DeviceVM announced that its quick-booting Splashtop Linux implementation is being pre-installed in ROM (read-only memory) on four new Asus motherboards. Asus says it plans to ship over a million Splashtop-ready motherboards per month, making this one of the largest Linux deployments ever.

Over the years of reviewing ASUS products we've seen a number of interesting motherboards but the one we have our hands on for review today is one of the most interesting we have ever seen.

Asus will bring the Eee Box desktop to the UK in August, the company announced today. However, it confirmed to Register Hardware that machine will initially only ship with Windows XP Home Edition.

"Asus is to embed a lightweight, instant-on version of Linux called "Splashtop" into all its motherboards, following good feedback from customers."

Asus has named the upcoming additions to its Eee PC family of low-cost computers, soon to be augmented with a small form-factor desktop machine, an all-in-one system and a TV.

First through the Eee PC and now through its PC motherboards, Asus is rapidly carving a global reputation for itself as the company which knows how to take Linux mainstream. The question is will including the minimalist cut-down version of Linux called Splashtop on a million motherboards a month finally bring on the Linux desktop age or has it made the desktop redundant?

We recently acquired an ASUS Eee PC (if you want to know more about it, a lot of reviews are available on internet). The first thing we did when we put our hands at the ASUS Eee PC was to test its security. The ASUS Eee PC comes with a customized version of Xandros operating system installed, and some other bundled software like Mozilla Firefox, Pidgin, Skype and OpenOffice.org.

Asustek Computer (Asus) predicts the Eee PC it has started selling with Microsoft Windows XP Home edition on board will outsell the original Linux-based version by a ratio of 6 to 4 in the market by year-end, a heady prediction considering the Windows machine costs nearly twice as much as the cheapest Linux one.

I’ve rarely if ever read a review of a piece of software or hardware that was given unqualified praise by the reviewer and the Asus Eee PC will be no exception. If I don’t find some fault with it, then you can be sure that someone else will, so with that caveat let’s get have an initial look at the meister-machine.