I am very intrested to see how this early booting is Done.

if any one can get their head around it ,and explain a bit further will be great.
can it be done without buying the mother board ???
a DIY job sort of thing into a Rom ?????????

The P5E3 Deluxe is the first ASUS motherboard to feature this Express Gate (SplashTop)

technology, and ASUS describes it as: "With a fast boot-up speed of only 5 seconds, the ASUS

Express Gate offers an optional Linux OS boot-up that allows you to enjoy instant access to

commonly used functions like accessing the Internet, VoIP, and Web emailing without entering the

OS."
Embedded onto the P5E3 Deluxe is a Linux environment that features a Firefox-rebranded web

browser and the Skype VoIP client! Within five seconds of turning on

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=arti...m=885&num=1
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=arti...m=869&num=1




Regards Ben

Looks like the corporate version of what started out as the "ROM OS" project.

There is a way to hack the bios chip and add functions around the unused memory addresses, but you will want to have a hardware chip flasher handy for when you render your bios chip useless.
Certainly not something that will be done by the public any time soon.

I would assume that they have used a larger bios chip or expanded the memory addresses with some type of flash rom to hold the linux build they are using, so even if you were able to create your own, extremely small os, that ciould fit into the bootable area of rom left over after the bios is installed, it would not be an easy task and you would need the hardware they are just now releasing to be able to make it work at all.

Does look like a neat trick though.

Thanks Hilander99,
I think they got 4Gig flash-----there is a cable that connects a memory flash to IDE
http://www.ehomeupgrade.com/entry/425/how-to_boot_windows
to boot like a none movable Hard disk so to speak.and IBM got a floppy boot manager
that if press F10 it boots from HDD or partition called IBM_SERVICE
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...rt=#entry111856

I have got that posted link to that boot manager some where on forum.above
one needs to know a lot about Linux to start messing about booting it although
GRUB seems to be the Linux boot device now.
thanks for explaining and you time
regards Ben

================================================
embedded linux
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-embl.html

http://www.skype.com/download/

after thought:

ROM-DOS is the fastest way to connect an embedded system to the Internet.
http://www.datalight.com/products/romdos/
The Free ROM-DOS Single User Version
http://www.datalight.com/products/romdos/p...tdetails_su.php
==========================================

FYI, though almost completely unrelated:
http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/tcc/tccboot.html


jaclaz

it says here the source code files are available from here :

http://eeepc.asus.com/global/news11272007.htm
2007.11.27

ASUSTek is committed to meet the requirements of the GNU General Public License

The open source code for EeePC is available here. To download the source code of all open source software packages that are included in the product, follow the steps listed below.

* Select your Eee PC product model from the list below to download the source code library at:
http://support.asus.com/download/Download....SLanguage=en-us

The source code found here is complete to the best of Asus's knowledge. If you believe any additional source code files should be provided under the applicable open source license, please contact Asus at support@asus.com and provide in detail the product or code module in question. Asus is committed to meeting the requirements of the open source licenses including the GNU General Public License.
Asus is also pleased to announce the upcoming release of the Eee PC SDK. This will allow for the development on the Eee PC by the OpenSource community making it easy to develop, easy to port and easy to release software for the Eee PC platform. Please check back soon at eeepc.asus.com for more information in the upcoming weeks. We are pleased to work with the OpenSource GNU/Linux community to extend the richness of the Eee PC beyond the standard commercial offerings.
also down loads FTP site here:
http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/pool/


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC


review:

http://cliffhacks.blogspot.com/2007/11/asu...ns-and-gpl.html
and another review
http://www.stevedavis.me.uk/2008/01/review...4gb-laptop.html


==========================================================================
ASUS NOTEBOOKS


http://support.asus.com/download/Download....SLanguage=en-us

PDF Manual English

http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/EeePC/Eee...G_XP_071220.zip
http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/EeePC/Eee...PC2G_071220.zip


using hidden partition
hold F9 during bootup (requires recovery partition)if you have installed windows XP to your
Eee PC , the hidden partition would be cleared and cannot be used for system recovery.

===============================================================================

http://www.techshout.com/hardware/2006/29/...led-by-samsung/
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/12/18/in..._16gb_umpc_ssd/

solid state disk (SSD)

connects to mother board with a Parrallel ATA connection

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced that its 4 GB solid state disk (SSD) is now in the

process of being readied for production. Samsung said that its 4GB SSD will also serve as a high

speed NAND flash cache for notebooks and PCs together with the Microsoft Windows Vista operating

system.

Another great feature is that the 4GB SSD is compatible with Windows ReadyBoost, a new Windows

Vista feature that uses flash memory to improve system responsiveness, enables users to avoid

the delays they experience every day when moving within and between frequently used

applications.

