RM miniBook / Asus eeePC ideas?

[mtreavis]

I'm Matt Treavis & I work in the engineering group at RM that has just released the miniBook / eeePC. I've spoken to Russell & he's ok'd me posting - as long as I don't advertise... :?

 

miniBook has opened us to new concept (well new for RM) in that we're selling a mainstream linux device.

Our linux expertise is growing, but we have very experience of it in a desktop education environment.

So I'm interested to get some feedback from you on how we can better support the miniBook? I'd like to hear about about any bright ideas, but as a starter for 10 what are your thoughts on wireless capability?

Currently the miniBook supports WEP & WPA out of the box, but using wpa_supplicant stronger security should be possible - has anyone tried this in their network?

also, how important is enterprise level security for a product like this?

 

any thoughts?

Cheers,

Matt

[bizzel]

We use WPA-PSK security here and wpa_supplicant on my linux laptop has always worked like a champ. I know several sites use radius security though, so yes, it's important to have that as an option.

[webman]

I think one question that has cropped up a few times is logging into a network (CC3 in particular) and gaining access to home directories (essentially a linux fat-client).

[binky]

my account manager showed be one today, and i have to say they are so cool!!! I have put my order through today!

[GrumbleDook]

We are starting to re-assess how we use mobile devices and the wireless network in my school, with a view to making more use of the WLAN as a hotspot giving access to specific services only.

 

This means that we will be looking for devices to take a step up into enterprise level security. This will be a combined project between a Cisco partner, a Sun partner and a few suppliers of laptops.

[mtreavis]

Thanks for the replies so far, keep them coming!

Webman, our softwere dev & test teams have been doing loads of work around RM's software products to make sure that there is out of the box - check TEC article TEC1050864 on rm.com/support - I think it covers what you're looking for.

 

Grumbledook, from reading your post am I right in thinking that you're looking to the infrastructure to provide an insecure low service hotspot environment next to a secured enterprise environment?

If I've got that right, what support would you need built into the minibook to work in the secured environment?

[linuxgirlie]

At the moment I have just been getting use to the eeepc, but my next job will be contenting it to our network. My only worry is the lack of software in the asus repositories. Maybe RM could setup their own repositories that would give access to greater educational software etc without having to use a third party one that could break the system.

 

Jo

[webman]

Hmm. That's half what I had in mind but it's food for thought. For shared Minibooks - perhaps a "Connect to CC3" app that just prompts for username/password and mounts work area and perhaps the shared area; and a Disconnect icon that does the reverse. This would be very helpful for accessing network resources, but I suppose some Xdialog commands in a bash script would suffice.

[CyberNerd]

My only worry is the lack of software in the asus repositories

I also worried about this, but apparently Ubuntu runs quite nicely on these. I'll try it but our delivery is delayed Anyone know if its running a custom kernel or just stock xandros?

 

For shared Minibooks - perhaps a "Connect to CC3" app that just prompts for username/password and mounts work area and perhaps the shared area

 

what about putting the shared area accessible through the browser

[mtreavis]

Hi, some answers to some of your questions..

Re: RM Repositories - interesting idea, in the short term it is possible to install downloaded .deb packages with dpkg, otherwise I have connected one to the debian repositories and installed apps from there (I don't have the links handy atm, a quick Google should dig them out.) - I did this through synaptic ('sudo synaptic' from a console)

 

Re: CC3 connectivity - as mentioned, our software guys are looking at this sort of thing, more detail as soon as we can.

In the meantime, has anyone tried a scripted method for connecting to cc3 user shares / shared areas? - happy to provide any help I can..

 

Finally, Ubuntu... I installed Ubuntu on one of our test systems a couple of weeks ago (mostly from instructions here: http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=1285)

Acpi caused the biggest grumbles but as the sources are now available I would imagine those issues are resolvable. I had to use ndiswrapper to get wifi working.

If you are going to try any hacks it's well worth making a recovery usb stick from the included CD, it takes less than 5 mins to restore, and is great in an emergency..

[mtreavis]

quick update, Rich Hall, one of our support guys has put this script together that may help.

Big caveat: it's definitely not a supported RM product & it's very much beta.. in fact here's Rich's post:

If you want to try it you'll need to edit so that it matches your own server names (search for and replace sal-dc01 and sal-dc02)

 

To make it run copy it onto a mini book and then from a terminal (ctrl-alt-t) enter the command

sudo chmod a+x cc3\ connection.sh

 

This will make it executable. you can then launch it by entering the command :

 

./cc3\ connection.sh

 

Things to note:

 

1) If you run it twice in one session it tries to unmount any existing shares. If the unmount fails it will delete the contents of the shared folders

2) It stores usernames and passwords in plain text files. It deletes them as soon as it's used them

3) Ideally it needs to be encrypted before being left on a station.

