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Asus eeePC 1000H on Intel Atom N270 ( i386 instruction set?): some questions

Abmvk

Abmvk

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My son cleaned his room and found an old eeePC he had borrowed a long time ago. So now I am trying to see how to make it useful. Maybe someone can help me with a few questions:

1. The system was clearly designed for MS Windows, as the keyboard has the typical Windows-keys. But it does run lUbuntu 18.04 LTS. Would this system be able to run a newer version of lUbuntu? Or maybe Debian?
2. I used to do some coding in assembly, when MS-DOS was still a thing, using Borlands assembler. My current systems are all ARM-based, and I don't have the stomach to try and learn ARM assembly. But on this Atom-system I might have some fun with good old x86 assembly. Is that realistic? What x86 assembler would I need?
3. Very specific, but I can always try: the bluetooth system doesn't seem to work. No signals it is faulty, but it just won't stay on. Any idea if this is a "feature" of this system? As it does really everything to use as little power as possible maybe?

Any other information relevant for this syste, welcome!
 
I've got a 1005HA. It loaded the latest 32-bit Slackware without a problem. I use it mainly for network diagnostics, the built in ethernet jack makes it very useful for that.
As far as software is concerned, it's a not particularly fast 32-bit x86 system with intel integrated graphics. Probably the most generically compatible mid '00s system there is.
As for bluetooth, I couldn't tell you if mine even has it.
 
Abmvk said:
But it does run lUbuntu 18.04 LTS. Would this system be able to run a newer version of lUbuntu? Or maybe Debian?
Click to expand...

It’ll run basically any 32 bit x86 version of Linux with basically no issues other than being slow as heck by modern standards. Just Google the name of the machine and you’ll get plenty of pages with the info to fine tune it for the few specific quirks of the eeePC line. (There’s a kernel driver that lets the OS better control power management, etc.)

It should also run most other OSes that are generically compatible with mid-2000-aughts PCs, although of course being a laptop means you might have power management issues, etc. The usual. The core system/graphics chipset of the machine is the Intel 945, which was dirt common in the last generation of Pentium 4 PCs and first-gen Intel Core products. Nothing special here at all.

The Atom N270 CPU itself is a stripped down CPU that you can kind of think of like a 486 overclocked to Pentium 4 clock speeds; it saves power by lacking features like speculative execution, etc. At best this computer will run around as fast as a 1Ghz-ish Pentium III computer from 2001-ish, so… just set your expectations accordingly.
 
I have a similar machine, an HP Mini 110-3700 sporting an Atom N455 and 1Gb RAM. It came with Windows 7 Starter and ran horrible. I put Linux on it and it is now "usable". Not a speed demon but way better than W7Starter. I use a Debian derivative called antiX. Works great. I have read of several others who have EeePC's and run antiX or MX successfully.

Seaken
 
The eeepcs in the 700-1000 range were designed for linux, and came with linux at first. Windows was a difficult option with Vista being the OS available at the time and lack of disk space to fit Windows. However, by the time they made the 1000H, Microsoft relented on using Windows XP, and the 1000 series chassis was now large enough to install a standard sata drive. So they made the 1000H also (and maybe there was a 900H), where they did a minor pcb board modification to replace the properiety ssd connector with a standard sata connector to allow for bigger hard drives, at a cost of higher power consumption, since ssds weren't available in large sizes. This meant that they now could really sell with Windows since they also had enough disk space to make it worth while. I think they sold both XP and Linux together, and then phased out Linux after that. The 1000 is really a true Linux machine, but you probably just found one branded with an XP license. There are probably restore disks for the 1000 with Xandros that could work, but you are talking about something that was released in 2008.

It's a 32-bit x86 atom, so you can run any x86 assembler and run the programs natively. There are alot to choose from.

For Linux distros, pretty much any 32-bit x86 distro will work. You are limited to 2GB physical ram, but it is fine for light use. I still run my eeepc 1000 with modern linux, and get 5 hours of battery life on the SSD model.

I have not used bluetooth on this thing. I am not sure if every model had it actually. Some had 4G/WiMAX cards instead.
 
I have an EEE 701 with 4gb internal ssd, 1gb ram, and a 900mhz Pentium M cpu. I'm running a version of MATE built on Ubuntu 18.04 Due to Ubuntu's size requirements, I have it booting to a larger capacity SD card.

My 701 was the first model out, and at the time it was either packaged with linux or a lightweight version of Win XP. When Easy Peasy and a few other distros came out for the EEE, I tried them out. The early distros didn't support the internal wifi, however there was a program called NDISwrapper that allowed use of Windows wifi drivers. My nephew had either a Dell or Hp mini, and dropped it. I replaced the hard drive, ans installed Win7 on it. It was sluggish, but worked well enough to download songs to their Ipods.
 
I still use a 904HA running Devuan ascii as a "portable typewriter." The 1000s weren't as rock-solid as the 700-900 as far as build quality (nobody but nobody has solved the laptop hinge problem like whoever designed the Eee 900 series,) but hey, as long as it works!
 
If I could find one of the earlier 700 models, I would be very happy. But unfortunately these days I have to be happy with the 1000H :)
 
I owned at least 3 different EEEPCs during that era and don't recall a single one coming with Vista or 7 out the box. As I recall Asus had bought a ton of XP licences before they stopped celling, and a big thing that made the EEE attractive was the ability to get a decent OS stock. I found my 900A while moving, still boots like a champ.

The big draw I remember about these things was how insanely modable they were. The low price point certainly helped. None of them had blue tooth out of the box as I recall, but people were doing things like adding internal USB hubs, blue tooth dongles, and internal flash drives for additional storage.

Abmvk said:
If I could find one of the earlier 700 models, I would be very happy. But unfortunately these days I have to be happy with the 1000H :)
Click to expand...

I might actually have one I'd be willing to part with. Next time I find it I'll let you know.
 
32-bit Linux Mint Dabian Edition 5 will run fine. Just max out the ram and use a lighter Desktop Enviroment/Window Manager
 
I made the mistake of getting one of those Via C7M-powered HP Mini 2133 machines instead of an EEEPC during the height of the netbook craze. It was a beautiful little machine (made out of metal instead of plastic) and had a much higher resolution screen than the EEE PCs, but the Atom CPU, slow as it was, could absolutely run rings around it. Ran Linux like a laptop from 1998, which, yeah, wasn't great.

It did run DOSEMU pretty well (which was fun to set up and play with for a week, but then I got bored), and then it mostly got demoted to ultra-portable serial/ssh console for colo runs. The last thing I did with it was slap on XP (ugh) to run the IDE/programmer software for a Parallax Propeller dev board. *shrug* Did that all right, I suppose. On the modern Internet the thing would be completely, utterly useless regardless of OS, unless you're a very, very patient person.
 
I was given a Dell mini Inspiron 10, and even though it has an Atom Z520 running at 1.3ghz, the 701 eee running a 900mhz Pentium M appears to be more responsive. Both are running MATE on Ubuntu 18.04.6.
 
Yeah, the P-m is significantly more powerful than the early Atom CPUs. Once the Atoms got extra cores, they got a lot better for multi-threaded use, but not so much for DOS.

- Alex
 
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