The Windows ReadyBoost feature of the Windows Vista operating system will intelligently populate

the SSD with the data a user needs before they ask for it. It readies a user’s favorite

applications and data in the background, accelerating everyday actions such as starting

applications and switching users.

When a user requests that data, rather than being limited to servicing 100-200 requests per

second (as with a traditional HDD), Samsung’s SSD can service up to 5000 request per second,

virtually eliminating data seek delays. The 4 GB SSD can work in tandem with a hybrid hard

drive, coming into play as a secondary source of cached data.

“By caching Hard Drive data using Samsung’s flash SSD and the Microsoft Windows Vista operating

system, a typical user will see performance gains that will make working with their PC lightning

fast,” said Don Barnetson, Director, Flash Marketing, Samsung Semiconductor Inc.

Samsung’s new performance booster can be located almost anywhere on the motherboard and is

connected through the ATA port. The flash cache compliments DRAM and because Windows Vista

automatically compresses all data stored in a ReadyBoost device, the 4 GB drive would, in

practice, act as up to 8 GB of user data. Samsung’s new device will also be used in separate

applications unrelated to Windows Vista such as for special industrial needs.





Intel readies 16GB SSD for UMPCs

Chip giant Intel has begun sampling a solid-state drive (SSD) designed for handheld devices. The

product's known in the trade as 'a stack of Flash chips'.

The Z-P140, as the module's known, connects to the host handheld via a parallel ATA link, but it

doesn't follow any standard hard drive form-factor. Two versions are on offer: one 2GB in

capacity, the other stretching to 4GB.
Intel Z-P140 SSD
=====================================================
PDF Manual English
for XP
http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/EeePC/Eee...G_XP_071220.zip
for Linux
http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/EeePC/Eee...PC2G_071220.zip


using hidden partition
hold F9 during bootup (requires recovery partition)if you have installed windows XP to your
Eee PC , the hidden partition would be cleared and cannot be used for system recovery.
http://www.linux.com/feature/127890
http://www.linux.com/feature/124240
support
http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/pool/

Asus launches Eee PC SDK

http://eeesite.net/2008/03/asus-launches-eee-pc-sdk.html
Hot Keys
Fn + F1 zzZ Icon Suspend mode
Fn + F2 Radio tower Toggles wireless on/off
Fn + F3 Sun down icon Decrease display brightness
Fn+ F4 Sun up icon Increase the display brightness
Fn + F5 LCD/Monitor icons Toggles between EEE PC LCD/ External monitor / both
Fn + F6 Task manager icon Launches task manager
Fn + F7 Crossed speaker Mute the speakers
Fn + F8 Speaker down icon Decreases speaker volume
Fn + F9 Speaker up icon Increases speaker volume
Fn + F11 Num lk Toggles the numeric keypad on/off
Fn + F12 Scr Lk Toggles the scroll lock on/off
Fn + Ins Prt Sc Toggles the print screen key
Fn + Up Pg Up Press to scroll up in documents/web browser
Fn + Down Pg Dn Press to scroll down in documents/web browser
Fn + Left Home Press to move the cursor to the beginning of the line
Fn + Right End Press to move the cursor to the end of the line

good refreences:
http://cliffhacks.blogspot.com/2007/11/asu...ns-and-gpl.html
size:
http://www.cliff.biffle.org/pictures/eee-on-paper.jpg
compar size:
http://www.cliff.biffle.org/pictures/eee-on-mac.jpg

Regards Ben

Very interesting. I believe Fabrice Bellard is the person who wrote the famous lzexe to compress DOS executables.

Hello ,
I think one of the guys from Google must have read this post.
after announcing yesterday that they have made a deal with
Hardware manufaturer (Asus etc ) to load Chrome in 5 seconds on top of a Linux core.
once in Chrome you get to use Google Apps and Picasa3 calander and can then upate and save documents and photos on their server in the clouds.

Regards Ben

Competitions are here :
Ubuntu aims for ten-second boot time with 10.04
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/20...d-boot-time.ars

Hello thanks for the information,

as you know BootP (boot PROM) many network adapters contain an

empty socket
for insertion of an integrated circuit Known as boot prom .
The boot PROM has a protocal (BOOTP) that starts as soon as the

computer is powered on.
it loads an operating system into the computer by reading it

from the network server(say google server) instead of the local

disk.

Ubantu is too Big and bulky to come down the wire in 10 seconds
Linux distros start small but get bigger and bigger by the

month
Knoppix started Ok but completley went off the rail .

it will be nice if manufacturers let people know what they are

doing , after all without the help of Linux community they would not

have an operating system.
Regards Ben