Asus agrees to publish full Eee PC source code - bit-tech.net Forums

CardJoe · 29th Nov 2007, 15:13

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/11..._source_code/1

After critics damned Asus for not following ths GPL agreement with the Xantros distro on the Eee PC, Asus has come back by admitting the error.

Greenie · 29th Nov 2007, 15:58

but we dont want the source code compiled :P

i didnt think it was intentional on asus' part and it seems it wasnt, but we will never know whether some companies 'play' at respecting the GPL or actually work with it. It would probably help to make their products better...

mclean007 · 29th Nov 2007, 16:14

heh, yeah - "compiling the full source code" is a bit of a misleading turn of phrase!

Bursar · 29th Nov 2007, 16:18

If they bring out the 8GB version, then I'm there! (Well, work is, as they'll be paying for it

)

specofdust · 29th Nov 2007, 16:24

Interesting to know, but personally I care far more about the stock shortages than I do about the GPL stuff.

steveo_mcg · 29th Nov 2007, 16:28

The good news is they'll have the gpl folks off their back and they'll (hopefully) continue to make the linux version even after the XP version comes out. My biggest worry with this wasn't the non compliance as such but that this and other companies would think that making linux based products was too much hassle and not bother.

Zurechial · 29th Nov 2007, 16:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by mclean007

heh, yeah - "compiling the full source code" is a bit of a misleading turn of phrase!

Phew, I'm not the only one geeky enough to be confused by that one!

Error: ";" Expected.

Icy EyeG · 29th Nov 2007, 16:44

I'm curious about something: is it possible to run the Eee PC Linux Distro on a regular PC?

EDIT: From the Eee site:

Quote:

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.

Cool...

steveo_mcg · 29th Nov 2007, 16:59

From what i was reading earlier in the week, the interseting part of the eee pc isn't open source. The ASUSLauncher the part which isn't a KDE desktop seems to be proprietary, which is real shame i had some plans for that.

Greenie · 29th Nov 2007, 18:21

Icy EyeG: i dont know about the asus 'easy' mode, it seems to be IceWM with an interesting theme, but the distro is basically Xandros, which in turn is built off Debian.

I suppose you could install a version of linux with IceWM as the window manager and copy over the 'themey bits' from the EEE PC to see if it works, it would be interesting to do, but on a regular PC, but with the added real estate of a fairly high resolution monitor, a standard KDE or Gnome desktop would probably be easier, once shortcuts and the like had been set up.

The EEE PC platform will probably be QT or GTK+ programs with some extra bits to make it integrate into IceWM more easily. I hope it might be a little more than that. If it was done well enough, it could possibly inspire younger people to write a few programs and make some new open source contributions at the same time.

Icy EyeG · 29th Nov 2007, 18:41

It does look lice IceWM, but I don't think that's the case...

EDIT: According to wikipedia is KDE.

Phil Rhodes · 29th Nov 2007, 21:33

I'm waiting for someone to actually do something useful with this code that's been so hotly demanded.

Linux really is much more about political pointmaking than practical computing.

Phil

Fruitloaf · 29th Nov 2007, 21:51

@Phil

The useful thing that people will do straight away is to allow the use of the full hardware under other linux distributions. Further to this I imagine the next step would be to customise a more up to date distro like Ubuntu with Asus tweaks that make this system fast to boot plus add the Easy desktop mode to thise distro probably with an easy way to switch to a real desktop.

steveo_mcg · 29th Nov 2007, 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes

I'm waiting for someone to actually do something useful with this code that's been so hotly demanded.

Linux really is much more about political pointmaking than practical computing.

Phil

The reason it was so "hotly demanded" is because they broke the law. They broke the terms of the license which they published the software under, unlike big brother at Redmond this has be happly sorted out with out resorting to lawyers. Do you honestly believe if Asus sold this with an unlicensed copy of Vista this would have gone away so quickly. If you honestly beilve linux is more about political points then i invite you to try it. Sure it doesn't game so well but then thats hardly "practical computing" is it.

