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"Easy to develop, Easy to port, Easy to release," Eee becoming the latest hacker's dream toy

After catching a significant amount of ire for possibly violating the GNU General Public License, ASUS admitted its fault, apologized, and offered the complete sources for download, including the much-demanded asus_acpi module and kernel sources.
 
The source is "complete to the best of ASUS's knowledge" and includes an invitation for further corrections to be sent to the company if more sources are required. Unfortunately for some hopeful individuals, the Eee's WiFi driver is not licensed under the GPL, and as such remains available in "binary blob" format only.
 
ASUS also announced the upcoming release of a software development kit specifically designed for the Eee. While the Eee can run standard Linux (or Windows XP, if you've installed it yourself) applications, the Eee's small 800x480 resolution and unique hardware means that the user experience is often subpar. ASUS has not offered a release date for the SDK, only requesting that interested users "Please check back soon at eeepc.asus.com for more information in the upcoming weeks."
 
While users may have to wait for the SDK to begin "officially" tinkering with the Eee, there is no shortage of eager consumers willing to get their hands dirty with both software and hardware hacks. From replacing the Xandros OS's KDE with Gnome, to overclocking the unit to 900MHz under XP, to soldering in USB gadgets to the internal MiniPCIe connector for 3G or Bluetooth connectivity, the Eee is rapidly becoming the toy of choice for the budget-minded hacker.

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wrong
By DigitalFreak on 11/30/07, Rating: 0
RE: wrong
By Chris Peredun on 11/30/2007 1:17:04 PM , Rating: 4
Hacker:
1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.
2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.
3. A person capable of appreciating hack value.
4. A person who is good at programming quickly.
5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in "a Unix hacker". (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)
6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.
7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.


RE: wrong
By Oregonian2 on 11/30/2007 1:48:02 PM , Rating: 1
Yes, the original definition included all of those as well as those who designed (on a non commercial basis, even if the same person did designs commercially during his/her day-job) software or hardware for the fun of it -- in addition to modifying existing designs. One was proud to be a "hacker" (meaning doing things in a somewhat amateur fashion without the formal straight jackets of ISO9000, managers, meetings, status reports, etc). Until the writer of that infamous NY Times article changed its meaning completely. If only that "hacker" (current meaning in the press) could have been a milkman instead (when acquaintances were asked what he was).


RE: wrong
By Oregonian2 on 11/30/2007 1:50:05 PM , Rating: 4
P.S. - "True" hackers probably think about the current term "hacker" about the same workers at the post office think about the term "going postal".


RE: wrong
By noirsoft on 12/1/2007 8:58:21 AM , Rating: 2
No, the original meaning of a Hacker has more to do with the term "being a hack" -- it has to do with getting something done sloppily and quickly rather than correctly.

That meaning still applies today. When someone proudly proclaims themselves to be a hacker, it's like someone proudly claiming to be a self-taught guitarist who only knows three chords.


asus rocks
By Moishe on 11/30/2007 11:19:12 AM , Rating: 3
Unlike a lot of hardware companies Asus has pretty much always done a good job of producing and delivering. I'm glad they did this. The Eee can be a really popular platform for all sorts of stuff if they provide the SDK and get out of the way of innovation.




RE: asus rocks
By clovell on 11/30/2007 5:11:55 PM , Rating: 2
Maybe so, but I had an issue right out of the box with a board I bought from them about 18 months back. Turns out the vDIMM max was 1.95v, rather than the 2.50v that was being advertised at retailers and on Asus's own website.

Nobody I talked to in Customer Service knew why. I spent two weeks trying to get something other than a cookie-cutter response than in no way addressed my concern. Finally, I got an English-speaking rep on the phone and worked with him for a couple more weeks before he acknowledged there was a 'discrepancy'.

Within that time, Asus changed their website to reflect reality. I was offered an RMA, but I declined. If I was going to take my system apart, I wasn't going to put another Asus product into it.

A lot of M2N-E owners held their breath, hoping that a BIOS update would bring the vDIMM up to 2.5v - the M2N-SLI was almost the exact same board and it had 2.5v max vDIMM, so it seemed feasible. But, it never happened. This, in addition to random crashes and the lack of soft reboots for the first few months until BIOS version 4.

It's a big deal when you take into account that most PC6400 DDR2 used 2.1v sticks at the time. I was really disappointed with the entire experience. I don't plan to buy another Asus product.


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