As a tailpiece to our recent series on Linux comes the news that Asus laptops will ship this summer with a pre-installed ‘instant-on’ version of the open source operating system.
DeviceVM’s Splashtop Linux will be embedded and called “Express Gate” on all new Asus laptops giving users the option to boot either Windows Vista or a near instantaneous-loading version of Linux from a flash chip installed on the motherboard.
Instead of the lengthy booting up sequence for Windows, Express Gate loads in seconds and includes Mozilla Firefox, Skype, a simple photo viewer and media player. The big advantage is that Express Gate allows instant on and off, an essential capability when portable computing relies on a finite battery power supply.
A preview of the Linux-based desktop is currently available on YouTube. It will be interesting to see if the appeal of near instant load and shut down times will be enough to switch greater numbers of users on to Linux.
See related: All about Linux - part two | Penguin slays techie image and goes old school | Setting off on the exploration of Linux
