Eeextremely Eeenticing: a review of the Asus Eee PC

Good things come in small packages

The Asus Eee PC challenges many conventional assumptions about mobile computing. The daring, diminutive device combines a svelte subnotebook form factor with a unique Linux software platform and a budget-friendly price—factors that could make this unprecedented product a mainstream marvel. Last week, my colleague Jon described the Eee PC as game-changing: a characterization that we will put to the test in this review.

Tech specs

• CPU: 900 Mhz Intel Mobile Celeron
• Video: Intel GMA 900
• Display: 7" LCD widescreen at 800x480
• Storage: 4GB internal flash
• OS: Custom Xandros-based Linux
• RAM: 512MB
• Optical drive: None
• Networking: Atheros AR5007EG wireless, 10/100 ethernet

First impressions

The most striking characteristic of the Eee PC is its unbelievably small size. At 8.9" x 6.5" x 1.4" and approximately 2.03lb, the Eee delivers serious mobility. When closed, it's approximately the same size as a hardcover book. It's also very easy to tote around while it is open and can be comfortably held in only one hand. The exterior has a glossy, pearl-white finish that picks up fingerprints very easily, but seems a bit more dirt-resistant than the plain white finish of a MacBook. According to Asus, the Eee PC will eventually be available in a range of colors, including pink, green, and black.

The Eee battery is a round module that fits into the back underneath the screen between the two hinges. The battery fits tightly with no wiggling and can be removed by sliding two clasps simultaneously. The hinges for the lid are very big and seem sufficiently sturdy. The screen, which takes up only part of the lid, is flanked by two large speakers and is surrounded by a wide bezel. The 4GB Eee has an embedded 0.3 megapixel video camera which is built into the bezel above the screen.

The Eee has several vents on the bottom and one on the side. A panel on the bottom can be removed to provide access to the Eee's RAM, but opening the panel voids the warranty. Intrepid modders have already successfully replaced the built-in 512MB stick with 1GB.

When running, the Eee generates very little fan noise. After several hours of use, the machine gets very warm but can still be used comfortably on a lap. The Eee has a row of LEDs along the front-right side that indicate battery status, drive access, and wireless connectivity.

Keyboard and touchpad 

The Eee keyboard is easily the device's most significant weakness. The keys are very small and are positioned too close together, which makes the keyboard feel cramped. The layout is also a bit odd, with all of the number keys placed one position to the left of where they should be. Despite the small size, I was able to touch-type on the keyboard right away. During the first few hours of use, I made many typing errors and frequently hit the wrong key. My accuracy gradually improved, and after several days of use I can now type on it almost as well as I can type on a regular laptop keyboard.

There are several mistakes that I still make on a regular basis. I often hit the Enter key when I'm trying to type an apostrophe, and I often hit the 2 key when I'm trying to hit the 1 key. The odd number placement is particularly frustrating if you have passwords that include numbers, because you can easily hit the wrong ones without even realizing it when typing into an obscured password field.

In addition to all of the regular letter, number, and symbol keys, the Eee keyboard has a full row of F keys that can be used to adjust volume and brightness or toggle WiFi when used with the Fn key to the right of the control key. The keyboard also has arrow keys in the expected place and a context menu key. On the Eee keyboard, the key that would usually be the Windows key on regular keyboards is decorated with a small house icon.

Like the keyboard, the Eee touchpad is very small and will require users to adapt a little bit. It took me a day of use to become accustomed to the Eee touchpad. At the bottom of the touchpad is a single bar that serves for both left and right click depending on which side is pressed. On most Linux distributions, you can simulate a middle-click by pressing both sides at once, but this is somewhat difficult to do on the Eee because its a single button. The touchpad also has standard support for tap-clicking and finger scrolling.

I can see clearly now

The Eee screen, which uses LED backlighting to conserve power, is very bright and crisp. The brightness level is fully adjustable, and, when used indoors, the screen remains easily readable at all but the lowest two brightness settings. The screen doesn't fare as well under direct sunlight, which considerably reduces readability.