 

So, I wouldn't be passing it on to end users without some updates (and a safe backup of user data)

 

Please feel free to give it a try & let us know what you think, and if you make any changes that are really useful please share them.

cc3_connection.txt

[torledo]

I'm Matt Treavis & I work in the engineering group at RM that has just released the miniBook / eeePC. I've spoken to Russell & he's ok'd me posting - as long as I don't advertise... :?

 

miniBook has opened us to new concept (well new for RM) in that we're selling a mainstream linux device.

Our linux expertise is growing, but we have very experience of it in a desktop education environment.

So I'm interested to get some feedback from you on how we can better support the miniBook? I'd like to hear about about any bright ideas, but as a starter for 10 what are your thoughts on wireless capability?

Currently the miniBook supports WEP & WPA out of the box, but using wpa_supplicant stronger security should be possible - has anyone tried this in their network?

also, how important is enterprise level security for a product like this?

 

any thoughts?

Cheers,

Matt

 

WPA 2 is a must for me. Plus It'd help if you did extensive testing on your test systems with Cisco Aironet AP's and associated wireless secuity features (i.e 802.1x enabled switches and radius authentication) as we use exclusively Aironet AP's and they are pretty much the choice of the enteprise.

 

Plus how about some sort of remote desktop client. I suppose VNC is an option but there's also access via the thin client protocols ICA and RDP.

 

Would agree with the software repositories. Plus you should try and tailor some of the apps for the platform. You wouldn't go wrong taking a cue from apples use of widgers. For instance the youtube icons on the desktop of the miniPC are merely shortcuts to the url which opens in a web browser. Handy but not all that impressice and not as useful or as elegant as the way apples itouch provides access to youtube. A webservice esque widget that fits with how content can be accessed using the itouch.

 

That's how RM and Asus should approach application design for the platform. Or provide some tools for creating miniapplications for the platform.

 

Also a collegaue of mine has talked about simple podcast creation, photo slideshow and video editing software for the minibook. But I will elaborate on that in a later post.

[CyberNerd]

another thing that would be useful is a script that locks the machine down a bit - removing the user from sudoers, password protecting grub (and single user mode). I worry that a tech savvy student could just delete the opating system? maybe locking firefox settings (saved passwords etc)

[AbhHba]

Has anyone tried using the 'Advanced Mode' rather thyan the very restrictive 'Easy' one, Installing WINE from the Ubuntu repositories allows the installation of many Windows software titles!, so allowing commonality for users. Annoying at the moment the desktop icons created by these insatllations have to be put back after each logon.

[spc-rocket]

Hi,

 

I would like to see the 802.1x supplicant and WPA/WPA2 support. We've orderd one of these but have not recieved yet so can't really comment on what is already there and what is missing.

 

Recently Asus annouced that they will sell these with windows pre-loaded say maybe a cut down version of windows so we'll have to see how things go in regards to making services available via linux (which ever type, Xandros, unbuntu etc). However its still worth looking into providing the services via linux just in case the users/institution does not want to have windows on it.

 

Has anyone tried putting the bare minimum windows on thes eepc's? Our account manager told us that they had windows and office 2003 running on it and it was working fine.

 

I think its also worth RM considering what asus's long term plans are regarding this product, i.e. larger HDD, more memory etc so they can cater applications accordingly, if they are serious about making inroads in getting these devices to be used extensevily by pupils and in education establishments.

 

Ash.

[Guest richard]

I have to admit that I have pangs of jealousy as I will not get to play with one of these

[RichHill]

Plus how about some sort of remote desktop client. I suppose VNC is an option but there's also access via the thin client protocols ICA and RDP.

 

Hi, Torledo.

 

There's already 2 RDP clients installed. From a terminal :

 

rdesktop servername -g 800x450

 

or

 

krdc

 

I'll need to check the -g switch options on the rdesktop command though as I don't have one with me at the moment, but that switch sets the screen size. When I've tried krdc it could show the server window, but mouse and keyboard didn't work. I didn't persue it thought because rdesktop worked without problems.

 

Regards

 

Rich

[CyberNerd]

Add this to the /opt/xandros/share/AsusLauncher/simpleui.rc

 

 

        icon="iptv_norm.png"
       selected_icon="iptv_hi.png">
       Remote Desktop to Server1

[PiqueABoo]

I unexpectedly bumped in to & got my hands on one of these for a bit today and they're clearly very seductive for both tech-gadget-freaks and random normal folk. But I've got some doubts to settle...

 

For instance I can think of schools with pile of those cute mini tablet thingies that didn't quite work out in bits and pieces on shelves and can't help wondering if the same thing might happen with these. Chances are they'll get thrown about and dropped a lot more than regular laptops (where the size/weight demands a bit more respect). What does anyone think about how robust they are?

 

How useful will they really be for a lot of schools considering they're clearly not going to be running all that Windows curriculum software on them?

