Comments on: Asus Eee-PC 901 OS recommendations?

By: PeteCress

PeteCress — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:05:48 +0000

You guys need to invest in a disc imaging utility before trying different OS’s.

I use something called TeraByte Image. Boots to DOS, images my 901’s system to a USB2 hard drive in about 20 minutes. Restores in the same time. Probably a half-dozen similar ones out there, but this is the one I stumbled into years back. FWIW, it successfully runs from a memory stick - and some other imaging utilities are said to have problems there.

I’m about to try putting XP on this thing (again)…. To recover from that, I’ll need to run the Asus recovery CD to get the partitioning back to Linux… but after that it will be only 20 minutes unattended to get my eee Ubuntu system back there exactly the way I left it.

By: Roy

Roy — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:49:22 +0000

Hi Horakus. I currently have Ubuntu EEE running. Unfortunately, the latest version (which includes Netbook Remix) requires a full install, and I’m somewhat reluctant to reinstall my eee-pc for a fourth time since I got it.

By: Horakus

Horakus — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:52:24 +0000

Maybe you could try this:

http://www.ubuntu-eee.com

Ubuntu Eee is not only Ubuntu optimized for the Asus Eee PC. It’s an operating system, using the Netbook Remix interface, which favors the best software available instead of open source alternatives (ie. Skype instead of Ekiga).

It seems to work (almost) out of the box with 901…

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:07:04 +0000

I dislike the Xandros disribution that shipped with my eee1000. It’s slow, clumbsy and unintuitive. I installed Ubuntu and was generally impressed; although all the lines of code I had to enter to enable the wireless adapter was a little cumbersome, it worked. The OS is generally nice to use. Codecs such as .avi and .wmv can be installed via the application manager with relative ease.

Where, though, does it install? At no point does Ubuntu prompt for an install location. There are 6 partitions of my SSD for some unfathomable reason, one of which I’m required to format should I wish to install XP, but none of which I am able to without having to restore my eeepc from the recovery disk. It simply wont boot. Very irritating.

By: Bad Penny

Bad Penny — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:10:16 +0000

The vacation laptop: ASUS EEE PC 901…

Even the new chipset ethernet drivers (as of the beginning of August ‘08) are not yet in the linux kernel, so a simple install is problematic.

… This should prove to be a good example of what options are available if someone isn’t served by Wind…

By: Roy

Roy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:34:57 +0000

I’m so glad that Ubuntu is “Linux for human beings”… there’s a large and very helpful community, and I’ve not had to compile anything. Considering how the innards of the 901 are the same for every machine, there should be no need to do so anyway, right?

By: markov

markov — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:04:03 +0000

I had the same impression with the 701.
That’s why I’m trying to install a *real* distro on the 901 and the preliminary works on Mandriva are developing well.

Unfortunately there are still some issue open: acpi and the extra buttons for example.
I fixed the eth, wlan and BT, but acpi modules refuse to compile with the 2008.1 kernel version.

By: Roy

Roy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:07:11 +0000

Since I wrote this post I moved on to Ubuntu exclusively. The full desktop mode in Xandros felt a little clumsy to me, especially when compared to Ubuntu’s Compiz Fusion fireworks. Also OpenOffice Calc failed miserably in full desktop mode.

By: markov

markov — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:54:47 +0000

So, are you satisfied by the xpc-recovery dvd?
I read the release notes where it is written that the full desktop mode is not *yet* available for the updated version of the OS.
Is it still true? With the 701 I feel a little constrained without the full desktop.

By: Roy

Roy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:24:05 +0000

I wasn’t really surprised to see it go wrong. I’m a total Linux newbie, so I was happy to even get it working…