The Eee screen has a maximum resolution of 800x480. Such a low resolution is acceptable for a handheld computer, but it feels a bit inadequate on the Eee's seven-inch screen. I consider the low screen resolution to be the Eee's second most significant weakness after the cramped keyboard. For comparison purposes, it is worth noting that the Nokia N800 uses the same resolution on a four-inch screen. Most of the software shipped with the Eee uses a size 10 font for the user interface, which makes everything seem cramped on the tiny display. Later in the article, we will discuss how to reduce the default interface font sizes to 8, which significantly improves the situation and makes the low resolution much more usable.

The Eee is shipped with an AC adapter that is used to charge the unit. The AC adapter, which is white, is bulky but has no brick. The bulkiness means that it wastes space on a surge protector (very annoying if you're short on open sockets) but the absence of a brick makes it easier to tote around.

Despite the cramped keyboard and the low-resolution screen, I'm still satisfied with the Eee hardware. The build quality is relatively high, and the small form factor is extremely impressive. The Eee has some nice extras too, like the SD slot, VGA output, and built-in webcam. At a $399 price point, the Eee hardware is a pretty darn good value. The level of mobility is also pretty hard to beat. I schlep it effortlessly around the house, and when I take it out with me, I almost forget I'm carrying a computer. It certainly beats the shoulder strain I get from lugging around my Dell. In fact, I really wish that I had the Eee with me last month when I went to Boston to cover FOSSCamp and the Ubuntu Developer Summit. It would have been the perfect computer for that kind of trip.

The software environment

The Eee PC has decent hardware, but the product's success in the mainstream consumer market will largely depend on the quality of the software platform. The Eee runs a heavily modified version of the Debian-based Xandros Linux distribution. In this review, we will evaluate the user experience provided by the default software environment supplied by Asus, and we will also dig deeper as well as provide some helpful hacking hints for Linux enthusiasts who want to customize the platform.

The Eee Linux distribution has a "basic mode" that is designed to maximize ease of use and minimize system resource overhead. The Eee also has a "full desktop mode" that provides a complete KDE environment. Although both modes were available by default in earlier prototypes, the production units only provide access to the basic mode. There is a very simple command-line trick for bringing back the full desktop mode, which we will discuss later in the review.

The Eee basic mode user interface.

The basic mode user interface displays a series of program launchers organized into tab groups. At the bottom of the screen is a thin panel with a taskbar and an icon notification area (which is like the Windows tray). The notification area has a clock and icons that indicate battery status, network connectivity, audio volume, and capslock or numlock status. The notification area will also house other icons created by persistent software applications like Skype.

The launcher icons in the tab groups start applications, launch web pages, or display additional application launchers. Program windows are displayed on top of the launcher interface, which makes it seem sort of like a replacement for the desktop. Windows can be dragged around and resized individually, and can also be minimized, maximized or closed. The panel and the window borders are supplied by IceWM, a lightweight open-source window manager that Asus has integrated into the Eee user interface. The IceWM theme used by the Eee is designed to closely resemble the silver theme from Windows XP.

Although the Eee doesn't provide any utility for changing the IceWM theme (this can be done after some command-line tweaking, as we will show you later), the Personalization utility on the Settings tab allows users to customize the colors of the launcher and panel. The default color is silver, but I'm particularly fond of the blue option.

The green theme.

The orange theme.

The blue theme.

The last icon at the far right end of the panel is an arrow that will toggle panel visibility. The visibility of the panel can also be toggled with the Ctrl+Alt+H keyboard shortcut. Next to the panel visibility toggle arrow is happy face icon that will launch the Asus Eee PC FAQ page in the default web browser. There is also a small grid icon that will launch a process manager that can be used to list system processes and terminate hung programs.

The first icon on the left-hand side of the panel is a home button that will minimize all open windows and display the launcher interface. This makes it easy to launch additional applications even when many programs are running. The home key on the Eee keyboard does this too, which is particularly useful. In general, the launcher interface handles keyboard control very well. For those of us who don't like to point and click, arrow keys can be used to navigate between launchers, the tab key will rotate through tab groups, and the enter key will activate a launcher.

