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Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

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Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#111

Post by squarefoot »

EeePCs are still useful machines today. Need something that spits or receives packets for network testing? Grab a used one with decent battery life and you're done. Want to listen to online radio in the lab but don't want to use your phone? Again, get a used EeePC for peanuts and connect it to a pair of speakers. And what about a small IoT controller to be put in each room? Pair it with a networked VoIP terminal and voila, instant communications too. They're small, their power supply is small, the audio i/o capabilities are more than enough for some uses (1) and they have a physical Ethernet port which makes them perfect for network testing and other uses (web server testing, emergency on-the-fly file serving, etc).

(1) Before I bought a Zoom recorder, I used my Samsung NC10 to record my former band using Audacity. I had to build an external stereo mic preamp because I wanted to use two dynamic mics to keep noise low as the internal mic and circuitry weren't built with the sound pressure of a rehearsal room in mind, and the input expected a higher level than a dynamic capsule could produce. I later built a stereo mic using two Panasonic WM61a electret capsules so I could get rid of the preamp; today I would use a pair of AOM-5024L-HD-F-R capsules, which are super cheap and super silent.

Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#112

Post by wodenokoto »

Sunspark wrote: post #15

The Eee PC 701 was amazing. It was really good for students who needed something small and light that they could take to the library, etc. The alternative back then was a heavy power-hungry full-size laptop. This is before all the stuff we take for granted today like tablets, etc. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 was the next really good netbook. After those, Apple introduced the Macbook Air which came in a 11.6" size. Even…

> I don't think netbooks will be back. When you look at something like the Raspberry Pi 4, it's way more powerful than the old Eee 701 was and the Pi is a very small form factor. If a manufacturer thinks there is a market for it, they could encapsulate something like that in a keyboard and screen and give it Linux as an open OS. So why won't this happen you ask?

Roughly speaking, that is exactly how netbooks started and then they very quickly switched to Windows.

I don't know if it was consumer pressure or pressure from MS that caused this, but I do think it was Microsoft that pressured producers to switch.

Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#113

Post by gattilorenz »

> All to run a deeply-annoying version of Windows

That’s only the later models based on 7 starter edition. My 1000H simply ran XP (maybe Home Edition, then replaced with Pro, but for most people that wouldn’t be a big difference).

As with most people here, it wasn’t a beefy machine, but in my university years I did _everything_ on it, including running virtual machines in VirtualPC and VMware Workstation and turning it into a Snow Leopard Hackintosh.

Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#114

Post by Aloha »

> Did anyone actually buy a netbook? The only people I ever met who had netbooks were other tech writers; at one memorable trade show my colleague Adi Robertson showed up with both a gigantic gaming laptop and a tiny netbook, two laptops both perfectly ill-suited for the tasks at hand.

The only people I knew who had them, bought them used. I don't think I know anyone who bought one new.

Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#115

Post by nvrspyx »

Sunspark wrote: post #15

The Eee PC 701 was amazing. It was really good for students who needed something small and light that they could take to the library, etc. The alternative back then was a heavy power-hungry full-size laptop. This is before all the stuff we take for granted today like tablets, etc. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 was the next really good netbook. After those, Apple introduced the Macbook Air which came in a 11.6" size. Even…

Now I'm feeling nostalgic. My main laptop in high school was a tiny Eee netbook (don't remember the model) running CrunchBang. I ended up using it as a headless server for a makeshift home lab during my freshman year in college.

Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#116

Post by bubblethink »

squarefoot wrote: post #101
TheCycoONE wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GalliumOS works for the x86 chromebooks. For a handful of arm chromebooks archlinuxarm works reasonably well. I bought a Samsung Chromebook Plus (1st gen) before covid when I was taking the train every day. I find it to be a great carry with me device for note taking, web browsing, coding, and light gaming when combined with a tiling window manager. It certainly feels like the netbook promise of the late 2000s. I hav…

I wonder what's the purpose of GalliumOS. After the usual unlocking, I've installed Manjaro on several 1st and 2nd generation Chromeboxes with no problems whatsoever; everything supported out of the box, and I would expect Debian or Ubuntu to work as well. Are there any incompatibilities with newer generation models so that a dedicated distro is needed?

Google doesn't upstream chromebook code. Chromebooks run hacked up downstream kernels. GalliumOS incorporates those hacks. Over time, some things make it upstream.

Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#117

Post by asojfdowgh »

orangepurple wrote: post #25

My takeaway from the article: Microsoft gave ASUS a deal they couldn't refuse. ASUS took the bait and sold the Eee PC with Windows preinstalled but the version of Windows was a little too crappy. Ultimately this sealed their fate as people upgraded to a "real computer," resigning the Eee PC's position to that of a toy. Is this right?

> Microsoft gave ASUS a deal they couldn't refuse.

and afaik others too, to flood the market with more "practical" options than the XO, so the XO wouldn't take off in other parts of the world

can't have computer classes without having microsoft computer classes, after all. Gotta get em' while they are young.

https://www.bu.edu/writingprogram/journal/past-issues/issue-... https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop...

Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#118

Post by mrgriscom »

A walk down memory lane for sure... I loved my Eee PC 901 and still have it. I used it to build a 'carputer' / navigation system before I had a smartphone. http://mrgris.com/projects/birdseye/

I remember becoming disillusioned that the netbook branding pivoted to "cheap" rather than "compact". The 9" series was quickly abandoned, with much more expensive 10" models becoming standard. An "almost laptop"-sized laptop for "almost laptop" prices wasn't really compelling. The 901 was adorably small and only cost $400 iirc.

Re: Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC” (2021)

#120

Post by jrockway »

Nursie wrote: post #42
Sunspark wrote: post #15

The Eee PC 701 was amazing. It was really good for students who needed something small and light that they could take to the library, etc. The alternative back then was a heavy power-hungry full-size laptop. This is before all the stuff we take for granted today like tablets, etc. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 was the next really good netbook. After those, Apple introduced the Macbook Air which came in a 11.6" size. Even…

Nah, the 901 was where it was at! Atom chip, more usable screen size, 4GB system drive that was reasonably snappy. I used that thing for years, even ran OSX snow-leopard on it for a while.

I had both of those. I think I got the most use out of the 701. I took that thing everywhere and used it as my primary laptop. You can probably find pictures of me using it to give conference talks, sitting around at hackathons coding (with a HHKB attached), etc. I used Debian, and even had working WiFi.

The 901 I bought later since it seemed like more specs would be better, it was big and cheap feeling. I do remember getting a WiMax stick for it and reading RSS feeds in Google Reader on my commute. That was so novel at the time!

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