laggy'

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Ooh, I might want to look into that. Would only want it for auction house trading, I can't really see it being a tool for playing the game for real.

There's a video on youtube of someone doing it if you're interested.