Unobvious chips from ASUS
In the arsenal of each manufacturer of technology there are a lot of different technologies and useful "trifles", the usefulness of which "at first glance seems to be not visible." I decided to tell about several such "chips" on the example of ASUS products - as the last few reviews have shown, many people do not know about them. Therefore, meet - a small express educational program.
To begin with, in the past few days I had to tell you about three times - the reaction almost all the time was “great, I didn't know!”
')
When I was just starting to write reviews about ASUS netbooks and laptops, I was faced with an unpleasant problem - in Taiwan, devices that were about to appear on the market came in from single units. After pressing the power button, after a while, an inscription like “ No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key ” appeared on the screen and the whole problem was that officially such devices on the site were not supported at all, and therefore the drivers for them it was not found. The first time such an approach unpleasantly surprised me, however, gritting my teeth, I downloaded the Windows distribution kit, installed it and ... found that half of the functionality is gone. There is no multitouch on the touchpad, wi-fi and additional buttons do not work, there are no proprietary utilities and other trifles that seem to give the device individuality. I do not remember how, but the problem was solved - everything was tested, the review was written. But for the second or third time there was not enough patience ...
Once I go into “Administration”> “Computer Management” and in the discs menu I see that a solid piece of space - 5 GB or even 10 — was bitten from the drive with a hidden partition ... I began to understand, search ... and found! I found what I didn’t expect to find most of all. As it turned out, the hidden partition contains the “factory” image of the operating system (in particular, Windows), which you need to “deploy” when you first start. More precisely, when buying in a store, everything will already work initially and you don’t even suspect anything ... and unknowingly you can even delete this section, as many people like to do)
And this section is intended primarily to ensure that at any time of the day or night it is possible to return the device to its original state, with all the fully working list of functions. All you need to do is press the F9 key during power-up . Further, three recovery options will be offered: only to drive C (D and the others will remain intact), to the entire drive (all drives will be deleted and only C will be created) and with the disk partitioned into 2 parts (all partitions will be deleted, but after recovery the hard drive will be broken down into C and D). As you can see, there is a choice. For 15 minutes everything will be restored, at the output you will receive a fully working system, with all the drivers and other trivial problems from partner companies. As a result, I even fell in love with ASUS a little bit for this - because they turned everything up so cunningly and did not put CD-recovery in the kit, for example. Although he sometimes occurs.
If you close your eyes to the question of data integrity, then it seems to me that such an approach to recovery is much better fussing with bootable flash drives and even more so with disks (drives are now far from being everywhere). A couple of button presses and even the most non-shaking computer user will be able to bring the system back to life. So do not rush to remove the hidden partition - a couple of gigabytes will not make you weather.
Thanks SArd : A similar function can be found on some devices and from other manufacturers.
For this wonderful feature, I once did a separate post where I told everything in detail. But since we started talking about the hidden partition on the drive in ASUS netbooks and laptops, then we must not mention such a thing as ASUS Express Gate . This is a tiny Linux distribution from ASUS, which is placed on all new devices - also somewhere in the depths of the disk. For this function, there is always a separate button on the device, but many do not know about it, because they press it only when Windows is loaded, when the button has a different function.
What is ASUS Express Gate for? Well, in general, applications can be found fully. There is a file manager (with access to the disk file system), a photo viewer and a music player. There was a place for a full-fledged browser (Firefox with support for Flash), an IM client (with support for Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, AIM, QQ, Gadu-Gadu and Yahoo networks), as well as Skype. If you read the previous “hint” about the hidden image of Windows, then Express Gate will help, for example, to throw off all the necessary files from the “main” operating system, which is not loaded, before restoring to an external disk. Well, or without waiting for the download of Windows, throw "on the go" something on the USB flash drive or from it, send or receive mail. After all, an important feature of this Linux distribution is that it boots in 6-8 seconds.
On those ASUS netbooks that do not have this feature, you can most often install it yourself - on support.asus.com in the “Other Files” section, you can download Express Gate for many EeePC models. Sometimes this function can also be found on the company's motherboards - in this case, the OS is written to the flash-drive that is soldered on the board.
Getting rid of this function is also easy - by formatting the disk or simply by deleting the hidden partition on the disk. But, it seems to me, even if this is not the most important function in a mobile device, but it’s better with it than without it - it doesn’t interfere!
