Hands on: Install and run XP on the Asus Eee

The Asus Eee PC has deservedly become one of the most talked-about devices of recent times.

Despite being initially aimed at kids, this highly affordable, ultraportable laptop has won the hearts of many enthusiasts and road warriors, selling out over the Christmas period like the season’s hot toy.

It’s obviously far from perfect, but it seems churlish to complain when you’re getting a fully functional tiny laptop with stacks of applications, decent connectivity and a usable screen for about £220.

It has also quickly become the current darling of anyone who loves to tweak, and we devoted last month’s Hardware column to the basics behind getting to grips with the custom Linux OS and installing additional applications.

This custom OS is one of the reasons behind the Eee’s low price and nifty operation on modest hardware, but Asus also includes drivers for anyone who wishes to install Windows XP instead.

So we’re devoting this month’s Hardware column to installing XP on the Eee and seeing how it performs compared to the default Linux installation – and if you’re expecting the open-source version to thrash Microsoft, you may be in for a surprise.

Installing XP
Asus provides XP drivers for the Eee PC, but you’ll need to supply the Windows disc and an external USB optical drive to read it.

The Eee is only compatible with Windows XP Service Pack 2, and earlier versions will fail during the setup process – so you’ll need a disc that already has SP2 built in.

Asus also recommends some kind of additional storage to boost the limited internal capacity, while also minimising Windows’ negative impact on a solid-state drive.

To kick off the installation process, connect the USB optical drive and start up (or restart) the system, pressing F2 to access the Bios pages.

First check that everything’s enabled in the Onboard Devices Configuration section under the Advanced menu. Also under the Advanced menu, change the OS Installation option to Start, before pressing F10 to save and reboot. Now press Esc during startup to choose the boot device and select your optical drive.

You can now start the Windows setup as normal and when you get to the drive page, delete all the existing partitions (bearing in mind that this will wipe your Eee clean), then let Windows create a new partition, formatting it as NTFS – this won’t take long given the 4GB capacity of the standard 4G model.

Once Windows has completed its installation, restart and re-enter the Bios pages. Go back to the Advanced menu and set OS Installation to Finish. Then when you’re back in Windows you can use the supplied disc to install the drivers; if you lose the disc you can download these drivers from the Asus website.

Optimising Windows
Asus provides a number of tips for optimising the Eee for use under XP and starts by suggesting you fix the size of the virtual memory swap file to about 256MB.

The supplied setup disc should fix the size for you, but if you’re installing the system manually or would like to adjust the size, you’ll find the option to do so under the Advanced tab of XP’s System Control Panel.

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