In
Asus's new P5E3 Deluxe we saw the first hardware launch of embedded Linux developer DeviceVM's new SplashTop platform, but we didn't exactly get a lot of hard info about what the system is or how it's supposed to work. While specifics of the hardware might change from implementation to implementation, SplashTop refers to the software platform -- kind of an embedded Linux-based internet appliance-like environment running off a flash memory chip, which is linked directly to the BIOS (read: not on the IDE / SATA bus). This, of course, allows quick and painless pre-boot access to the included sandboxed browser (FireFox) and VoIP (Skype) environment. As of this time users can't yet add their own apps (though that might change later), but hey, they can get online pretty fast, and that's a start, right? Of course, it's arguable that if you need to get online there's always suspend mode for your Vista or XP machine, and that internet appliances didn't work then, so why should they work now? Then again, suspend mode still draws more power than "off", and internet appliances were never built into your day to day computer either -- so we'll be tracking where this one heads.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Carbonize @ Oct 9th 2007 8:23AM
And will it be possible to update the web browser etc when bugs are fixed/features added?
alloneword @ Oct 9th 2007 8:42AM
Yes.
They had an article about one of the Asus M/B that have this built in, and it will support new features via updates:
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/07/0614246
Adam @ Oct 9th 2007 8:24AM
Yeah, suspend draws power....but Hibernate doesn't draw power, and that's always worked pretty darn well for me.
Glenn @ Oct 9th 2007 8:34AM
I thought that the OS included FF and Skype... in addition to other programs. Now I guess that's the only two things that are included.
strider_mt2k @ Oct 9th 2007 8:35AM
I've been toying with taking the plunge doing some WinXP Embedded stuff as a hobbiest, but man this is taking it to another level entirely!
Jebus, many folks I know don't do much other than surf, chat and manage media on their PCs!
(one of the reasons embedded appeals)
I will continue to look on with great interest.
Thanks for following up on this stuff, Engadget!
mushrooshi @ Oct 9th 2007 8:36AM
Loving the half-dock half toolbar.
Infact, I am loving this look. Sure, its not as flashy as Mac OS X, but it looks great, is subtle, and is definatly smooth.
I don't understand why my school district is considering Vista when they should upgrade to Linux.
alloneword @ Oct 9th 2007 8:36AM
I am really quite excited about this, for two reasons.
I am a Linux guy, and anything that gets Linux in front of people who wouldn't usually see it is always a good thing.
But I also like the idea of an instant on OS where I can do a few things really quickly, like check my gmail, and a few news sites first thing on the morning before I go off to work. If I could boot up to FireFox in 5 sec, and check my email I would probably be late to work less often :-)
It would also provide an extremely secure system, because it wouldn't remember anything after you reboot. No way for something undesirable to stay in the system. (I am making an assumption here, maybe it would remember things, like bookmarks etc. but I also like the idea of a clean slate every time you reboot).
I would definitely look for a motherboard with this feature for my next PC.
Very Cool
mushrooshi @ Oct 9th 2007 8:46AM
Wow, I didn't read the whole article, but thats amazing, a motherboard with that built in?
I do have a question about linux.
Do most of the mainstream flavors of linux have something like my Macbook does, to where I can just close the lid and it goes rather into suspended animation than actually sleep? I remember on my old windows machine the laptop would continue to run and the only thing that would happen are the screen goes black and thts it OR it would basically half-shut-own and I need to wait a whole 1 minute just to get it back up.
My macbook can get back up from suspended animation after only 8 seconds. This at 5 seconds? Thats flippin sweet.
Kamokazi @ Oct 9th 2007 9:31AM
With Windows, you can specificy exactly what happens when you close the lid (unless the hardware was faulty and it didn't detect a close properly. So you could have told it to suspend instead of hibernate, etc.
Secondly, while I have never installed Linux on a laptop (Hell, I've never even personally owned my own laptop [got a work one I rearely use outside of work])...you can do damn near anything with it, and I am certain they account for laptop lid closures in it. The problem that happens with a lot of things with Linux is, sometimes something simple can take QUITE a few steps, and potentially reqire a plethora of shell commands, which would terrify your average computer user. Granted, current modern distros like Ubuntu have taken phenomenal steps forward in improving the new user experience and making things simple to do, but it's still not ready for mainstream....but it probably won't take long for it to get there at this rate. /soapbox off
One of the uses I see for this board is for people who keep their PCs off most of the time and just need to Google something quick, or, in the rare chance someone who buys a $360 motherboard only has one PC, they can boot into it and browse the internet and try to figure out what is wrong with their PC.
Oh, a side note, anyone wanna buy an Asus P5N32-E SLI? :-)
ldrn @ Oct 9th 2007 10:12AM
I do run Linux on my laptop... and yes, you can set it up to do this. It's easy and all in the GUI, too. It depends on the distro if it is set up to do it or not, but most of the time it isn't; suspend/sleep is very finicky on most laptops under Linux, and you do have to go to the command line and edit strange files to get it working.