Thanks amorits : You can upload files via FTP , minus this approach - sometimes file names are not obvious and you can download something for another OS version.
As I said above, there is a separate button on the case of netbooks and laptops for the ASUS Express Gate function - as a rule, it looks exactly like the power button. When Windows boots up, this button acquires another function called the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine .
Quite a useful feature, the main task of which is to balance between performance and battery life. Pressing the magic key will switch the operating modes of the laptop - from Battery Saving to Super Performance. The result is an increase in productivity by 10-15%, or a gain in operating time. Both that, and that can be useful, therefore far from the socket there is a sense to master operation of the button, switching between the modes one in one pressing.
ASUS has become the first company to use NVIDIA Optimus technology in their devices, which allows them to “switch” between an integrated and discrete video card - again, to save power and optimize the use of device resources. Let this technology is still not very sharpened (due to NVIDIA) and works only in semi-automatic mode, but it’s better than nothing.
Speaking of NVIDIA, it is impossible not to mention the innovative technology of NVIDIA 3D Vision - the most advanced version of the technology for creating stereoscopic images. The honor of presenting this technology at the world premiere of the ASUS G53J-3D gaming laptop, which I once wrote about.
And in the new business series of laptops (“B”, which I talked about using the example of the ASUS B43J model), the company became the first to use ATI Eyefinity technology, which allows you to connect up to three monitors to a laptop. It is not clear, really, why so much :)
There is a ASUS and development of the power supply devices. For example, in a number of new business notebooks of the “B” series, Boston Power batteries are used. The capabilities of these batteries have yet to be checked, but for now it is known that up to 90% of the charge they charge in 90 minutes, and the manufacturer gives them a three-year warranty (1000 charge cycles) - this is more guarantee for the laptops themselves.
But much more I like the USB Charge + technology, which has already begun to appear in many Eee-devices (it happens, for example, in the netbook EeePC 1015 , 1018 , 1215 and VX6 ). This technology allows you to charge USB-connected devices to the netbook / laptop (players, phones, etc.) even when the laptop is turned off and not connected to the network.
Also for a number of devices (mostly motherboards) on the support.asus.com website you can download the AiCharger utility, thanks to which it will be possible to fully charge the iPad via the USB port . While other manufacturers for the sake of this one chips already release new versions of motherboards, ASUS has a problem solved at the software level.
To be honest, I have long wanted to share this link, but somehow I did not find a suitable occasion for this. In general, bookmark or just remember:
There is official information on ALL products of the company, ranging from mobile and desktop processors to motherboards, chipsets, controllers, adapters and all sorts of server solutions. All information is official and reliable, and in most cases - more than exhaustive; conveniently organized and easy to read. Most of the time, I use it to get information about processors, because there literally everything is indicated: release date, frequencies, power consumption, technical processes and cache sizes, all supported technologies, and so on. There is a separate page telling about ALL of Intel's code names - if one day you have a problem with inventing a nickname for a virtual, be sure to visit this page) In the same place, all datasheets, manuals and other documentation. One of the interesting parameters is the price, thanks to which you can get an idea of ​​the greed of a store in our area.
There is also a convenient comparison function, which, for example, will help determine when choosing the same processor. The search for a processor model in the address bar of Google always leads to this site, but many still do not know about its existence.
I hope these unobtrusive little advice will be useful to you - this information was in no way hidden by anyone, but as practice shows, many did not know about it. Therefore, I urge you not to be lazy every time to read the instructions for the devices you buy ... and read not only when something has already broken;) Tweeter has already unsubscribed that AiCharger started charging the iPad on laptops;)
If you know something else interesting, then write - read.
Successes!
To begin with, in the past few days I had to tell you about three times - the reaction almost all the time was “great, I didn't know!”
')
F9 power
When I was just starting to write reviews about ASUS netbooks and laptops, I was faced with an unpleasant problem - in Taiwan, devices that were about to appear on the market came in from single units. After pressing the power button, after a while, an inscription like “ No bootable device - insert boot disk and press any key ” appeared on the screen and the whole problem was that officially such devices on the site were not supported at all, and therefore the drivers for them it was not found. The first time such an approach unpleasantly surprised me, however, gritting my teeth, I downloaded the Windows distribution kit, installed it and ... found that half of the functionality is gone. There is no multitouch on the touchpad, wi-fi and additional buttons do not work, there are no proprietary utilities and other trifles that seem to give the device individuality. I do not remember how, but the problem was solved - everything was tested, the review was written. But for the second or third time there was not enough patience ...
