ASUS Express Gate is a fast loading, miniature operating
system that's accessible as a prompt option after the system is booted. This
system is controlled by a small Express Gate card that is integrated onto the
PCB of the P5E3 Premium between a PCI Express x16 and PCI slot.
This little chip is actually a self-contained system, so
it doesn't require an OS to be installed, or even a hard drive to be
connected to the system in order to function.
Booting
into ASUS Express Gate only takes a few seconds.
This particular system only has two applications: Skype and
Web. Skype functions exactly as it does on any other
computer, and as long as a mic and speakers are installed
and the computer has a network connection it's possible to make calls from
your computer to other computers or land lines.
Web is a
slightly modified version of the Firefox browser. Since the Express Gate desktop
environment doesn't provide access to hard drives or storage, some of the
browser functionality like saving files, installing extensions or modifying
preferences beyond the saving of cookies and passwords won't work.
Fortunately Adobe Flash and Javascript already
work in the browser, so most web sites and web applications will still function
properly.
While it's
certainly neat to be able to watch Youtube movies and do your taxes on Google
Spreadsheets inside a browser that's being run off the Express Gate chip, it
really does seem like more of a novelty than an actual utility.
As it is,
Express Gate will come in handy if you simply can't wait the two minutes it
takes for Windows to load and want to browse some websites right away, or in the
event that a bootable partition is lost and it's necessary to check webmail or
look up troubleshooting advice.
This
application could have been an incredibly useful tool if
it had the ability to diagnose hardware problems on its own and access or modify
files without the need to boot into the OS. Even being able to load files onto
or off of a USB key would have greatly expanded this feature
into actual usefulness.
RSS Newsletter
