Asus EEE PC X101
 

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/30/a...eego-hands-on/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onffqm9bokQ
Its an ultra-thin netbook running MeeGo and from Asus the company that started the it runs better with Windows campaign and dumped Linux on netbooks. Linux on the Desktop is finally becoming a reality with MeeGo.
Edit: nothing is known about the specs, but it is only 200 Dollars!

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Hardly a competitor. And I've been running Linux on my desktop for years - without Meego. Where have you been?!

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

But Linux hasn't been preinstalled on many mainstream computers, this is a chance for Desktop Linux to be mainstream and gain widespread adoption from non techie people.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

The EeePC 700 (2007) had "Linux" pre-installed...

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Yes but Asus dropped Linux from their Eee PC Line of devices and pretty much every other manufacturer did that to and even said that Eee PC is better with Windows, now Linux for netbooks is returning thanks to MeeGo. With this Linux is preinstalled with drivers working out of the box and not requiring you to tinker with the command line to get things done.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I agree that it's nothing terribly special, save for one thing: MeeGo is designed for mobile usage, so it will likely have nice optimization for battery life which is far more than I can say for something like Ubuntu.

The price and the form factor are also highly attractive. I'd easily take this over any other netbook I've seen.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I would really be interested into knowing what kind of hardware you can get for 200$... Any word on specs/release date/eta?

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Well it has the typical 10.1 inch 1024x600 display, 2x usb ports, microsd card reader, probably 1gb of ram, 32gb or 16gb ssd (I doubt they could put a hard drive in this), and I think it has an Intel Atom Oaktrail processor, but we don't really know Asus hasn't given away any specifications or release date.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I understand your choice of words clearly indicates nothing but opinions, but following those opinions, does it means it will focus on cloud-storage/networked media? (I don't really follow much netbooks, lol). But Oak Trail, isn't that a good sign? Supposedly they can run up to 1.5Ghz and support for 1080p (with GMA 600). Cuz I honestly wouldn't mind at all getting it if it is able to read all my audio/video files on my desktop (Win7) and support minimum 720p. (I'm too lazy to image MeeGo and install myself, lol)

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I make these assumptions because most netbooks have practically specs. I think this thing can support 720p and 1080p media with VLC player.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

It is most likely toting a hard-drive something like 80/120GB's or so I'd imagine for $200. Besides I thought this would've been $500 --matching the netbook pricing, but perhaps it would then be slaughtered by tablet sales.

I can say I really like the chassis, its definitely thinner than most netbooks (but please offer better colours).
They should couple it with MeeGo, Intel SU3500, ATi 5430 and 3GB RAM. That should make it faster than dualcore Atoms.

Then add a 3-cell (4,00mAh) battery and you'll be getting real-world 8 hours of battery usage.

...But this still won't appeal to the "general" consumer anymore ever since (2010) the tablets are becoming the preferred portable computer and nice ultraportables are shipping like the new MBA's or the newly announced ASUS UX21!

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Theris is going to be an option for solid state drive;) It would increase both performance and battery life... and the price of course:)

I'll think of getting one of these or the transformer. It's perfect for elderly people I think who just want to browse the internet.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I will be getting one as soon as it drops.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Not really useful with a 1024x600 display and no hdmi output.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Not quite. If it can handle the video, regardless of the output, it will not choke.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

From the specs I've seen and price I think it will go nice with a meego powered phone ;)

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Read online its dropping in July, I sure hope so.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Looks like it's about to be a full on go, it's officially listed on Asus's page. I for one will be getting this netbook. My older toshiba laptop is on its last legs, I don't really need a new laptop, I don't want a tablet and have to mess with bluetooth keyboards when I want to fire off some emails etc. This seems like a nice fit.

I wonder how easy it is going to be to add repositories on the device, apparently stock it comes with an Asus repository. Hopefully members of this community will pick up on this device optimize some packages and port over a lot of the apps we already have here to run on this. Should be an interesting mass appeal, low priced device that could get a lot of people more interested into the Maemo/MeeGo community.

http://www.slashgear.com/asus-eee-pc...ting-28167909/

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I am looking for a laptop and this would be it EXCEPT

I have been complaining for years that Linux doesn't have good text to speech or speech to text, and this is still the case. How many years does it take?

I keep hoping that someone will contradict me but it doesn't happen.

