How to enabled Advanced Mode on the Asus Eee PC

The Asus Eee PC ships with a simplified (though still perfectly usable) 'Basic' Xandros/Gnome interface, but it is possible to enable the 'Advanced' interface that looks like a standard Linux Desktop. There are instructions over at the forums on the excellent EeeUser fan site and while the set-up isn't perfect, it's quick and easy to configure.

The catch is the the Eee PC always starts up in basic mode by default and you need to select 'Restart in Advanced mode' from the Shutdown menu each time you want to use it. Given that restarts only take half a minute, this isn't much of a hardship. 

Advanced mode looks just like any Linux Desktop with all the usual features, and it works suprisingly well on the small, low-resolution screen. It also frees up access to a whole host of additional programs that you can't see in Basic mode.

Usefully, the 'Start menu' hack that's part of the instructions applies even in Basic mode, so you can launch your programs just like you do in Windows even if you don't use Advanced mode. 

Incidentally, Windows XP installs without a hitch on the Eee PC (you need to delete all four Linux partitions first -- the rescue CD will restore them, if you want to revert to Linux) and Asus even includes a driver CD in the box. The only catch is storage space and the 4Gb SSD isn't much for Windows and third-party applications -- some Eee PC users are opting for a cut-down version of XP created with the Windows XP slipstreaming utility, nLite.

[ EeeUser]