The window manager, launcher, and panel are all extremely minimalist, but they provide sufficient usability to meet the requirements of a mainstream audience. My biggest complaint about the basic mode environment is that the panel is very ugly and the disparate icons it displays in the notification area lack visual consistency. I think that the addition of a Files tab with an embedded file management interface would also greatly improve the quality of the environment and make the basic mode a more complete replacement for a conventional desktop interface.

Bootup and bundled apps

The Eee PC booted very quickly during all of our tests. The whole boot process generally takes between 12 and 15 seconds, which is even less time than it takes to start up the Nokia N800. The system also has suspend and resume capabilities that work relatively well. The only problem I encountered with the suspend feature is that WiFi sometimes doesn't work properly after resuming. In general, the WiFi configuration utility that comes with the Eee is a bit weak and unintuitive. I would strongly prefer KNetworkManager rather than the network configuration utility that Asus ships by default.

The Eee wireless configuration tools.

The Eee comes bundled with a selection of popular open-source software applications. The included programs predominantly come from the KDE desktop environment, but there are also several GNOME applications as well as programs that aren't aligned with either desktop. It seems like Asus is focused on providing the most popular software rather than providing a cohesive and well-integrated stack. The end result is that the included software is mostly pretty good, but many of the included programs look a bit out of place on the Eee, and visual consistency is quite low.

The software included on the Eee also reflects the diversity of the product's target audience. The applications are separated into Internet, Work, Learn, Play, and Settings tabs. There are quite a few games and education programs that are of little interest to adults or enterprise users. For instance, the included potato dress-up game is likely only going to appeal to young children (or seriously intoxicated computer geeks).

For web browsing, the Eee ships with a standard build of Firefox 2.0.0.7. It has no special customizations and works exactly like Firefox on the desktop, with full support for your favorite add-ons. The only deviation from the default configuration is that the toolbar icons are configured by default to display at a smaller size. To launch Firefox, users select the Web launcher from the Internet tab.

Firefox running on the Eee.

Many of the launchers use Firefox to display a web page. For instance, the Information launcher on the Internet tab launches iGoogle, and the launchers for Google Docs and Wikipedia open their respective sites in Firefox. The Internet Radio launcher opens the MediaU site, and the Web Mail launcher displays a group of launchers for GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL e-mail sites.

The Eee comes with several chat applications, including Pidgin and Skype. Pidgin is a popular cross-platform, multiprotocol instant messaging client that supports all the major chat protocols. The Eee ships with Pidgin 2.0.2, which is a bit old and doesn't have the latest user interface features that are found in the more recent 2.2.x series. Out of the box, it supports AIM, Jabber, MSN, Yahoo, GTalk, IRC, and a few lesser known protocols. For more information about Pidgin, check out our review from last year.

Pidgin running on the Eee.

The Eee ships with Skype 1.4 for Linux, which supports voice chat right out of the box but doesn't include video chat capabilities. Later in the article, we will show you how to get the latest video-enabled Skype beta and make it work with the Eee's built-in webcam.

Skype running on the Eee.

The Eee also comes with FBReader, an open-source e-book reader that is optimized for use on mobile devices. I'm a very big fan of FBReader, and I have used it on several other devices, including a Sharp Zaurus and a Nokia N800. It's better on a device with a touchscreen, but it still works very well on the Eee. It supports many formats including Plucker and plain HTML. I like to use it to read free public-domain literature from Project Gutenberg and Wikisource.

FBReader running on the Eee.

A modest collection of productivity software is included with the Eee, most notably the OpenOffice.org (OOo) office suite. Unfortunately, OOo is sluggish and memory-intensive, which makes it a poor choice for a laptop with limited system resources. OOo Writer takes between six and eight seconds to start up on the Eee, which is unacceptably slow. By comparison, the GNOME-based Abiword word processor uses significantly less memory and starts instantly. Abiword isn't available from the standard software repository and is difficult to install on the Eee. The lackluster performance of OOo detracts from the viability of the Eee as a mainstream product for office productivity users.

OpenOffice.org running (badly) on the Eee.

