I bought the ASUS 8G a few months back for traveling. I use it on the road mostly for managing my photos, email, Skype, and keeping my blog up to date. I ride a Wee-Strom and am reporting this (with the 8G) from Watson Lake, Yukon. I'm three weeks into a month-long trip into Alaska, Yukon, and B.C.


I have found the 8G to be reliable and it packs easily into my carrying bag that goes inside my Givi hard cases. I just keep the 8G inside the included neoprene cover, tucked between clothes inside my bag. The Linux OS is much leaner than any flavour of Windows, it only takes about 30 seconds to boot. Once Windows XP is obsolete, I suspect I will be using Linux at home too. The 8G automatically detects wireless networks and gives you the opportunity to log into one. I have had a couple of times where, for some reason, the 8G does not recognize an available network. If you know the network name, you can manually configure the network by launching the network config tool using the network icon on the tray. This usually gets the connection going.


Photo Management


I carry a small USB hard drive that I copy my photos onto for backup purposes. The 8G has an SD memory card slot, so I use the file manager to just drag and drop the pictures from my camera's SD card onto the hard drive. The 8G has three USB slots, and jacks for headphones and an external monitor.


One of the handiest tools is the batch processing mode of the Photo Manager. I can choose a list of photos from my camera and resize them for my blog all at once. I always take my pictures at maximum resolution and they have to be shrunk and compressed before I can upload them.


I downloaded and installed a rather good (read: free) bit of Linux software called “Gimp” which is a clone of Photoshop. I use this tool for minor touch-ups and cropping photos before uploading.


Text Management


I use the OpenOffice document tool to type my daily journals (it is basically a MS Word clone). I cut and paste from OpenOffice into my blog page. This allows me to prepare my blog entries offline and get them uploaded quickly.


Email


I use the included Thunderbird software for my email. I like being able to prepare my email offine. I access my email via a pop3 server and Thunderbird connects easily. I configured Thunderbird on the 8G to download email, but leave it on the server so my home computer will still get the incoming email. I found that my ISP will not let me access their SMTP server for outgoing mail when I am off of their network. I got around this problem by setting up a Gmail account. Gmail has a public SMTP server, and I have configured Thunderbird on the 8G to send outgoing mail via the Gmail server.


Skype


I use the 8G for both Skype between computers and Skypeout from my computer to the phone network. Both work without problem. I have had a problem keeping the 8G's camera enabled. I haven't sought a permanent solution to this, as I usually can't be bothered with video calls.


The only other thing I can think to mention is that the battery life seems to run about 90 minutes which is more than adequate to find a signal, sit outside a building with unprotected wifi and get your mail etc. taken care of.

I don't find the small screen too much of an impediment, and feel that it is a reasonable compromise for the size and portability of the computer.

Thanks for the report John, very useful, seems you have been able to swap from windows to linux pretty easily. Just wondering, what are you using to charge your eee while you are out on the road, oh and how do you find the keyboard?

The eee has a simplified Linux interface, with an easy menu bar and big icons for each tool. This is far simpler than Windows. If you want a windows-like interface, the eee can be rebooted into "full desktop" mode which is similar to Windows XP. So, making the change to Linux in this case was very simple. Things are a little different when you want to download and add software; in some ways it is easier than windows - you tell Linux where the libraries are on the web and it can get and install the software all at once. The difficult part is it sometimes takes some cryptic command-lines to make it happen. I knew virtually nothing about Linux when I started but found lots of step-by-step instructions on the web.

The keyboard is small and takes some getting used to, but I touch-type with my XL glove-sized hands all the time. My biggest problem is hitting the right-side shift button, I usually get the cursor line-up key instead.

On this trip, I'm roughing it in hostels and motels, so recharging is a non-issue. I have however bought a small inverter that fits under my seat, and I can plug in my power supply and run the cord into the hard-bag to recharge while I travel. I can also use this approach to recharge batteries for my GPS and camera. I wired an in-line cigarette-lighter type plug to my battery with a fuse and an external toggle switch. This way I can turn off the inverter when the bike is not running so I don't drain the battery (It was easier doing it this way than finding a suitable switched power source in the wee's wiring harness).

Hi John - this is a great report - thanks :-)

m

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Hi John, Great report. I have one question that you maybe able to help me with. I shot only RAW (really NEF) shots, I know Gimp can edit them using UFRaw, but how does the EEE-pc handle them? (if you know)?

For UK users, saverstore.com is selling these just now starting at £173 for 2 Gig...then upwards.
Asus EEE PC 2GS-BK004 Intek M 2GB SSD 512MB 7 Linux Black EEEPC2GS-BK004 - Saverstore.com

Great report, I agree. For those who don't want an inverter, but want to charge/run a PC off the bike (or car), I had a dual-purpose power supply, i.e. you could plug it into any mains supply 100-240V, or into 12V by changing just a cable. It is sold by Kingston and Targus. They seem technically identical, only the case is different.

I don't have it any more. It drowned together with my laptop in a Thai river.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

John.

Great report.

I recommend you to update the Skype version in your EEE to the latest and you will be able to sort the camera problem out but you have to tweak a few lines in one of your kernells or whatever they are called.

Also if you install firefox 3 you will be able to zoom in and out the webpages to fit everything and you will be able to visualize pages without the horizontal scrolling.

I also have an Eeepc and I love it to pieces. I have the 4gb version and I'm planing in getting an external drive for it. Other than that I have a 2gb sd card and will carry a portable mouse that I have at home.

I guess you may be aware of the eeeuser forums you can find info on skype updates and firefox there.

I upgraded my firefox in a diferent way as I got rid of the old version all together to avoid using too much space in the limited internal drive.

Will

I 've got a similar universal thingy, made in China (isn't everything nowadays) - it takes 12V DC (via a car cigarette lighter connection) or 110-240V AC in by just changing the input cable. It gives out 5V USB and/or 15/16/18/19/20/22/24/26V DC, the latter via 6 different end connectors that according to the blurb fit any laptop known to mankind - perfect! It cost 25 Euros in a souk - I should have haggled but I was in a hurry!

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Dave

Now £152. seriously cheap.

Hi guy's I got one of these for use in the car for my 4geee, very good if a little expensive but so far reliable

3A Digital Car Power Adaptor > Maplin
TDMalcolm

I use one of these. It draws 3 amps from the bike, ok if your moving.

Not as bulky as an inverter but maybe not as robust, I had to send the 1st one back as it didn't work but this ones been fine so far.

Buy an eXpansys Car Charger for ASUS Eee PC 700 Series (12-18V/2.5A), #CLA-DC4.7-9521 - eXpansys UK