Asus EEEPC

Hi
I see they have an XP version.. anyone using this for PLC work?

I would expect the screen to be way too small and the performance to be slow but cheap and very portable.

I was in Malaysia earlier this year working for months on end, I was still using my trusty Dell M50, which in its day was a decent bit of gear, but very heavy, in my backpack with all the other c*#p I had in there.

Everyday I would find myself doing some minor SLC changes as part of commissioning.

Anyway, long story short, I purchased an EEE, loaded XP, Linx and RSLogix on it to take up to the platform with me, direct connection with a USB converter, and away I went.

Saved my shoulders a bit of work (it was a bit of a walk up and back, in hot conditions)

Worked great, if I had to do any extended work, I plugged in an external monitor (there were heaps laying around in the platform offices)

Not the best screen size to use, but in a pinch, works great. If you turn the brightness down, and wifi off, you can get 3hrs out of the battery.

cheers

Charlie

Funny, I was looking at one of those today, but for my son!
Although a small 8 or 9" display the resolution is something like 1024 x 600. Ok for s7 that would stink. But for a quick log into a PLC it would be great!

Seen the XP 12GB SSD version for £278.99 (inc VAT) at my usual retailer (www.cclonline.com); really tempted when I have had my Ebay clearout!

I was thinking of an emergency PC / site tool.

I had an experience lately where my laptop died as soon as i arrived for a weeks commisioning. If I carried a spare it would have helped out until another laptop was couriered to me. Also, if it got dropped, stolen, lost etc it wouldnt matter so much

Cheers

I was looking for MSI Wind U100.
It look better machine for about a same price.
There is model with 2Gb ram and 160 Gg HD.
The price over here is about a same eeePc 8.9'.
I know it could hendel some PLCs like Omron AB.
I am not sure it can handle Step 7 and WinCC.
I would like to know if someone try it.?

Remember the Asus unit is a solid state drive, not a mechanical hard drive that has a larger chance of failing.

I have just purchased the ACER AspireOne(£299 PC World but cheaper elsewhere if it is in stock) as I am changing to a desktop and this small netbook.

It has 1Gb Ram and a 120Gb hard disk, which yes I know is more susceptible to failure, and I have upgraded to XP Pro. I have also ordered a 1Gb Ram stick to increase the overall memory to 1.5Gb.

It runs pretty well for a 1.6Ghz processor and is really light. Despite being a small screen it is very good quality.

To help with the speed I have got all my PLC related stuff running in Virtualbox so I don't have loads of stuff clogging up the system on start up.

Whichever you choose it will be a useful tool on site due to it's size and weight.

I use Twidosuite, Vijeo Designer, Beckhoff TwinCAT and Visual Studio Express editions.

Jon.

Thanks for the replies, I am now considering which one to buy.

My main software is S7, WinCC Flex, GX Developer and GE Machine Edition.

The Acer One looks pretty good on the review sites.

It was the review sites that swung it for me.

I am even running Autocad 2007, albeit a little slower than my old laptop, but I only need it until the desktop arrives.

Jon.

cjd1965

Please let us know if step 7 running on this PC.

Arikby

I have not purchased one yet, it will probably be a few weeks yet because i am commisioning for the next few weeks so too busy to follow up