Related Articles

Latest Express Gate

I've liked Express Gate from the start - what's not to like about a very quick booting flash based Linux with a web browser? - but I was a bit disappointed when Asus started loading it onto the user's hard drive, instead of including enough flash to hold it on the motherboard.

This latest version adds an "Online Games" button, and presumably updates the rest of it too.

Here is the image you see on bootup:

And if you click on the web button, you are taken to Asus' web site. This can actually be helpful when setting up the system, because you can get here even without having a hard drive installed!

The file manager saw the SATA ROM drive, as I had the Asus driver/utility disk in it.

Here is the desktop you get:

The icons, from left to right, are:

• Splashtop Browser
• Online Games
• Photo
• Chat
• Skype
• Configuration Panel
• DVD-ROM
• LAN status
• Volume
• Language
• Launcher Settings

And below the small icons:

• Asus Utility
• About
• Express Gate Help
• Power Off
•  

Here is the on-line game selector - lots of flash games to choose from!

And here is the Photo app:

The Instant Messenger:

Skype:

And the Configuration Panel:

Express Gate is great for letting guests use your PC without giving them access to your normal desktop.