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ASUS EeePC 901Go 16G Linux

eeepc901I found a new tech gadget that’s great as travel companion!

I’m talking about the “ASUS EeePC 901Go 16G Linux”. It’s a small 8.9″ notebook with a 16GB SSD and a G3.5 UMTS modem on-board.

I did tinker with the idea of buying such a companion for a long time now, but did not find the perfect model until now. Either the screen was too small (7″), the overall size was too big (with >= 10″ screen), a very slow processer was inside, the battery life was too short or the notebook had Windows preinstalled (I don’t like to be forced to pay the Microsoft tax)…

I’m using Linux on my “normal” notebook as well as on my desktop PC, so I’d like to have my well-known Linux environment (Debian) on this small gadget, too.

The “ASUS EeePC 901Go 16G Linux” perfectly fits my needs. It’s small, is a piece of solid workmanship, has a 16GB SolidStateDisk (i.e. no moving parts like a harddisk) and a G3.5 UMTS modem included. It ships with Xandros Linux preinstalled, but installing other Linux distributions is easy because the hardware is well supported in the Linux kernel.

The preinstalled Xandros linux has the UMTS APs of T-mobile hard-coded, so you cannot use other UMTS providers without hex-editing some files. But this is a software netlock only, so if you install Windows (why the hell would you like to do this? ;-) ) or another Linux, you are free to use any UMTS provider.

Very important note:

There are two different models of this notebook available! One with a very slow SSD and one with a fast SSD!
Make sure you get a new model with fast SSD. You can distinguish the two model by the P/N (product number) on the package or by the label on the SSD:

  • The slow SSD model has this P/N: 90OA0BTI4214AFNE2X2Q, the SSD is labeled “P2-SSD PS Rev. 2.0G”
  • The fast SSD model has this P/N: 90OA0BTI8214AFNE2X2Q, the SSD is labeled “S4-SSD JM Rev. 1.1″

There’s an interesting thread in the eeeuser.com forum about the different SSDs (with benchmarks).

Here are the full specs of the EeePC 901 Go:

  • Processor: Intel® Atom CPU 1,6 GHz
  • RAM: 1GB DDR2 PC5300 S0DIMM (1 slot, max. 2GB)
  • Screen: 8.9″, resolution 1024×600
  • HDD: 16GB SSD (Solid state disk), MMC/SD/SDHC optional
  • Network: 10/100/1000 MBit/s LAN (RJ45)
  • WLAN: 802.11 b/g (54Mbit max.)
  • Battery: 6 cell / 36 watt (~5 hours real battery life)
  • Size: 225 x 175.5 x 22~39 mm
  • Weight: ~1.1 kg

For the mobile internet access in Germany, I can recommend these two UMTS providers:
der BASE Tarif - die Handy Flatrate BASE offers an UMTS flatrate for 17.50€
simyo - Weil einfach einfach einfach ist. Simyo offers a prepaid UMTS solution, 24ct/MB or 10€ for 1GB
I'm using an UMTS card of these providers in the my Asus EeePC 901Go and it works great. Pretty fast and reliable. If you want to order a new UMTS card anyway, please support me by using one of these links. For every order, I get some refund to pay my server bill. Thanks.

If you like my work, buy me a beer. (Suggested: 3€ for a beer, or more for more beer ;-) )

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 12:10 and is filed under EeePC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “ASUS EeePC 901Go 16G Linux”

  1. SSD speed test on Asus EeePC 901Go (Linux) « flattermann.net says:
    14. May 2009 at 20:45

    [...] written in my first blog article about my Asus EeePC 901Go, there are two different versions of this EeePC model available, one with a very slow SSD and one [...]

  2. Mobile UMTS access in Germany with Linux « flattermann.net says:
    18. June 2009 at 20:58

    [...] As mentioned, I’ve got an Asus EeePC 901 Go. [...]

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