eee box review part 2: The software
October 7, 2008 – 5:20 amThe second part of our eee box review will describe some aspects of the software side.
Express gate
Asus integrated an innovative solution with the Eee box b202. When you power on your unit, an instant on Linux based system will welcome you, the Express gate.
It will gave you access to basic tasks, such as Internet browsing, online games, Photo viewing, chatting with pidgin, or making voice calls with skype.
Express gate on a 22″ monitor
The purpose is to get a fast access to applications, without having to wait for a full-fledged OS to load.
The Internet browser is Splashtop Browser, a slightly modified version of Mozilla Firefox.
The photography software will allow to browse and view pictures. For example, you may have your eee box connected to an LCD TV, insert the memory card from your digital camera, and have a nice slideshow in just a few seconds.
Picture viewer in Express Gate (sorry for the noisy photo)
Pidgin is a chatting software supporting the vast majority of protocol such as Gtalk, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and much more.
Skype completes the Express Gate’s software. You will be able to call and see your friends.
Configuration
The configuration panel is easy to use. The maximum resolution Express gate supports is 1440×1050 on my unit.
Wifi worked immediatly, I just had to provide my pre-shared key and the WPA encrypted connection was up.
Express Gate is a really useful addition. My only regret would be that my unit didn’t come with a music and video player, such as the version described on Asus’ website. Having an instant on multimedia player would have been a winner, especially for people connecting the eee box to an LCD TV. That said, Asus may release updates including that part in the future.
XP
My unit came with Windows XP preinstalled, I didn’t have the choice and needed an eee for the website. There’s not much to tell about the OS in itself, it has been long enough on the market.
I will be installing an open source OS soon, since I can’t trust my online work’s security to a closed source OS, and there are more modern solutions. But that will be for another article.
Star Office 8 is preinstalled on the eee box, which is essencially based on Open office and issued by Sun microsystems. It will cover text and spreadsheet processing, making presentations, or creating databases. It is compatible with most of the Microsoft Office formats.
Previous part: Eee box hardware.
Next part: Conclusions.
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