Thunderbird is the default e-mail client on the Eee. Thunderbird's user interface is a bit cramped on the small screen, but after reconfiguring the toolbars to display small icons and omit the labels, it fit well enough to be usable. Thunderbird is a decent mail client, but lacks support for scheduling features. Users who require scheduling functionality will probably prefer Kontact, a full PIM suite with e-mail and scheduling support, a to-do list, and other useful features. Asus wisely chose to include Kontact by default on the Eee, and it is accessible via the PIM launcher from the Accessories launcher group on the Work tab.

Thunderbird running on the Eee.

Kontact running on the Eee.

The Work tab offers a few other tools as well, including Adobe's Acrobat PDF reader, a simple note-taking program, a calculator, a screenshot tool, and an English-to-Chinese dictionary that is actually more sluggish and resource-intensive than OOo.

The work tab also provides a launcher to Xfm, the default file manager in Xandros. I am definitely not a fan of Xfm, and I think it's a pity that Asus didn't ditch it in favor of Dolphin or Konqueror. Xfm was originally designed to closely imitate the look and feel of Microsoft's Explorer file manager from Windows 98 (Seriously, I'm not kidding. That was the actual goal). Xfm's primary claim to fame is that it has built-in CD-burning capabilities—a feature that doesn't exactly matter on a computer that lacks an optical drive. At this point, Xfm is pretty much just like the KDE Konqueror file manager (it uses the same KParts), but with an uglier and less flexible user interface. Konqueror is included on the Eee by default, but is unfortunately not exposed through a launcher in the basic user interface.

Xfm running on the Eee.

Getting your Learn on

The Learn tab of the Eee provides access to all of the educational software included with the Eee. The selection is relatively impressive and includes open-source teaching programs that I didn't even know existed. There seem to be programs for students at several different age levels, including a basic math game and an advanced function plotter. The Eee also comes with a typing tutor, an anagram program, and a planetarium. I don't have a brood of hatchlings myself, so I can't really provide much insight into how practical, effective, or engaging these programs are for real geek spawn.

The Eee learn tab and a math game.

The Play tab contains launchers for games and multimedia programs. The music management launcher opens Amarok, which is an extremely feature-rich digital audio player. Amarok is very flexible, but it also has a very elaborate user interface that feels a bit cluttered, especially on the Eee's small screen. The Photo Manager launcher on the Play tab launches Gwenview, a KDE-based image viewer with very basic photo-editing capabilities. Gwenview is a good program, but also feels a bit cramped on the Eee's screen.

Gwenview running on the Eee.

Amarok running on the Eee.

The Eee's default video player is SMPlayer, a very nice graphical frontend for the MPlayer engine. SMPlayer has a relatively intuitive user interface, and it supports a broad selection of formats. SMPlayer also has lots of good advanced functionality, including an equalizer, audio and video filters, customizable keyboard shortcuts, and very good support for subtitles. My only complaint with SMPlayer is that doesn't support KDE Kio slaves, which means that it can't natively stream files across the network using the SMB protocol or SFTP. It can, however, stream files across a network or the Internet via HTTP. I was able to play XVid-encoded video files from an SD card without any trouble.

SMPlayer running on the Eee.

The play tab also has audio and video recording software that work with the Eee's built-in microphone and webcam. These features seem to work relatively well. The webcam program can capture both still images and short videos. When the webcam is active, a small green LED turns on next to the camera above the Eee screen.

Several games are installed by default on the Eee as well, including KDE Solitaire, Penguin Racer, GNOME Sudoku, a Tetris clone called LTris, a potato dress-up game, and my personal favorite: Frozen Bubble. The games aren't great, but they certainly provided a welcome distraction for about 20 minutes when I wanted a break from this review.

KSolitaire running on the Eee.

The settings tab mostly includes configuration tools. The Touchpad launcher, for instance, opens the GSynaptics touchpad configuration utility. There are also configuration utilities for printers, audio volume, and date and time settings. As I previously mentioned, the Settings tab has a Personalization utility that can be used to choose a color theme for the basic mode user interface. There is also an updater utility, a diagnostics tool that tests the various hardware components in the Eee, and a Desktop Mode tool which activates the VGA output. The updater is a very simplistic application that allows users to automatically download and install updates for the main applications on the Eee.