Icy EyeG · 29th Nov 2007, 22:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Rhodes

Linux really is much more about political pointmaking than practical computing.

I'm a Windows (dependent) user and a casual Linux user (I use Xubuntu on VMware Player and on an old pc), but I do consider (nowadays) Linux as practical computing. Ubuntu 7.10 is a good example of it IMHO.

DXR_13KE · 29th Nov 2007, 22:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icy EyeG

I'm a Windows (dependent) user and a casual Linux user (I use Xubuntu on VMware Player and on an old pc), but I do consider (nowadays) Linux as practical computing. Ubuntu 7.10 is a good example of it IMHO.

i also consider Linux as a a practical computing experience, especially the latest builds that run just as good as XP and look very nice.... and with synaptics i can get lots of software fast and easy, as long as i have nice repositories.

edit: it is nice of ASUS to publish the source code and not go to court or do something bad.

leexgx · 30th Nov 2007, 02:22

ubuntu 7.10 is the worst Ver of ubuntu ever made stick with 7.04, never seen so many problems on the ubuntu forums as i keep up with each rels

if you do upgrade (back up \home as it probably will fail the upgrade) or planning on installing 7.10 make sure the network cable is unplugged so the set up does not fail (you need to turn the repositories back on after install as the setup turns them off)

completemadness · 30th Nov 2007, 03:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by leexgx

ubuntu 7.10 is the worst Ver of ubuntu ever made stick with 7.04, never seen so many problems on the ubuntu forums as i keep up with each rels

if you do upgrade (back up \home as it probably will fail the upgrade) or planning on installing 7.10 make sure the network cable is unplugged so the set up does not fail (you need to turn the repositories back on after install as the setup turns them off)

It swings in roundabouts

Once you have installed 7.10 (with or without issues) a lot of the features seem very much improved
But whatever, its still early days for 7.10 and 7.04 does what I want .....

steveo_mcg · 30th Nov 2007, 10:40

You want things to never change, stick with the mother of most distros... Debian, specifically Debian stable: Etch. The last Stable release didn't change for a number of years.

Greenie · 30th Nov 2007, 13:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icy EyeG

It does look lice IceWM, but I don't think that's the case...

EDIT: According to wikipedia is KDE.

the "easy" mode is IceWM, but it does run KDE if you want a full desktop, so i assume both are installed.

there is some good information here: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardw...-pc-review.ars

29th Nov 2007, 15:13	#1
CardJoe Player Character bit-tech Staff Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 7,944	Asus agrees to publish full Eee PC source code http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/11..._source_code/1 After critics damned Asus for not following ths GPL agreement with the Xantros distro on the Eee PC, Asus has come back by admitting the error. __________________ this is joe's non-bit-tech blog

29th Nov 2007, 16:14	#3
mclean007 Officious Bystander Join Date: May 2003 Location: Nodnol Posts: 1,595	heh, yeah - "compiling the full source code" is a bit of a misleading turn of phrase! __________________ Demand Naked DSL in the UK!

29th Nov 2007, 16:18	#4
Bursar Hypermodder Join Date: May 2001 Posts: 700	If they bring out the 8GB version, then I'm there! (Well, work is, as they'll be paying for it ) __________________ www.philspcmods.com - a rough guide

29th Nov 2007, 16:24	#5
specofdust Banned Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Aberdeen, UK, EU Posts: 7,608	Interesting to know, but personally I care far more about the stock shortages than I do about the GPL stuff. __________________ Like marmite, only no-one hates it Mmm bop!

29th Nov 2007, 16:28	#6
steveo_mcg What owl? Join Date: May 2005 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 3,977	The good news is they'll have the gpl folks off their back and they'll (hopefully) continue to make the linux version even after the XP version comes out. My biggest worry with this wasn't the non compliance as such but that this and other companies would think that making linux based products was too much hassle and not bother. __________________ No boom today, boom tomorrow... there's always a boom tomorrow.

