The EeePC started as a niche product aimed at children. It was a huge hit, which surprised everybody - even Asus. Microsoft noticed it, and started putting pressure on Asus. While reading around, I came across this interview with Benson Lin, which proces once more that Microsoft is tying up Asus and effectively killing the GNU/Linux version of the EeePC.

Until recently I thought Linux was just the domain of enthusiasts and cost-conscious corporates, who for whatever reason, wanted an alternative to Windows. I never thought Linux had a contribution to make to mainstream computing. However, after purchasing a ASUS EeePC, a Linux based subnotebook, I’ve realised that I was wrong, very wrong.

Although Asus has said that the Windows XP version of the EeePC will be available only by "special tender" (government and education), the writer of this article has been told by Asus' sales agents in Australia that it will be available to electrical retailers. This could be bad blow to Linux adoption on ultraportables if the price is the same.

And it came to pass. Asus saw the EeePC and it was good; it’s even better with a 9-inch display. Asus has officially named the 9-inch EeePC the EeePC 900 and has released some detailed specs about the low-cost laptop.

The ASUS EeePC is fairly popular, and is really a decent tool, overall. The nice folks at ASUS threw in some educational applications, which is really nice. But is it suitable for use in schools? Well, certainly not in its default state. Let's look at some of the more important limitations on the ASUS EeePC, in terms of school use, and how to work around the problems.

I bought myself an ASUS eeePC. It also ships with Linux, which (I thought) was a good indication that the hardware is well supported by Linux. (Not so; read on.)

The battle for the inexpensive UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC) market has begun. Several companies already have them; such as the CloudBook from Everex and the EeePC from Asus. Both look “okay” but it would be hard to call them aesthetically pleasing. ECS will be introducing its version of a UMPC and it looks like the smaller brother to the MacBook

The netbook craze has created a lot of netbooks that have Windows and Linux versions. This, naturally, creates something or a pricing issue, since Linux is free and Windows is not. The most obvious option is to make the Linux one cheaper, but that is not what Asus, and possibly others, have decided to do.

It’s officially been a week since I purchased an Asus EeePC. I’ve been reading a lot about them since they were released last year and now that I’ve got it setup and tweaked to my liking I’m very pleased with my purchase. Over the last week of usage, my EeePC has morphed and evolved quite a bit.