The Eee settings tab.

The last tab in the basic mode user interface is the Favorites tab, which is a bit like bookmarks. It allows users to choose their favorite launchers, and it makes them easily accessible from one single place. Much to my disappointment, the Favorites tab doesn't let you create new launchers to associate with system commands, so you can't easily add launchers for other programs on the machine.

Hacking the Eee PC

Although the default software offered by the system is relatively decent and should meet the basic needs of most mainstream users, the real potential of the Eee PC will only be unlocked by experienced Linux enthusiasts and users who are willing to get their hands dirty at the command line. The Eee PC is extremely easy to customize, and there are a number of very impressive power-user features that are available by default even in the basic mode interface.

This section of the review will expose some of the inner workings of the software and show you how to get the most out of the Eee PC by making unsupported modifications to the system. This section is primarily geared towards experienced Linux users.

Opening a terminal

Access to the command line is absolutely imperative for experienced Linux users. Fortunately, the Eee PC is makes it very easy to get a terminal window. All you have to do is hit Ctrl+Alt+T in the basic mode to start xterm, which will provide full access to the command line.

This feature is implemented in the /usr/share/icewm/keys file, which defines global keyboard shortcuts for the IceWM window manager. You can override the default shortcuts or create new ones by making your own keys file in ~/.icewm/keys. In my keys file, I override the terminal keyboard shortcut and set it up to use Konsole instead of xterm:

key "Ctrl+Alt+t" konsole

Konsole running on the Eee.

Virtual desktops

The Eee's small screen makes it difficult to see more than a few things at once, and switching between windows quickly becomes frustrating. On desktop Linux systems, support for workspaces and virtual desktops makes it easy to switch between groups of applications. Support for virtual desktops is one of the Eee basic model's coolest undocumented features. Out of the box, basic mode has four separate workspaces that you can switch between by holding Ctrl and Alt while pressing the left and right arrow keys. If you hold the shift key too, you can move the active window with you to a different workspace.

The Eee basic mode environment doesn't provide a graphical display of your workspaces, so it can be pretty easy to forget where you have your windows. To get a visual workspace display, you can run the kpager utility from the command line.

GVim and KPager running on the Eee.

You can also add a workspace switcher to the basic mode panel by creating an IceWM preferences file at ~/.icewm/preferences and adding the following lines:

TaskBarShowWorkspaces=1
WorkspaceNames=" 1 ", " 2 ", " 3 ", "

Installing extra software

The Eee uses the Debian-based APT package management system for software installation and updates. A special software repository maintained by Asus is configured as the default, and it contains a handful of additional packages that can be installed with relative ease. Software from the Asus repository can be installed directly from the command-line with the apt-get command, but the Synaptic package manager is also included. Type "sudo synaptic" at the command line to start the graphical package management interface.

Synaptic running on the Eee.

The Asus repository is quite sparse, but you can also download packages from other sources. The Xandros Linux distribution used on the Eee is based on Debian Etch, so some packages from Etch will work on the Eee. Users may be tempted to swap out the Asus repository with the official Debian repository in the APT sources list on the Eee, but that has the potential to break things pretty badly. To install individual programs from Etch, you can download the individual packages from the Etch repositories and use the dpkg command line command to install them.

For instance, I was able to install the Abiword word processing program on the Eee using the following packages from Debian Etch:

• libenchant1c2a_1.3.0-2_i386.deb
• abiword-common_2.4.6-1.1_all.deb
• abiword_2.4.6-1.1_i386.deb

To install the packages, download them from the packages.debian.org and then install them like this:

sudo dpkg -i abiword_2.4.6-1.1_i386.deb

Abiword running on the Eee.

Obviously, there is no official support for this software on the Eee, and it isn't guaranteed to work properly. The only problems I have encountered with Abiword is that the built-in spellcheck feature sometimes causes a segmentation fault during typing. I solved this problem by disabling automatic spellcheck. In addition to Abiword, I also installed XChat by using the following packages:

• libsexy2_0.1.10-1_i386.deb
• xchat_2.6.8-0.3_i386.deb
• xchat-common_2.6.8-0.3_all.deb

XChat running on the Eee.

