[LinuxBIOS] Asus P5E3 Deluxe

[Peter Stuge]

On Sat, Sep 29, 2007 at 06:41:07PM +0200, Simon Kellett wrote:
> I just read this news item about this new board from Asus: Asus
> P5E3 Deluxe.
> http://www.pclaunches.com/motherboard/asus_p5e3_deluxewifiapn_motherboard.php
> 
> "It's Express Gate (based on Linux) is another interesting feature that
> allows you to surf internet without booting Windows in under 5 seconds."
> 
> Does anyone know more about this ? Is it using LinuxBIOS ?

Not too likely.


> I assume that they will have to release the code for it, so could
> it then be merged into LinuxBIOS ?

Sure, if they are, and do.


> My first thought was this would be a great LinuxBIOS board,
> although it does look a bit high end ?

There are several serious showstopper issues:

* Intel chipset
Not only is the chipset brand spanking new, but it is also Intel.
As things stand at the moment, this makes supporting it impossible.

* Undocumented features
ASUS thinks the EPU microcontroller that monitors and controls the
power supplies and power management on the board to be worth
particular attention in their marketing efforts. This means that
they will never tell anyone flat out how it works just so that
software can support it, because they would also be giving their
competition ideas.

It all translates to "no go at the moment," unfortunately.


//Peter