ASUS LINUX+Free BIOS support

[Zygomorphic]

Hello all ROG users and @asus people!

In light of Microsoft's actions towards the "Secure Boot" technology integrated
into the UEFI of Windows 8 certified computers, the LINUX community is working
on trying to find methods of creating signed open-source boot-loaders.
Considering that it was ASUS who started off the netbook craze (remember that
lol :p) with LINUX as the operating system, might it not be time to consider
supporting officially a LINUX distro on at least a few different computer lines?
There are companies presently selling systems with LINUX pre-installed and
supported, but the computers are universally underpowered and/or low quality.
ASUS makes quality hardware as we know, and so I would like to see quality
LINUX-based computers in the future.

Even more, the Free Software Foundation is advocating for a "Free BIOS" and I
think that this might be a potential market for ASUS to consider. Offer a
high-quality laptop that can run with a GPL'd BIOS, and then officially sanction
a completely LINUX distro on it. You might be able to gain some recommendations
with the Free Software Foundation/Community over this, which would be awesome!
There would then be a real quality alternative to Microsoft Windows-based PCs.

While I am well aware that the potential market for this is small, it might be
enough to be profitable if ASUS manages to jump the gun and take over that
market entirely, before any of the potentially major contenders enter this
market. I am a strong LINUX fan, so I would like to see LINUX become mainstream
on the desktop, and if quality hardware vendors push, it could happen.

I am positive that Microsoft would not certify any computer that allowed the
user to have access to the BIOS source code, since that would allow people to
install alternative operating systems. While we can presently disable the
"Secure Boot" by configuring the settings in the BIOS, we should all remember
that initially Microsoft was going to prevent any platform from being
able to install LINUX, and only backed down after several LINUX vendors
threatened a lawsuit. Their certified ARM systems still cannot install
alternative operating systems, even after Microsoft reversed the decision on the
x86 platform.

As a result of the limited market, I would recommend potentially creating
systems that have the ability to run with either the Microsoft-signed "Secure
Boot" and are sold with Windows, and then versions with the GPL'd "Free BIOS"
running a completely free LINUX distro. The FSF recommends the Trisquel (Ubuntu
derivative) distro for new users, which is something that ASUS should take into
consideration.

Thanks, and just as a note, I am not a member of the FSF, nor affiliated with
them in any way. Just a LINUX user worried about the tactics that Microsoft is
using to force other operating systems out of the market.

[rhozac]

Yeah dirty software sucks, linux and others can remedy that, dirty firmware, loaders and bios, harder to fix. Asus should put together a fully open hardware/software notebook like that guy did with the opensource laptop. Something like that perhaps relicense some components that are slightly out of date to opensource, that wont bother normal competitive commerse. That could be a nice *nix laptop from a quality hardware company like asus, and probably not cost a fortune.

Edit: broke now but my current only real selection that id be happy spending on would be from system76, and they are only in the US.

[billyray520]

I've been running Ubuntu on my Acer Aspire ONE netbook since 2010. I have upgraded to 12.04 LTS. I always stay with a LTS version. It still runs great with only an Intel Atom N450, 1 GB ram, and 160 GB hdd. This hardware could never run Windows properly. I bought the netbook with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS already installed from Staples, and had a Windows 7 starter restore CD. I have since restored Windows 7 starter, updated all of the software. Saw how horrible it ran, and saved a new image of the Windows 7 starter, and restored my Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

I also have my MVE dual booting Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. For an on-the-road computer/netbook, you just can't beat Linux OS and software. But for desktop business use, it still falls short of Windows. 😞 But for gaming? I'll bet Linux would be fine for that too.

[Zygomorphic]

LINUX gaming works provided that you install the proprietary nVidia drivers (nouveau drivers just don't cut it). If you want totally open-source good quality drivers, then stick with Intel graphics, since Intel pays for their LINUX driver to be professionally developed, and then releases it as open-source. I will admit that I don't game much at all, so I don't care one way or the other. There are some good games for LINUX (Wesnoth comes to mind), but not as many as Windows. 😞