ASUS Plans to Ship Embedded ''Splashtop'' Linux with Every Motherboard

Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS is to embed a lightweight open source version of Linux called "Splashtop" into all its motherboards it was announced recently. On Wednesday, DeviceVM, the company behind the distribution, said the hardware manufacturer would be putting Splashtop — which ASUS calls "Express Gate" — into a million motherboards a month. Splashtop boots from a flash chip on the motherboard before the main OS is loaded and includes a Firefox Internet browser, e-mail client, Skype and the Splashtop desktop. At first the Linux-based software will be available immediately in the new Intel P45 based P5Q Deluxe, P5Q-WS, P5Q3 Deluxe and P5Q-E series motherboards, due to be out by the end of June. After that the Splashtop OS is planned to be integrated into numerous other ASUS motherboards and even some notebooks in the near future. "In response to great user feedback, our plan is to proliferate Express Gate across our entire motherboard product portfolio, starting with over one million motherboards per month," says Joe Hsieh, General Manager, ASUS Motherboard Business Unit. "Consumers want to turn their PCs on and off like any other appliance, and Express Gate has made that possible." Source: Splashtop Blog

Lees meer...