Asus Eee PC 900 Netbook with 1.6GHz Atom Processor

Thanks. I have another question: I wanted to go ahead and get a USB drive set with Easy Peasy, using my desktop Windows Vista machine. I downloaded Easy Peasy, got an ISO file that I saved. Then I downloaded Unetbootin, saved it in the same folder, then ran it. I selected the ISo fil and the right USB location. I ran the program and got four files on the USB drive, none of which are the iso file. There’s a menu.c32, syslinux.cfg, ubnfilel.txt and ubnpath1.txt. After it says it loaded what it was supposed to, it asked me to reboot. Reboot my desktop? Why would I do that? And if I just remove the USB drive and try and boot the eeePC with that, will it work with just those four files? Where is the iso file? Sorry to be so dense about something that I"m sure is very basic, but I have no experience with these operating systems…at all. Thanks.

I also had problems trying to load Easy Peasy from a usb thumb drive. What I did was download Easy Peasy iso file, copied to a dvd. Then used a usb dvd drive to load Easy Peasy. I just went into the netbook bios,(f2 on boot), went to boot priority and set the boot first to external cd/dvd drive. Used the left usb connector for the usb drive and rebooted and had no problems loading. Just answer the questions it asks while loading.Tell it to use the whole ssd. When it’s done loading you re-boot and should be good to go. Don’t forget to go back into the bios and change your boot priority back to the ssd drive. If you don’t change it back boot-up will take a few moments longer. Hope this helps.

Thanks. That’s a big help. As I don’t have the netbook yet, I’m wondering after you boot from the DVD drive, are you then given the option to install Easy Peasy as the operating system?

Bring up your web browser.
Open the Network settings using Edit/Preferences/Network. Click on the “Settings…” button, then click on “Direct connection to the internet”. Click OK, and you’re done. Dan’s Guardian is now bypassed.

It’s still running, however. If it was installed on my eee, I’d be able to tell you how to remove it entirely; the above directions should allow you to bypass it.

As for the mouse, I dunno - mine recognizes USB mice just fine.

Well i finally broke down and bought one of these. I’ve watched them come and go in the past but my wife and I travel a few times a year and we wanted something we didn’t really care about or have to be so gentle with. with the SSD I figure you can toss it around a bit.

also, i tried linux a few years ago on a desktop machine and absolutley hated it!!! i’m hoping this experience will be much nicer.

one question. with the SD expansion slot, can i go buy a 32gb SD card and put an OS on it and basically have my C:/ my 32gb SD card and name the internal 4gb as the D:/ ?

If you have the Easy Peasy dvd in the dvd drive on boot the netbook will see it and offer you several selections. Pick “install ubuntu” and it will set up the ssd for the install. It will ask you a few questions like what time zone you’re in, what keyboard setup (usa), your name, how much of the ssd you want to use for this os ( use all), etc… Then it will install Easy Peasy. The whole evolution takes about twenty minutes, then re-boot and you should be ready to go.

you could always use a 32gig SDHC card. you can find them on ebay for like 20-40 bucks. just adds an extra 32 gigs to it =]

You know, the more I thought about this, the more I don’t understand why you can’t just copy the iso file to an SD or thumb drive and boot it. It sounds like that’s all you did except you put it on a DVD, right?

I bought one back in August for my Stepdad. He is totally computer illiterate and my Mom and I thought it wold make a good first computer for him. I have an Acer Aspire One running XP and I love it, so I was very interested in trying out an Asus that I could experiment with Linux on. I have been very pleased with the overall look and feel of this little netbook. The Acer has a better keyboard layout but the Asus has a more responsive touchpad and mouse key positions.

I wanted to find an OS that would be good for someone who would not use half of the stuff that most people look for in an OS and big icons were a must!I have to also say that this was my first foray into the world of Linux and it was fun researching the hundreds of distros out there and surprisingly easy to experiment with them. Do not be afraid of trying Linux!!! I removed Xandros and tried:
Eeebuntu NBR - would have been fantastic for me but I thought it was a bit feature rich for a new or light computer user.
Pupeee - super fast and found my wireless right away. But it just didn’t have the big icons I was looking for and some menus were hard to find.
gOS- looked fantastic and might have been the choice IF I could get it to find my wireless network :-(.
Linpus - could not get through the boot up.
Linux Mint - WINNER!!! It found my wireless right away. Runs very well on the little ssd (also have a 8gb sd card for file storage just in case). I can easily change the size of the desktop icons and remove any programs that he will not use.