 

And how well is that future XP version going to work? If they push up the spec to make XP really comfortable, what's going to happen to the price? And 450 lines might be much nicer than a PDA but will be a bit of a show stopper for a lot of apps whether you're running them locally, locally in a broswer or via RDP.

 

And the maintenance. Factory reset might be relatively quick and easy but how easy is it to automate a custom config? Wireless, browser settings, whatever you end up doing to lock-down bits that need it, hook a user up with their home directory on some server etc.?

 

Can't shake the "it's a nice toy" feeling. All comments to the contrary are welcome.

[localzuk]

I think it comes down to 1 thing - they aren't a laptop. They are supposed to be used in a certain way - as a mobile access device for pupils to use VLE's and the like. That is all. Customisation and the like may sound fun, and possibly useful, but that is simply not what they are designed for.

[Dos_Box]

I have had one for over 2 weeks now and to be honest, I think that these are going to be very, very important devices indeed. Not just the EeePC, but all of the other manufacturers follow on devices too (of which there will be many). For a start it puts Linux in schools in a major way, and to quote PC Pro 'It does 95% of what 95% of laptop users want to do 95% of the time'.

What I would like to see is a group of year 10s given them and see what they are doing with them by the end of their year 11.

What to me sets them out is the fact that they are the first affordable laptop for the masses.

Remember localzuk mobile phones were not landlines and look what happened. Yes, they are not a full laptop, but not everybody wants a full laptop, and for the first time they don't have to have one.

[Face-Man]

These devices are great. I have no linux experiance at all but found this a doddle to use and to setup on both my home and school Wireless networks. It boots so fast It really is an any where any time device. Battery life is short but still good enough to go half a day and I'm sure that will only get better. The instruction come with how to install XP but why would you bother.. These devices are a good indication of what is on the horizion..

Also you can get them a little cheaper from Misco at £186.37 for the 4GB Black one but it is only worth it if you get free delivery thrown in.

 

Also the media player links up well with the BBC and it meant I could watch their online content full screen...

[PiqueABoo]

Sorry to uhh.. play hardball.. there's lots of lurve but I've yet to see anyone produce anything like a rational "business case". Ultimately it's tax payers money isn't it?

 

they aren't a laptop. They are supposed to be used in a certain way

 

Which I think more or less amounts to: Like a PDA but without being so frustratingly fiddly.

 

it puts Linux in schools in a major way

 

And? OK this is the nix forum, but surely typical users don't care too much about the OS compared to what they need to click to: a) run an application that does something useful for them, b) get a photo of their kids/cats set as the desktop wallpaper?

 

they are the first affordable laptop for the masses

 

Well <£200 is clearly more affordable than an OKish entry level Vista laptop at £400, but I don't know how you judge that first sum to be universally affordable - certainly isn't for anyone on JSA or whatever they call that this week.

 

'It does 95% of what 95% of laptop users want to do 95% of the time'

 

And they have figures to prove it? If I spent say 60% of my time doing word-processing, spreadsheets and presentations I really would want to do it with a bigger keyboard and monitor.

 

Back to the classroom, do people think they really will be effective as word processors et al for kids? And if they do have credible things to do on the net, will they be especially pleasant to use given the rather common requirement for a min resolution of 800x600 on sites?

[Espada]

Back to the classroom, do people think they really will be effective as word processors et al for kids? And if they do have credible things to do on the net, will they be especially pleasant to use given the rather common requirement for a min resolution of 800x600 on sites?

 

Actually, yes, I do think they will be good for this.

 

1. The Internet, I have few problems using it on my Eee. The screen is 800 wide and it is the width which is most important, it is also very clear. The only place I have seen them struggle is on games sites but this is a bonus really.

 

2. What better if you are going to give kids a laptop, they are solid state so will take some banging around, they will slip into a bag quite well (if you are not giving them to kids to take home, the teacher will need to count them back in). Really though these are for kids to take home with them.

[CyberNerd]

Customisation and the like may sound fun, and possibly useful, but that is simply not what they are designed for.

 

Thats laughable, thats exactly what the eeepc is for, check the eeepc forums - why else would they have given a fully customisable OS -and root access !? they even come with xp install instructions.

 

I've had a play all weekend with the eepc and the only downside I can see is the keyboard and the poor security. The curriculum is moving web/vle/eportfolio, this is clear. Thin computing is being taken more seriously in schools and the eeepc could save a lot of money and still handle the legacy windows only apps. They cost less than our current thin clients. in licensing alone at edu price for fat client accounts for almost half the cost of an eeepc. Whats more they have a GUI that kids like to use. (I appreciate that doesn't account for much on this site). Almost everyone I showed wants one. me included, just to save on home electricity bills - something a new vista laptop would hardly help with. I'm not typical but almost everything I seem to do these days is on a remote server anyway so I could just about handle using one full time.

 

certainly isn't for anyone on JSA or whatever they call that this week.

its been JSA for at least seven years...