I actually have that turned off on mine; I prefer for the laptop to just turn off the screen.
Eric @ Oct 9th 2007 8:58AM
Or you could get a flash drive with your current computer and install the os of your choice.
Paul @ Oct 9th 2007 10:51AM
I am going to hazard a guess that you have never used a flash drive based OS. It boots slow as hell. I have tried several different versions before I decided it was not worth the wasted time and just set up a dual boot on my PC.
strider_mt2k @ Oct 9th 2007 11:46AM
Agreed.
Setting up an OS this way can be very cumbersome.
Eric @ Oct 9th 2007 12:20PM
I have had no trouble out of Puppy Linux.
spam_from_engadget @ Oct 9th 2007 9:36AM
If you want to do something like this on your existing hardware, have a look at LinuxBIOS. It replaces your existing BIOS with something much simpler and faster, knocking several seconds off the boot time.
Solomon @ Oct 11th 2007 1:01AM
If you have an extra computer that you can risk bricking, then maybe try Linux BIOS. It only works on a handful of boards, and keep in mind, if anything goes wrong with the it, then the board could be forever ruined.
I think Intel is doing something sort of like Linux BIOS; sort of... On their most expensive server boards, there are separate BIOS and firmwares. The 'firmware' for those boards are like what conventional BIOS is. The 'BIOS' is really a text-gui utility with more advanced things, like setting up RAIDs, managing the board logs, and the fancypants Intel server technologies... I think the BIOS part can be replaced with Linux BIOS or some other special binaries...
Anyway, this is all just the impression I have, but I have absolutely no experience with any of this. No guaranty that I did not make all this up...
ZSX @ Oct 9th 2007 9:52AM
This would be absolutely ideal for laptops/UMPCs. You can completely shut down the PC to save battery life, but have instant on for simple web browsing and VoIP on the go. And if you really need to edit your documents you can boot up into the full OS.
All it really needs in the embedded component is GPS and perhaps a media player.
dj-kenpo @ Oct 9th 2007 11:06AM
the main plus with this, would be if it was built in to your normal, say xp pc, and then your drive dies, you can still get online in a pinch. perfect for people (other than us) that don't have 8 pc's lying around.
TurboFool @ Oct 9th 2007 1:41PM
Now if this thing had full access to the hard drives, ability to read NTFS, and could be loaded with diagnostic and repair utilities (and maybe a Linux version of Acronis TrueImage), this would be awesome. If it's just for web browsing and such, I really have a hard time seeing the appeal.
Thilo @ Oct 9th 2007 5:15PM
It would make even a lot more sense if you could continue booting your 'real' OS in the background.
Skon @ Oct 10th 2007 7:40AM
Thilo,
I agree that would be fantastic! Turn it on and be checking your eMail, looking up info on Google etc and then a window pops up notifying you that WinXP/Linux/whatever has finished loading do you wish to switch to it now? Yes/No. That would remove much of the anoyance of having nothing to do while waiting for it to boot. And if your open browser window in gmail for example, being able to have the open window transfer to over to a open browser in WinXP. Combine that with being able to access the hard drive from the "Linux in Bios" and it would be a great tool for fixing problems. Boot to Linux, get needed driver or file off the internet and then boot directly to XP in safe mode and install. The same for stubborn virus's (virii?). Even better would be an updatable antivirus program installed in Linux/Bios that would scan windows OS hard drives...
Mindfield @ Oct 9th 2007 7:00PM
It looks very nice, but it would be so much better if you had access to your hard drives and file system from within the embedded Linux. You could practically do away with stuff like Winternals entirely and do all your troubleshooting and repair from within the embedded OS. Now _that_ would be drool-worthy.
larry @ Oct 10th 2007 2:08AM
Yesterday we were just talking with friends and someone asked what is campari made from - I looked at the windows pc, thinking - turn it on, wait for the windows to start, type the password, wait for the wireless association, wait for firefox, then search wikipedia and it will be too late. But having this linux - I could have had the answer within 10 secs. If they add some more apps this could start a revolution in normal pc usage and save a lot of energy. (btw a simple torrent running wireless harddisk could do it also)
Tony @ Dec 27th 2007 2:53PM
I think everyone is reading way too deep on this. Your missing the main point of this feature.
It's an emergency failsafe!!!
How many times has anyone toasted their Winblows box because of a failed update, driver install, new hardware compatibility issue or better yet, MS's "Forced" updates?
With this you at least have the ability to get a revised, updated or backdated driver, contact tech support, research or troubleshoot your issue instead of being dead in the water until the neighbor get's in, you call someone for help or you take it to the shop to fix the problem.
This is an awesome failsafe for anyone who's learning or only has 1 PC at home. Hey, let the kids surf in this mode and keep your OS install pristine. There's a lot of options and potential with this so let's not jump the gun yet and assume it's a replacement OS.
I think it's a long overdue necessity to be honest.
Scans