Saturday, May 17th 2008
ASUS Plans to Ship Embedded ''Splashtop'' Linux with Every Motherboard
Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS is to embed a lightweight open source version of Linux called "Splashtop" into all its motherboards it was announced recently. On Wednesday, DeviceVM, the company behind the distribution, said the hardware manufacturer would be putting Splashtop - which ASUS calls "Express Gate" - into a million motherboards a month. Splashtop boots from a flash chip on the motherboard before the main OS is loaded and includes a Firefox Internet browser, e-mail client, Skype and the Splashtop desktop. At first the Linux-based software will be available immediately in the new Intel P45 based P5Q Deluxe, P5Q-WS, P5Q3 Deluxe and P5Q-E series motherboards, due to be out by the end of June. After that the Splashtop OS is planned to be integrated into numerous other ASUS motherboards and even some notebooks in the near future. "In response to great user feedback, our plan is to proliferate Express Gate across our entire motherboard product portfolio, starting with over one million motherboards per month," says Joe Hsieh, General Manager, ASUS Motherboard Business Unit. "Consumers want to turn their PCs on and off like any other appliance, and Express Gate has made that possible."
Source:
Splashtop Blog
14 Comments on ASUS Plans to Ship Embedded ''Splashtop'' Linux with Every Motherboard
it's a great idea and all, for those that want or need to hop online in only a few seconds of turning their rig on - but I don't like it.
I also find it frustrating having to disable the damn thing after every new BIOS update. Re-Flash the BIOS and I'm like :wtf:?! on reboot . . . then I remember . . . :banghead:
If you got a Laptop and small time to use a wifiport (in an airport, or bus station, or coffeehouse) than it's perfect to chat with pals and family!
For the home it's not so useful.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splashtop
www.splashtop.com/index.php
AWFUL voiceover on the video.
Or how bout a socket 7 for your hard drive. You're hard drive plugs into the socket.... and it comes with windows embedded into it... cuts piracy a bunch, and windows loads instantly. Everything else would be installed on a seperate add-in drive maybe? Who knows what the future holds. maybe the entire computer will be a holographic cube, with a mobo printed inside, and everything else printed in 3D, circuits, video card, HD, ram, all printed into this big cube, and it works with light instead of electricity..... i dunno
As long as it has the ability to modify files on my Windows partitions I'm all for it. That would make things a lot easier ; )