This is a guide to running Linux with the Asus Eee PC 900 laptop.
This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.
This page is just for discussing using Linux on the Asus Eee PC 900. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the Asus Eee PC 900 page on LapWik.
If you would like to edit this page please first view our Editing Guidelines.
For full specifications see the Asus Eee PC 900 specifications page.
| Name | Asus Eee PC 900 |
| Processor | Intel® Celeron M 353 900Mhz |
| Screen | 8.9” WSVGA Widescreen |
| RAM | 1GB (Upgradable to 2GB) |
| HDD | 12GB to 20GB - SSD |
| Optical Drive | None |
| Graphics | Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 915 |
| Network | Ethernet, 802.11b/g |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Works | frequency scaling is slow |
| Screen | Works | |
| HDD | Works | |
| Optical Drive | Not Tested | no optical drive |
| Graphics | Works | using driver “intel” |
| Sound | Works | using normal alsamixer |
| Ethernet | Works | using atl2 driver patch |
| Wireless | Works | using madwifi hal |
| USB | Works | can be booted from |
| Card Reader | Works | can be booted from |
| Camera | Works |
You can enter any specific notes with running Linux on the Asus Eee PC 900 here.
You can enter a summary of how well the Asus Eee PC 900 works with Linux here.
Discussion
Well I use “Kubuntu Netbook” (karmic koala) edition (which is on it's beta stage) on my EEE 900 since it's alpha stages, and now I conclude that it's very impressive. The developers have done a real good job there. First I thought that the desktop experience on my netbook would be terribly sluggish, but then I gave it a try, and I saw that it is incredibly fast with KDE 4.3+ desktop even with most of the window compositing effects enabled. The only problem is, the plasma netbook desktop interface on Kubuntu Netbook Edition is only a technical preview and has some small bugs.
I have one of these. SLAX Linux runs well. The Ubuntu Netbook Remix was COMPLETELY unusable. I'm slightly confused at the response to the UNR, as when I went to the IRC channel, I was informed by many people that in fact, the Ubuntu Netbook Remix worked badly on every netbook. I don't know about that, but I do know it did not work for me.
I recently picked up an Asus Eee 900 (16GB) second hand. I previously owned one of the original 4G Surf machines. This newer one came with Windows XP pre-installed, and that lasted for about three hours after it got into my hands. I picked up a 2GB stick of memory, swapped that in, downloaded Eeebuntu Standard 3.0 from the Eeebuntu web site, and installed it on the machine. I also have an Acer Aspire One (AOA 150) with the 160GB HDD, but there is just something I really like about the diminutive Asus.
Eeebuntu is a purpose designed port of Ubuntu specifically for the Asus Eee laptops and as such, everything pretty much just works right out of the box. Version 3.0 is based on Jaunty (9.04).
I forgot to emphasize about upgrading the RAM on these machines to 2GB and then building them without a swap partition. This will extend the life of the SSD drive dramatically as you won't have constant writes to the drive.
Hi.. I'm very frustrated with my new EEE pc 900.. it has 4 GB ssd with the linux os and an intel atom processor…
My problem is, almost all 4gb is completely taken up as soon as I boot up the computer.. And, without even getting on the net, the space on the ssd starts filling up randomly… starting around 650MB.. and depleting to 0.. after that, my computer is hardly functionable.
I was wondering if anyone knew how to install a different Operating System on this unit.. I prefer to use a usb jump drive. An OS that I fancy is xubuntu…
PLease, if anyone knows how to di this, give me a shout.
Thanks,
John
Not sure if this is still relevant for you John, but I would point you to Eeebuntu. They have a Basic version that will actually install on the early 2GB machines. Also, as a general recommendation, up your RAM to 2GB and then get rid of the swap partition. They are working on an even more frugal version that uses the LXDE desktop. There are pretty clear installation instructions in their forums, and also a lot of help.
http://www.eeebuntu.org/
Please look at this distro that is specially designed for Asus EEE netbooks (for all models) with preconfigured drivers etc. http://www.geteasypeasy.com/
(my problem could be that the shop forgot to ask the first user for the passwords or