Asus Eee PC Easy Mode Internet Tab Options Tour

When I began writing this tutorial, which is basically a straightforward but comprehensive guide of the Asus Eee PC Easy Mode interface, I naively thought it would be a brief exercise. After finishing just the Internet tab Options, I now realize why I have received several email requests for such an introduction.

I know some readers will find this post too elementary. But it is really intended for computer novices who want to find out just what the Asus Eee PC can do for them and/or for those who just need a little bit of guidance. Well, I guess it would also be informative for those who never liked reading the manual. :)


When the Asus Eee PC first boots up in a fresh install, it automatically brings up the Easy Mode User Interface (also called desktop) shown below.




If you look closely, there are six tabs located at the top row – Internet, Work, Learn, Play, Settings, and Favorites. There is also a Help button located at the top right corner. The screen is, by default, showing the contents of the Internet tab. This is reflected by its (white) reverse color.

On the bottom row, there are several icons. The Home icon on the left returns you instantly to the desktop.

On the bottom row, there are several icons. The Home icon on the left returns you instantly to the desktop.

On the right side is the system tray, which contains several icons. Starting from the left, the icons -

• displays the wireless network status
• displays network connections including signal level
• displays power status
• Number Lock
• Caps Lock
• accesses Smart Common Input Method (SCIM)
• adjusts volume
• displays the time

To the right of the system tray are more icons -
• The green rounded rectangle brings up the Task Manager
• The yellow smiley icon brings up Eeetips
• The red circle brings up the Taskbar, Standby, Restart, and Shut Down menu bar
• The right arrow toggles between hiding and displaying the toolbar


Internet

The Internet tab, as shown above, has twelve options –

• Web Mail
• Web
• iGoogle
• Messenger
• Skype
• Network
• eBook
• Google Docs
• World Clock
• Wikipedia
• Internet Radio
• Wireless Networks

As the name implies, you need to be connected to the Internet, otherwise you won’t be able to access the associated programs.

So, before proceeding, make sure that you are already on-line. You can do this by clicking on the system tray network connections icon or by clicking on the Wireless Network option.


Network

If you click on the system tray network connections icon, you will see the window below.




Incidentally this is also what you will see if you click on the Network option as indicated below.




If the Network Connections screen indicates you are already on-line, meaning you are already connected to the Internet, simply press the Cancel button to go back.

But if it indicates there is no active connection, then you need to manually connect to the Internet.


Wireless Networks

To manually connect to the Internet, click on the Wireless Networks icon as shown below.




This will bring up the Wireless Networks – Visible Access Points window. Make the Enable wireless option is marked x, otherwise it won’t display all the available networks. If it is already marked x and there are no networks displayed, try clicking on the Refresh button.




If you are technical enough, you may want to click on Details… to check out the information.




If you can not make sense of the information, don’t worry. The Asus Eee PC’s Easy Mode is automated enough to shield users from the complicated stuff. If you have brought up the window above, click on the OK button to go back.

In the example above, there is a linksys network that has 100% strength signal. To connect click on the Connect button.

NOTE: If you have more than one possible connections, you will be asked to select one.

Web Mail

Now that you are connected to the Internet, we can proceed to the different applications.

With the Asus Eee PC, it is very easy to check your email especially if you use one of the more popular email services. We will do this now.

If you are not at the desktop screen, click on the Home icon on the lower right corner to move back.

Click on the Web Mail option as indicated below.




This will bring up the Web Mail screen.




To go to your favorite email service, assuming of course it is one of the four shown above, simply click on the icon.

If, for example, you use Google’s Gmail service, you simply click on the Gmail icon to go directly to the Gmail website as shown below.




It is the same with the other three pre-configured services – Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL.

But what if you are using a proprietary email service? So how do you access it? Well, then you use the Web option.


Web

To surf the Internet, click on the Web option as indicated.




This will bring up the built-in Firefox browser, with the Asus Eee product page conveniently configured as the default page.




If you prefer another site to be your default home page, go to Edit-> Preferences in the Menu to bring up the Firefox Preferences window. Edit the Home Page field and enter the url of your favorite site.




By the way, a nifty trick to maximize the viewing space is to press the F11 key. It serves as a toggle between Maximized View and Normal View. The screen below shows the Maximized View. To switch back to Normal View, just press the F11 key again.




So far, we have covered four of the options that you would expect to use frequently. That’s why we have discussed them first.

The rest of the options will be discussed as they appear on the Internet tab, starting from the left top, left to right, top to bottom.


iGoogle

Clicking on the iGoogle option triggers the Firefox browser into serving up, what else, but the iGoogle page.




So what is iGoogle?




As its tag line says, it is your home on the web. You can quickly customize it to serve as information or trivia that you want to be updated on daily.




It is intended to be your default home page. And yes, you can do a quick Google search right there.


Messenger

Clicking on the Messenger option brings up Pidgin, which is an open source Instant Messaging client that is compatible with just about all the popular services – AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, IRC, MSN, QQ, Simple, Sametime, XMPP, and of course, Yahoo.




If you have no account previously set-up, Pidgin has a very user-friendly set-up wizard that easily guides you through the process.





Skype

Clicking on the Skype option brings up the Skype client. Skype is a popular VoIP service that provides Internet-based free long-distance (and domestic) voice calls among subscribers. It is popular enough that there are third party manufacturers selling Skype-compatible WiFi handsets to enable users to continue using Skype when even traveling or roaming.




If you are already an existing user you can enter your account details.




If not and you want to create an account, you click on Don’t have a Skype Name yet? The Create a new Skype Account window will pop up.





eBook

Just in case you are wondering, the Asus Eee PC does come with a softcopy manual. And it is accessible by clicking on the eBook option, which brings up the File Manager, with the My Ebooks folder pre-selected as shown below.




The right pane of the Window will display all available ebooks. Clicking on a compatible ebook will load FBReader, an open source ebook reader.




Thus clicking on the manual.CHM will automatically execute FBReader. Manual.CHM is the softcopy manual of the Asus Eee PC.




FBReader supports several formats including fb2, html, chm, rtf, plucker, etc. To read ebooks using FBReader, copy the files into My Ebooks folder.

They will automatically show up when you click on the eBook option. To open them, click on their icons.


Google Docs

Clicking on the Google Docs option brings up the Google Docs website. But what is Google Docs?




At its simplest, Google Docs is a suite of on-line applications that basically replicate the functions of Microsoft Office or OpenOffice. Meaning, it has word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation.




You work on-line and store your documents on-line. So as long as you have Internet access, you can work on your documents.

But what makes Google Docs attractive is that it enables users to collaborate on-line. So regardless of the physical locations of the individual members, a team can easily collaborate on a project.




And you can always toggle the F11 key to get just that much more viewing space.




Best of all, it is free.



World Clock

Clicking on the World Clock option brings up the KDE World Clock.




It is a nifty tool that provides a visual image of day and night time around the world. Move the cursor around and you will see the actual time of key cities around the world.





Wikipedia

Clicking on the Wikipedia option brings up the Wikipedia Site.




Wikipedia is a grass-roots on-line encyclopedia with most of the content submitted by users. While it can be more updated than other less dynamic references, it can also contain incorrect or misleading articles.





Internet Radio

Clicking on the Internet Radio option brings up the Mediayou.net site.




The site allows you to listen in to various radio stations around the world




Additional plug-ins though may be required to stream broadcasts, as the attempt to stream San Francisco-based KOIT 96.5 shows below.