New ASUS Motherboards ship with Linux?

[McRat]

http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/2067_2.html


...
Express Gate is a small Linux-based operating system that allows the user to boot their computer within a few seconds instead of the minute or two Windows requires. The OS requires you to install it onto an IDE HDD, a USB Flash drive or other similar device. Once installed you can boot off that device and have access to a web browser, a chat client, some games and a photo application. ...

This is a mainstream AMD64 motherboard, so I'd expect it to start a trend. It supports USB3.0, SATA 6gb, and has on-board sound and ATI graphics for $120.

[julio_cortez]

I can confirm there are also intel-based boards like THIS (http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=QtpKQuERkuYw6trc&templete=2) (which happens to be the one I'm using) that come with ExpressGate.

Not that useful really (I've not been using it for months now that it looks I solved my stability issues), but it's a nice addition when someone has to quickly browse for something and doesn't want to wait for Windows to load..

[Swagman]

The weird thing is.. I had to install windows (dual boot) to get ExpressGate to work. Maybe I did something wrong ?

I had a little play with it but found it to actually be an annoyance so disabled it in the BIOS.

10:04 boots pretty damn fast anyway.

[Johnsie]

Is it a really cut down version of Linux? If so then it could give people a bad impression of Linux... This happened before when netbooks were released with rubbish distros. That destroyed the reputation of Linux for many people.

[McRat]

I'm tempted to buy one just to look at it.

No, I don't see it as something that useful for me, but ...

[Frogs Hair]

I am using Express Gate also, and it was installed with windows first.

[julio_cortez]

The weird thing is.. I had to install windows (dual boot) to get ExpressGate to work. Maybe I did something wrong ?
I think you are right, there.

Some ASUS boards ship with ExpressGate already "installed" on a dedicated little flash drive that is built into the motherboard, while some othere require ExpressGate to be installed separately on the HD (and this is also my case) after another OS has been installed.

[kahumba]

I got an ASUS MB (P7P55D-E LX) with USB 3.0 and Linux Express Gate which appears in the BIOS as a bootup option after you install the software from the CD (from Windows obviously).
It starts-up fast, but it's mainly an annoyance cause almost always I need to run a full-fledged OS on my computer (Ubuntu 10.04, win7 or winXP) and since that bootup option has its own screen with its own countdown timer - it adds a few seconds till the Ubuntu GRUB boot-up options dialog comes up, which is a waste of time so I removed that option, so ASUS need to make a better decision here.
But it does have skype and the OS does connect to the internet automatically (as any other Linux distro does) but the software itself is pretty old and re-branded for whatever reason which makes it feel weird for a Linux user, not to mention it's a cut-down Linux distro and hence you can't install anything, just that - browsing and toying around with it.

[CharlesA]

There are some mobos that have it included on the mobo, but most require you to install it to the hard drive.

I disabled it as soon as I booted for the first time.

[sf-it-services]

could do with linux on a SSD on the motherboard, with networking and the HDD for extra/external storage. Sounds like a great idea having an OS shipped on the motherboard before windows licensing is undertaken

[julio_cortez]

could do with linux on a SSD on the motherboard, with networking and the HDD for extra/external storage. Sounds like a great idea having an OS shipped on the motherboard before windows licensing is undertaken
Well, I warn you that it is a very stripped down OS. It will let you only do the bare necessary and I found myself disabling it eventually.
It's installed, it's there if I need it.

It's a nice addition either if it is provided on a flash memory or if it has to be installed on a separate HD, but nothing more.

[cascade9]

Strange, I havent really heard much at all about express gate for a long time. For a while there it looked like asus was going to put it on every motherboard they sold, but that never happened.

Maybe people are hoping that the 2.0 version will be better than the initial release of expressgate.

BTW, express gate is just asus rebranding splashtop-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splashtop

[julio_cortez]

Yes, the browser in ExpressGate is still called "Splashtop Browser" :P

[Kdar]

I know ExpressGate was on one of their gaming Laptops.

[McRat]

Well, I guess this was Welcome To Last Year, eh?

:D

[cascade9]

:lolflag:

Welcome to 2007...and I think it might have even been released well before that.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2329/4

[RiceMonster]

My motherboard has express gate support, but I've never bothered to install it.

[BuffaloX]

I tried it, it's almost completely useless.
It's essentially just an extra boot option in your BIOS, which allows you to boot a tiny Linux version, which needs to be installed on a normal bootable device like harddrive.
It's better to use grub and a "normal" Linux install.

[bruno9779]

With Flash, Skype and a browser, it could be a foolproof guest access.

Also the filesystem is read only.

Could really prove useful for those awkward "can I use your PC to se if I received e-mails" situations.

"Of course you can use my computer. But sandboxed"

[Shining Arcanine]

Is it a really cut down version of Linux? If so then it could give people a bad impression of Linux... This happened before when netbooks were released with rubbish distros. That destroyed the reputation of Linux for many people.

Linux is a kernel. Short of being like HURD, I am not sure how it could give people a bad impression.

By the way, HURD is an acronym that unofficially means:

Hardly
Under
Real
Development