Splashtop Pre-Boot Shell Added to More Mobos (PC Magazine)
ExtremeTech Staff - ExtremeTech Wed May 14, 11:42 AM ET
DeviceVM said Wednesday that the company has signed a contract with Asus to place its Splashtop Linux multimedia shell onto four more Asus motherboards.
When booting either a P5Q Deluxe, P5Q-WS, P5Q3 Deluxe, and P5Q-E, users will see an "Express Gate" screen that pops up quickly, instead of the usual device enumeration mumbo-jumbo that typically accompanies the boot process. The new motherboards will be available by the end of the second quarter, which ends in June.
From there, users can surf the Web using the included Splashtop browser, place a VoIP call with Skype, read email, or choose to boot their PC normally. In total, 12 motherboards now support the Splashtop environment, all manufactured by Asus.
Pre-boot and side-boot environments are quietly becoming more common, with rivals like Phoenix Technology investing heavily in technologies like HyperSpace and others. The idea is to allow the PC user to be productive without the need to go through the full boot process, which some cases has been painful. So far, Microsoft has not raised any objection, or come out with a competitive offering.
DeviceVM plans to have numerous Splashtop-enabled motherboards, desktops, and laptops available internationally in 2008, the company said.