Asus EeePC

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The only one that suits my desires!

What's in the box? Installation What to do with it?

What's in the box?
  1. PC, Celeron 630-900 MHz
  2. RAM 512Mb, Unit SSD 4Go
  3. 3 USB2.0 ports
  4. SD/SDHC card reader
  5. 7"display, 800x480 visible, 32 bits
  6. Ethernet RJ45
  7. Sound card, stéréo speakers, microphone input, headphones output
  8. Inegrated microphone and webcam
  9. Touchpad
  10. Battery 4400mAh, 2h autonomy
  11. wireless netword card WIFI
  12. SVGA output for external display
Right side



Left side
Installation:


ZIP Drive

I mostly use it to dialog with my old computers: the Atari TT, the Mega STE and the STE have each a ZIP drive SCSI 100Mb. Those disks are supported by this USB 250Mb unit that takes its power directly from the USB port. This may decrease the autonomy of the EeePc but it allows transferts of large data very rapidely and easely.

CD/DVD Writer

Indispensable peripherial: the CD/DVD burner, a SAMSUNG DVD Writer SE-S204.

The EeePC drivers come on a DVD, so you can't use them with a simple CD unit.
It plugs itself into a free USB2.0 port and takes its power from a separate power unit.
Il reads and burns CD-R/W and DVD-R/W.
As every UBS device, you can plug or unplug it when you want.
The BIOS accepts it as a bootable unit if you have to boot from a CD, for example to install a different OS. I used this feature to replace Linux with Windows XP
Price close to 60€.

SDHC 8Gb memory card

Another indispensable one: the SD card to increase your storage space because you'll rapidely fill the internal SSD 4Gb.
I traded it, this SDHC 8Gb card, class 6, is installed as "E:" drive. I store my DOS programs and data as MP3 or images on it.

Compared disk speeds

Tests made with Radkil's Disk Speed 2.0
SDHC 8Gb disk unit
 The SDHC unit appears to be slow, the overall score is 3.225 and can't do more than 16Mb/s while reading. Another source says that it lowers down to 5Mb/s while writting.
I used the NTFS format and allowed the Write cache in its properties. This speeds up a bit the tranferts but you have to "eject" the SD by software to update its content before unplugging it.


The internal SSD 4Go unit
 The stock internal SSD is much faster, its overall score is 11.013, this is 3,5 times the speed of the SD.
I put on it every sensible program, the ones using a lot a little files, every system information.
Note that the speed for little blocks is 4 times faster than with the SD.
I reduced the size of the output window of Disk Speed that gives much more information!

The homemade travelling tablet

I made this tablet from the stand of a camera. I stuck pieces of wood on it to maintain the EeePc. On the front side, both corners are enclosed with a space between the wooden pieces to let the air pass. On the rear side, two supports heighten the computer, it is thus slightly tilted. Two advantages for this position:
  • a better circulation of the air (I plan to make holes under the PC)
  • a more comfortable position to write.
With this tablet, I adjust it at the deliberate height, it's important because If I stay tilted on the machine then I get tired. Furthermore I lug around it everywhere: in the kitchen, next to my retrocomputers to look for informations on internet or simply to continue a conversation without stopping my work.


USB/Serial cable

The problem I had was to get the correct drivers because those that came with the cable would hang the system. The solution was the generic drivers from FTDI Ltd. You can download them here for Windows XP. I really needed this cable to communicate with the Apple IIe to exchange disk images.

I didn't test the other one (USB to //)

MultiCard reader

I had it for free with my fidelity points at Orange.fr. Exactly the color of the EeePc.
It reads SD, MMC, CF, XD and MS in various formats each.
This allows you to keep the SDHC in the internal reader as a Hard drive and to use other cards from your camera for example

French accents on a QWERTY keyboard

If you have to write french with a QWERTY keyboard, then you'll have to redefine it a bit!
I made it for you if you don't want to get bored with it.


I used the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator tool. It's a monster because it requieres the presence of .NET Framework that will eat some 56Mb on your little drive! But then you can delete it all when you're satisfied with your keyboard files.
I recommend downloading the previous version (1.3) of MSKLC because you'll only need Framework 1.1 that is lighter than the 2.x version.

My layout: You can download my keyboard layout.

Desk copy

The screen is in 800x600 with a view of 800x480 that scrolls with the mouse. The legibility and the clarity of the screen are exceptional.
Utilities allow to increase still the resolution up to 1024x768, always in a window, or to reduce it down to 640x480 for the compatibility with some games.
It is obvious that with the SVGA output, it can turn out very comfortable.
For my own use, I kept the 800x600 proposed without the other driver because it is widely enough to me.

Some tools

Ekey: show the key status
Ekey is really useful when typing because no led are provided to show you the state of the NumLock and CapsLock keys. Once installed, three leds appear on the screen, you can choose the position and to put them always on top.
Asus EeePc utility: screen setup
Here is the small tool for the screen setup. I first had some problems because the resolution 800x600 was not preserved and went back in 800x480 at every boot. In the utility I clicked on "Enlever du plateau" (what's in english: remove from the board?) and the mini menu was reduced to what you can see on the picture and then my settings were preserved.
EeeCtl: control the frequency!
EeeCtl is a tool that controls the machine. It allows you to fix the frequency of the processor from 630 to 900 Mhz as well as the speed of its fan. I use it at the moment for testing purposes only. Its configuration file is editable and you can dash into the overcloking to push the machine to the limits.



What do I do with it?


Atari emulation with Aranym

The Aranym emulator turns your PC into a virtual Atari 68040 with, here, a 640x480 True Color screen. I can use everywhere my assembler (on the left), my Forth (on the right) to go on working. Or I can run M_Player (down) to rapidely create video files taking advantage of the PC speed.

More emulation and programmation

Also, I can go on working with the TI-59 ans its TI-Compiler, or run some old basic programs with QuiickBasic (The computer I have in my classroom is a 386 under DOS!).

Webcam use

The integrated webcam resolution is 640x480.
It has a good image quality that you can't see on this picture as my room lets too much sun enter.
A video conversation MSN is completely possible and fluid.
You can see a part of my living room with the drums and the Yamaha piano on the left

And many other things

Symbolic calculus with Derive , geometry with Cabri II (Dos version) , astronomy with Stellarium , chat with MSN , web surf with Internet Explorer 7 , create documents with Word or Excel, sound processing with Gold Wave etc...

15 décembre 2007