I have been very happy so far with Mint. I did need to update the Java for Youtube videos but that was done easily with the mintUpdater (give descriptions of everything!). For someone who wants to use the netbook for internet surfing, email, and a few light games (good free ones with linux), this is perfect.

I recommended Softpedia as a good source for OS downloads.

If you drill down on the Unbunta site you can find pretty easy directions on download, and installation to first a USB stick and then to the Netbook…Both thru windows and thru command line prompts…

Will let you know after I get mine…

I will try the 4 GB base and see how well it works…Then I will upgrade if necessary…

Might as well see how the base unit performs first…

Well, that sold out during my drive back home where I was about to buy one. Anyone know of another place that sells these for about the same price (hopefully woot won’t yell at me)?

I do not see “direct connection to the internet” button, Any info why?

Yes, but for some reason I had a problem loading from the thumb drive, but I had no problems loading it from a dvd. Everything works great right away. That’s the advantage of using Easy Peasy, or eeebuntu, they’re both customized to work with asus netbooks. No searching for drivers, etc… Only problem with the default load settings is that the speaker volume is very low. To fix that all you have to do is double click on the speaker icon on top of the screen. After double clicking it you will have a box open up with two sliding scales, one for volume, one for line out. Max them out and you’ll have plenty of volume.

That depends on the version of the browser you’re using. For Firefox, it may also say “No proxy”. (I gave directions for the Xandros installed on the 900A that I bought from Woot!, with no updates installed.)

I have the 900a from Woot from weeks ago. I checked “no proxy” and it still prevents me from to going to web sites, in fact it will not even let me see this blob now!

Sadly, yes; I am also unable to reach this spot - although I do VERY MUCH appreciate the advice you so kindly offered. I think this particular Asus is possessed by the devil itself, as it will not allow me to go to proxy settings at all ( spins it’s wheels briefly and then resets ), will also not acknowledge any browser setting modifications that do not result in simply spinning ineffectively, and - although I have tried a total of 8 mouses ( all of which I know work, both usb & wireless ) - it won’t make friends with any of them.

However; as this was intended as a gift for my mom-in-law, and with the best of intentions, I shall pervail ( while I have already replaced it for her with an Aspire which runs XP, as the giftee needs it to leave with tomorrow ). Should I be unable to find any way in which to make it be friendly, it shall find itself underneath the significant wheels of a 40,000 lb. fire engine when I return to work at the Station next week.

Thanks much for your efforts.

Ah well. With access to it, I could probably figure it out. I’d personally send it back since it does not permit Internet access. If you can’t easily turn off this misguided filter, it’s not usable. Sad.

Having googled about this a bit more, it’s clear that some vendors that sold these systems installed dansguardian; apparently due to some belief that this was a good thing. Marketing, I guess.

The level of denial on the Xandros and Asus forums about this is pretty amazing, actually.

You can uninstall DansGuardian using the following:

Control/Alt/T.
sudo apt-get remove dansguardian
sudo dpkg --purge dansguardian squid squid-common
sudo echo “” > /etc/policycontrol/firewall.conf

(that’s two “-” in the second ‘sudo’ line and two double-quotes in the third ‘sudo’ line. The Ctrl/Alt/T will bring up a command line.)

Reboot after all this and cross your fingers.

If this doesn’t remove it, let me know what it says so I can suggest an alternative.

I have a more-or-less new SSD removed from my 900A you’re welcome to if it’ll help. We could swap drives, I can fix this, and make wooters everywhere happy. :slight_smile:

[Edit: fixed the ‘second’ and ‘third’ sudo line references above.]

I bought one of these and received the billing confirmation, but it doesn’t show up under “My account”

Is this the same for anyone else? Maybe it’ll be there by Tuesday!

Edit: Nevermind, I was looking at my purchases for the regular woot.com, duh…

Strange ?:-/ I would wait a day or so before I got too worried though, but I really hope these ship quickly! My college starts classes today so I want mine ASAP :slight_smile: Hopefully early next week.