ASUS Motherboard Ships With Embedded Linux 216
Michael writes "ASUSTek has introduced the P5E3 Deluxe motherboard, which in addition to using Intel's new X38 Chipset also features a soon-to-be-announced technology by DeviceVM. SplashTop is an instant-on Linux desktop environment that is embedded onto this motherboard. Within seconds of turning on the P5E3 Deluxe motherboard, you can boot into this Linux environment that currently features a Mozilla-based web browser and the Skype VoIP client. Browser and VoIP settings can be saved and there are plans for the device to provide new features and support via updates. At Phoronix is a review of this $360 motherboard embedded with Linux and a web browser."
One more piece is needed ... (Score:5, Interesting)
2010s (Score:1, Interesting)
Virtual Machine Host? (Score:4, Interesting)
X.
Re:Use? (Score:4, Interesting)
even more ideal is instant boot TO linux.
ultimate: being able to mount samba shares and playback HD content (normal
I will look at all solutions that offer a way to avoid a spinning disk drive. for a bedroom or quiet room HTPC, yup, I sure will.
Oh the irony (Score:3, Interesting)
Who would want to boot into a crippled Linux where you cannot mount external drives just to browse the internet or make Skype calls?
At least it can be updated, so ASUS might provide more functional versions in the future. However,
from TFA: "To update Express Gate [the embedded linux] though you will need to be running Windows on the hard drive in order to run the ASUS utility."
Now, that's just great...
Re:Use? (Score:5, Interesting)
two possibilities (Score:5, Interesting)
If it is the latter, and since the system can be updated from a running OS, it should be possible to put your kernel, servers and window manager in the flash and have most of your operating system boot instantly. And I have no doubt that if that is the case, some very clever person who was given one of these will work out how to do just that. Given that this does use a Linux kernel, it shouldn't be too hard to get source for any hardware specific issues you might find in booting from this.
Otherwise, this is pretty boring. There has been software available to, say, play media without booting into your operating system for ages.
LinuxBIOS (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll start:
LinuxBIOS:
- More capabilities, freedom to tinker
- Less expensive hardware
- Usually not supported by vendor, doesn't work with lots of motherboards
Re:Use? (Score:3, Interesting)
This is one of them '38 Mobos. Top-of-the-line. It has all kinds of other fancy bits that can't be used yet either. But think of it:
A $360 motherboard targets two groups: 1. the price-insensitive freaks who think they'll be getting the best of everything if they shell out a ton of cash, and 2. serious overclockers/hardware hackers/tech geeks.
Most people in both groups will find it completely useless, right up there with the fourth SATA channel. But some of group (1) will show it off as part of their interminable "look at my toys" spiel they suffer upon visiting males and females; and some of group (2) will look at that, and figure out that it's effectively a dual-boot BIOS with most of the hooks already there, and a second OS in flash memory. Some of them might even figure out a way to "break out of the box" and mount what they need.
Now think of Asus' costs and risks. Costs? A very small amount of flash. Heck, I'd be surprised if it was 256 MB, and that stuff is _cheap_ wholesale. Then they need some people to slap together the code. Oh yeah, they're already building an entire line of linux computers with a stripped-down version of Firefox and Skype on board. So it's cheap. The only risk is allowing access to the file system right out of the box. 'Cos Mr. Price-insensitive would have to secure the other operating system too...
Re:Possible GPL violation? (Score:3, Interesting)
To be honest I am not interested in the software, the question is whether the Motherboard can be reflashed with my own choice of mini-distro.
Re:Virtual Machine Host? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd like to see something like NetTop (see above URL) implemented in the hardware. Imagine if you could have a Windows session running under VMWare (or similar) and when (not if) it gets rooted use Linux to recover it. NetTop allows doing this now (at moderate expense and some difficulty), if there was a cheap version of the same thing implemented in flash on the motherboard (so it didn't even add to the boot time) then it would significantly increase the security of the entire Internet.
It seems that the battle for desktop security has been lost by the company with the most market share. So the battle is now to contain the damage when a desktop machine is 0wned. Technology with features similar to NetTop allow having a full local firewall in front of a Windows VM controlling which network interfaces it accesses. For example you could have one Windows session with access to the Internet and one with access to the corporate Intranet and not allow them to talk to each other!
To summarise the NetTop project. It has a base OS of SE Linux with custom policy to prevent VMWare sessions from talking to each other (they can't access each other's block devices etc). To access a CD-ROM or other removable media you have to assign it to one session (which denies access to other VMWare instances). Each VMWare session can have access to some sub-set of the network interfaces (which may be VPN interfaces allowing a single Ethernet cable to carry data classified at multiple levels).
This is how Linux wil take over the desktop (Score:2, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:interesting (Score:5, Interesting)
Yep, it's possible to pick out the talking points that the astro-turfers get handed for a particular topic. A few old chestnuts:
It would be amusing if it weren't such a pain. The worst part, though, is that they used to spend all their time modding their comrades up, but now they've moved on to modding 'inconvenient' posts down.