The best speech to text company is Nuance, which mainly does Windows. Macs have decent speech to text, I hear. Windows does, too.

Nuance even has an intriguing Android speech to text program that often works surprisingly well but doesn't have many needed features.

So, unless someone tells me something new, I will reluctantly have to go with Windows again.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Can't wait to get one in red

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Good news. The Asus Eee PC X101 Meego netbook will become
available in a few European markets by the middle of August and will
cost just €169.

http://www.tcmagazine.com/tcm/news/h...ope-mid-august

Go to http://www.asus.com/Eee/Eee_PC/Eee_PC_X101/#download for the user manual.

Enjoy!

WilliePre :)

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Well it looks like this netbook is now available stateside. This is a reputable site having a relative purchase from them before. I'm tempted to pull the trigger, but I guess the only thing holding me back would be knowing if this thing could access repositories other than the ASUS store, and how well the apps would work on this thing. The price point is tempting, I don't need a tablet, I like the form factor and the keyboard...so close to doing it, someone push me over the edge :-)

http://www.excaliberpc.com/608477/as...-seashell.html

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

As good as it is, I sometimes wonder if it'd be better to just buy a slightly better eee pc and throw Meego on it. You'd certainly get a bigger HDD than the 8Gb SSD they have in here.

That said, I still like this machine a lot. I have absolutely no need for it but I want it.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Yeah I totally have no need for it also, but something about it is so pretty, and it looks like a fun toy to have. I'd love to have it for flights for flicks and the like, just wondering how easy it would be to get extra codec support on it, does it have xterm, things like that. I'm sure its easily modified, but I don't really have too much time for that nowadays. If it's simple as loading up some repos, doing a lil xterm, and tweaking it here and there to get a good bit out of it I'm in, but if it's less than that I may pass...or wait a month or two an watch it drop to $150 level possibly :-)

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Looking at Meego.com it seems like the terminal is included by default with vanilla Meego. Not sure why this should be any different.

Thanks though man, now I'm really looking hard at getting it. ;)
I could find a use for it like I do with my CM7 NC but I'll have to acknowledge that it's just a toy. :D

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Anyone know if the limit on RAM can be surpassed on this? Asus said it's limited to 2 but I wonder if it could recognize 4. I've read that Windows netbooks (IIRC) can do just that even though it states that 2 is max.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

The problem is in the CPU, and Atom chips max out at 2GB currently. AMD Zacate chips (C-50, E-350) support up to 8GB I believe, but won't work with MeeGo.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Hmm, I see. I was figuring it had something to do with the mobo. Interesting though.
It'd certainly be nice to see Meego running on something other than Atoms. With all the new advances coming out, I'm tempted to hold out for Medfield (or whatever Intel is calling their new mobile/netbook line) but who knows if Asus is really that committed to Meego.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

So I decided to get one of these as a low-cost, light, and thin netbook.

I'll probably end up wiping MeeGo and installing Ubuntu, but I thought I would try it out until I can't stand the lack of applications.

Judging from the responses on this thread, I'm guessing there's little interest in what I think of the machine and MeeGo. I am headed home now to open it up - anyone interested in hearing what I think/seeing pics, etc?

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Please do. It's going to be collector's info :)

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

So the netbook is pretty much what I expected (small size, light, etc.) Hardware wise, the trackpad button is really difficult to press, but other than that not bad.

But I have to say, one of the first things I did was to install Ubuntu 11.10 on a MicroSD card to run this machine. I think I am just used to APT, and I know how to set up Ubuntu exactly like I want it. On the N900, I get this done through Easy Debian. I am not sure how long I will use MeeGo on this machine only because I would need to figure out the package manager.

That being said, I am going to give it a try for the collectors out there who may want a record of this machine when they stop production. It is pretty easy to use, and seems to integrate with the current popular crop of social web services (facebook, flickr, twitter) easily. Not sure how to expand that in the future to other services that might come up one day.

However, there is an issue with suspending to disk in Ubuntu when installed on the SD card, so I might end up wiping MeeGo earlier - we'll see.

If anyone has MeeGo or X101 questions, fire away and I'll do my best to answer!

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Oh man, I totally forgot about this device and got caught up in the N9 hype.

How much did you pick this up for? How is the ASUS repository? Is it difficult to boot Ubuntu and are you having any other issues running Ubuntu from microsd?