29th Nov 2007, 15:58	#2
Greenie Minimodder Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Sussex, England Posts: 30	but we dont want the source code compiled :P i didnt think it was intentional on asus' part and it seems it wasnt, but we will never know whether some companies 'play' at respecting the GPL or actually work with it. It would probably help to make their products better...

29th Nov 2007, 16:59	#9
steveo_mcg What owl? Join Date: May 2005 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 3,977	From what i was reading earlier in the week, the interseting part of the eee pc isn't open source. The ASUSLauncher the part which isn't a KDE desktop seems to be proprietary, which is real shame i had some plans for that. __________________ No boom today, boom tomorrow... there's always a boom tomorrow.

29th Nov 2007, 18:21	#10
Greenie Minimodder Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: West Sussex, England Posts: 30	Icy EyeG: i dont know about the asus 'easy' mode, it seems to be IceWM with an interesting theme, but the distro is basically Xandros, which in turn is built off Debian. I suppose you could install a version of linux with IceWM as the window manager and copy over the 'themey bits' from the EEE PC to see if it works, it would be interesting to do, but on a regular PC, but with the added real estate of a fairly high resolution monitor, a standard KDE or Gnome desktop would probably be easier, once shortcuts and the like had been set up. The EEE PC platform will probably be QT or GTK+ programs with some extra bits to make it integrate into IceWM more easily. I hope it might be a little more than that. If it was done well enough, it could possibly inspire younger people to write a few programs and make some new open source contributions at the same time.

29th Nov 2007, 18:41	#11
Icy EyeG Controlled by Eyebrow Powers™ Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Around Portugal Posts: 230	It does look lice IceWM, but I don't think that's the case... EDIT: According to wikipedia is KDE. __________________ My Website \| How to convert your LaCie D2 FireWire CD/DVD Drive on a HDD Drive \| Eyebrow Powers™?? Do you have GeForce 8-Series or later desktop GPU(s)?? What are you waiting for??? Fold NOW for a great cause!!! nVIDIA's Download Last edited by Icy EyeG; 29th Nov 2007 at 18:49.

29th Nov 2007, 21:33	#12
Phil Rhodes Supermodder Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 574	I'm waiting for someone to actually do something useful with this code that's been so hotly demanded. Linux really is much more about political pointmaking than practical computing. Phil

29th Nov 2007, 21:51	#13
Fruitloaf Multimodder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 112	@Phil The useful thing that people will do straight away is to allow the use of the full hardware under other linux distributions. Further to this I imagine the next step would be to customise a more up to date distro like Ubuntu with Asus tweaks that make this system fast to boot plus add the Easy desktop mode to thise distro probably with an easy way to switch to a real desktop.

30th Nov 2007, 02:22	#17
leexgx CPC hang out zone (i Fix pcs i do ) Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: uk Posts: 568	ubuntu 7.10 is the worst Ver of ubuntu ever made stick with 7.04, never seen so many problems on the ubuntu forums as i keep up with each rels if you do upgrade (back up \home as it probably will fail the upgrade) or planning on installing 7.10 make sure the network cable is unplugged so the set up does not fail (you need to turn the repositories back on after install as the setup turns them off) __________________ Qx6850 (OC 3.3Ghz) <> 120 extreme<> rampage forumla <> 9800GX2 <> 8gb 4x2gb (2x gell / 2x adata)<> SSD powered Corsair S128 / WD Black 1TB <> Crative X-fi FalTy FPS <> TK 1000w Toughpower <win7 x64> Click me for folding stats greenfrog.biz / 35947

30th Nov 2007, 10:40	#19
steveo_mcg What owl? Join Date: May 2005 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 3,977	You want things to never change, stick with the mother of most distros... Debian, specifically Debian stable: Etch. The last Stable release didn't change for a number of years. __________________ No boom today, boom tomorrow... there's always a boom tomorrow.