The process of installing individual Debian packages is rather cumbersome now, but it is likely that third-party repositories will eventually emerge that contain Debian packages known to work on the Eee or packages that have been adapted to work with the software library versions that are officially supported on the Eee. If you have tested other Etch packages on the Eee, feel free to share the results in the discussion thread.

Customizing basic mode

The extra software that you install from the command line will not be accessible through launchers in the basic mode tab groups, so you will have to run most of it from the command line. In order to get easy access to these programs, you can add a menu to the panel that will list your programs. To add a Start menu to the panel, add the following lines to the ~/.icewm/preferences file:

TaskBarShowStartMenu=1
ShowProgramsMenu=1

To further customize the Start menu, copy the /usr/share/icewm/menu file to ~/.icewm/menu and modify it to meet your needs.

You can also modify the launchers in the tab groups by editing the /opt/xandros/share/AsusLauncher/simpleui.rc XML file. There are many things you can change by modifying that file. For instance, I changed the URL for the Information launcher item so that it would load Netvibes instead of iGoogle. You could also change the program paths for the Xfm launchers so that they use Konqueror instead.

Installing extra IceWM themes

I personally think that the Windows XP window theme that IceWM uses by default on the Eee is really ugly, so I wanted to install an alternate theme. IceWM themes can be downloaded from Freshmeat and installed into /usr/share/icewm/themes. Then, to switch between themes, add a theme chooser submenu to the IceWM start menu by adding the following line to ~/.icewm/preferences:

ShowThemesMenu=1

Now you will be able to select different themes from the Themes submenu on the Settings submenu of the Start menu.

An alternate IceWM theme on the Eee.

There are many other ways to customize IceWM, and there are other useful features that can be enabled as well. To learn more about what features you can enable in your ~/.icewm/preferences file, you can look at /usr/share/icewm/preferences, which has a very long list. Keep in mind that you will need to restart basic mode for most of the changes to take effect.

More tweaks

Fixing the fonts

By default, the Eee uses size 10 fonts in most of the programs. I got frustrated with that font size, because it makes user interface text take up way too much space. Unfortunately, there is no central location where you can go to change all the font sizes. You have to configure the font sizes individually for Firefox, GTK, and KDE. To change the default KDE font size, launch the kcontrol utility from the command line, navigate to the Display/Themes/Fonts page, and change the font sizes to meet your needs. I personally like using size 8.

The Eee doesn't come with the GNOME font configuration utility, so you will have to create a custom ~/.gtkrc file to set up a default GTK font. In my .gtkrc file, I also force GTK to omit labels from toolbar buttons in order to save more screen space. This is my ~/.gtkrc file on the Eee:

gtk-font-name = "Sans 8"
gtk-toolbar-style = GTK_TOOLBAR_ICONS

To change the default interface font size in Firefox, you will have to modify the chrome css file, which is located at ~/.mozilla/firefox/*default/chrome/userChrome.css. This is what I put in my userChrome.css file to make the interface use font size 8:

* {
font-family: sans-serif !important;
font-size: 8pt !important;
}

You could probably also customize Thunderbird's default font size with a userChrome.css modification.

Enabling a full KDE desktop

The basic mode environment is relatively flexible, but most Linux enthusiasts will probably prefer to use a full KDE environment. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to enable full KDE mode on the Eee, even though it is not officially supported. All you have to do is install kcmserver and kicker with APT:

sudo apt-get install kicker ksmserver

After those packages are installed, you will be able to boot to full KDE desktop mode by hitting the power button while basic mode is running and clicking the Full Desktop option. If you want to make the Eee boot to full desktop mode by default, you can use the Personalization configuration tool to configure that option.

KDE running on the Eee.

Using the Skype 2.0 beta with a webcam

As we showed earlier this week in an Open Ended journal post, the latest Skype 2 beta can be installed on the Eee and will work with the Eee's built-in webcam. For more information about the new Skype 2.0 beta and instructions on how to use it with the Eee, read the journal post.