Keep us posted, I'm sure a few of us at the least would be interested in seeing the overall functionality of the X101.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I got the White X101 with the 1.66 GHz N455 processor (the original had a 1.33 GHz N435 processor) for $220 on ebay. A little more than the release price of $200, but it was birthday so bought it anyway. Incidentally, I really wanted the brown version, but apparently that's only available in Germany and I was afraid this machine might disappear forever in a week since the demand for a MeeGo device can't be very strong.

I took a quick look at the ASUS apps available, but there was hardly anything there and nothing that struck my interest. It reminded me a lot of the Nokia repository on the N900 before I enable extras. I am sure there is some type of community driven repository, but I haven't looked into it yet. There must be some folks here that are active over at meego.com, right?

As far as booting Ubuntu on the X101, I had no issues at all other than the suspend problem. I used my Ubuntu install on my Macbook Pro to create a USB startup disk with the 64-bit 11.10 iso, had to fiddle with the BIOS a bit on the X101 to get it to boot from the USB, then the installation to the MicroSD went without a hitch. It also gave me the option to install alongside MeeGo on the same internal 8GB SSD, so I am trying that out now to see if it helps with the suspend problem. But running from the MicroSD seemed to be just as fast as running MeeGo from the internal SSD. I am using a Class 10 8GB MicroSD card, though, so that might make a difference - this was originally going to be my Nitdroid card for the N900, so if Ubuntu runs well on the dual-boot internal SSD I may reclaim it.

I think the suspend problem should be fixable, but it was not consistent. In one case, I closed the lid without doing anything, then when I opened the lid it restarted (either from shutdown or logout - I'm not sure). The second time, I chose "Suspend" from the system menu on the right and then closed the lid. When I started it back up, the Ubuntu filesystem was read-only. I am thinking this may have something to do with the MicroSD reader not coming back from suspend properly.

So the Ubuntu installer just crashed - not enough disk space on the partitioned system. I may need to wipe MeeGo earlier than I expected...

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I really like this but they need something bigger than an 8GB SSD. I mean, I'd rather just buy a different netbook and throw Meego on it since it'll have better hardware (just not as thin and svelte as this.)

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

I guess I value thin and svelte over size :)

I am something of a minimalist so, the SSD size did not bother me, especially since there is a microsd card slot on it - it is basically a removable internal drive - it doesn't stick out at all and you can't even really notice it's there. I was originally planning to use a Class 4 32MB microsd card there for any docs, music etc. I wanted to keep on it.

Slightly off-topic, in terms of SSD size, for years I was bemoaning my tiny 120GB HD in my MacBook Pro. When I finally investigated where all that space was going, it was tons of OS cruft. I eventually got the nerve to wipe the machine clean, install a minimal OS X system on a partition, and partition the rest for Linux. I found that the optimal HD size for me (assuming media files are stored offline) is about 12GB. So the 8GB SSD has its limitations, but nothing I can't work around, especially with the microsd and 2 USB ports.

But that's just the price I'm willing to pay for design - like I said, my other machine is a MBP.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Just to give an update here: I ended up installing Ubuntu 11.10 64-bit over the MeeGo installation on the hard drive. While my suspend issue did not seem to be a problem anymore for some reason, the startup time and performance was a little lagging even with the class 10 microsd card, so I thought I would try on the internal ssd and see if it made a difference. I am just much more used to Ubuntu (and Debian-type systems) than MeeGo and I didn't want to take the time to learn another package manager, etc.

The installation to the internal drive made a huge difference in terms of startup time. I will have to see about the other performance issues as I use the system - I was getting noticeable lag once I had 4 or 5 tabs open in Chromium previously, and I am not seeing that behaior now.

I also tested the "restore drive" that I creating when installing MeeGo is recognized and will boot up, so I can go back to factory settings if needed.

Question for the group: there are at least a couple of people on the MeeGo forums who are asking for the restore disk image. I guess they didn't make one when they first installed the system, or bought it used or something. Does anyone think there is a way I can package my image so I can send it to these folks? Also, do you think it would work? Any thoughts would be great - I would like to help these folks out even if I'm not using MeeGo.

Re: Asus EEE PC X101
 

Considering how Asus dropped Linux from their hardware as a default OS it would be really nice for all of us out there.