Developing software for the Eee

An important question for many software developers is how easily software can be created on and for the Eee. The Eee is just regular x86 hardware with a pretty standard Linux installation, so your GTK and Qt programs can easily be compiled to run on the device. More importantly, the Eee ships with Python and Python GTK bindings by default, which makes it a nifty platform for rapid application development. Within minutes after booting up the Eee for the first time, I was able to use scp from the command line to copy one of my PyGTK-based utilities from my desktop computer so I could test it on the Eee. It ran perfectly and required virtually no modification. I primarily tested Gwibber, which is my custom Twitter client program.

My PyGTK Twitter client running alongside the Kate editor.

I was also able to develop new PyGTK-based software right on the Eee itself. The Eee comes with the Kate text editor installed by default, which has support for syntax highlighting and basic project management. Developing software that runs on the Eee couldn't possibly be easier. There was no porting required at all; you just have to be mindful of which libraries are missing and which ones are available. The only library I find myself wanting that isn't installed by default is the Python D-Bus binding library.

I happen to favor GTK development, but Qt programmers will be able to develop easily on the Eee as well. The Python Qt3 bindings are installed by default, and you can even optionally install the Qt user interface design utility directly from the Asus repository.

Final thoughts

The Asus Eee PC offers outstanding value for Linux enthusiasts and good value for a mainstream audience. The laptop brazenly defies the conventional standards of portable computing and delivers extreme mobility at an appealing price.

The basic mode user interface has some weaknesses and lacks visual consistency, but it largely meets the requirements of mainstream users and offers a high level of usability that make it appropriate for an audience that includes students and children. The IceWM and KDE environments are also flexible enough to please Linux enthusiasts who are looking for a cheap platform for developing software while on the go. Asus doesn't attempt to lock anything down, which makes the platform very easy to customize.

The hardware is impressive for the price, and the sheer portability of the system is mind-blowing. Despite the quality of the hardware, the cramped keyboard will be a deal-breaker for many consumers. Potential Eee owners with big hands should try it in person to make sure that they are comfortable with the keyboard before they buy. The low screen resolution is also disappointing, but virtual desktops and font customization make it easier to tolerate. The only other major hardware issue is poor screen visibility when under direct sunlight, a problem that commonly afflicts laptops and mobile devices with LCDs.

The fact that the Eee lacks an optical drive might turn off some potential buyers, but I found that network file transfers and the SD card slot were more than sufficient for my needs.

The bundled software is mostly pretty good, but the poor performance of OpenOffice.org is frustrating. Abiword provides a solid alternative, but it isn't officially supported by Asus on the Eee. The Eee can handle word-processing tasks, but users who make full use of Microsoft Office's advanced features and do a lot of word processing might want to look elsewhere. The Eee is best suited for users who primarily need web browsing, e-mail, and multimedia functionality.

The Eee is definitely usable for real-world tasks. I used the device itself to write this entire review. Although some of the default settings in basic mode (particularly the size 10 fonts) really annoyed me, a little bit of customization is all that the Eee needed to become a mostly adequate replacement for my full-sized Dell laptop. Users without the Linux expertise required to customize the interface and add software will probably find that the Eee meets many of their needs, but not enough to make it a really complete replacement for a full-featured laptop running Windows or Mac OS X. The Eee is also a good choice for students on a budget, ranging from middle-school to college-aged.

The Eee PC will likely have a noticeable influence on future mobile computing development. Companies are increasingly adopting Linux in the mobile space, and Linux developers and distributors are embracing this trend and accommodating rapid development. Intel is also pushing forward Linux-based budget mobile computing with the Silverthorne architecture.

It is becoming increasingly obvious to hardware makers that Windows simply isn't flexible enough to meet the requirements of the rapidly-evolving mobile market and that open-source software provides a clear path forward. The Eee PC is a stunning example of what a hardware maker can accomplish when mixing a highly compact form factor with a custom open-source Linux platform. With the Eee PC, consumers can get a taste of the future today.