Once I go into “Administration”> “Computer Management” and in the discs menu I see that a solid piece of space - 5 GB or even 10 — was bitten from the drive with a hidden partition ... I began to understand, search ... and found! I found what I didn’t expect to find most of all. As it turned out, the hidden partition contains the “factory” image of the operating system (in particular, Windows), which you need to “deploy” when you first start. More precisely, when buying in a store, everything will already work initially and you don’t even suspect anything ... and unknowingly you can even delete this section, as many people like to do)
And this section is intended primarily to ensure that at any time of the day or night it is possible to return the device to its original state, with all the fully working list of functions. All you need to do is press the F9 key during power-up . Further, three recovery options will be offered: only to drive C (D and the others will remain intact), to the entire drive (all drives will be deleted and only C will be created) and with the disk partitioned into 2 parts (all partitions will be deleted, but after recovery the hard drive will be broken down into C and D). As you can see, there is a choice. For 15 minutes everything will be restored, at the output you will receive a fully working system, with all the drivers and other trivial problems from partner companies. As a result, I even fell in love with ASUS a little bit for this - because they turned everything up so cunningly and did not put CD-recovery in the kit, for example. Although he sometimes occurs.
If you close your eyes to the question of data integrity, then it seems to me that such an approach to recovery is much better fussing with bootable flash drives and even more so with disks (drives are now far from being everywhere). A couple of button presses and even the most non-shaking computer user will be able to bring the system back to life. So do not rush to remove the hidden partition - a couple of gigabytes will not make you weather.
Thanks SArd : A similar function can be found on some devices and from other manufacturers.
Express gate
For this wonderful feature, I once did a separate post where I told everything in detail. But since we started talking about the hidden partition on the drive in ASUS netbooks and laptops, then we must not mention such a thing as ASUS Express Gate . This is a tiny Linux distribution from ASUS, which is placed on all new devices - also somewhere in the depths of the disk. For this function, there is always a separate button on the device, but many do not know about it, because they press it only when Windows is loaded, when the button has a different function.
What is ASUS Express Gate for? Well, in general, applications can be found fully. There is a file manager (with access to the disk file system), a photo viewer and a music player. There was a place for a full-fledged browser (Firefox with support for Flash), an IM client (with support for Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, AIM, QQ, Gadu-Gadu and Yahoo networks), as well as Skype. If you read the previous “hint” about the hidden image of Windows, then Express Gate will help, for example, to throw off all the necessary files from the “main” operating system, which is not loaded, before restoring to an external disk. Well, or without waiting for the download of Windows, throw "on the go" something on the USB flash drive or from it, send or receive mail. After all, an important feature of this Linux distribution is that it boots in 6-8 seconds.
On those ASUS netbooks that do not have this feature, you can most often install it yourself - on support.asus.com in the “Other Files” section, you can download Express Gate for many EeePC models. Sometimes this function can also be found on the company's motherboards - in this case, the OS is written to the flash-drive that is soldered on the board.
Getting rid of this function is also easy - by formatting the disk or simply by deleting the hidden partition on the disk. But, it seems to me, even if this is not the most important function in a mobile device, but it’s better with it than without it - it doesn’t interfere!
Thanks amorits : You can upload files via FTP , minus this approach - sometimes file names are not obvious and you can download something for another OS version.
Super Hybrid Engine
As I said above, there is a separate button on the case of netbooks and laptops for the ASUS Express Gate function - as a rule, it looks exactly like the power button. When Windows boots up, this button acquires another function called the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine .
Quite a useful feature, the main task of which is to balance between performance and battery life. Pressing the magic key will switch the operating modes of the laptop - from Battery Saving to Super Performance. The result is an increase in productivity by 10-15%, or a gain in operating time. Both that, and that can be useful, therefore far from the socket there is a sense to master operation of the button, switching between the modes one in one pressing.
Debuts
ASUS has become the first company to use NVIDIA Optimus technology in their devices, which allows them to “switch” between an integrated and discrete video card - again, to save power and optimize the use of device resources. Let this technology is still not very sharpened (due to NVIDIA) and works only in semi-automatic mode, but it’s better than nothing.
Speaking of NVIDIA, it is impossible not to mention the innovative technology of NVIDIA 3D Vision - the most advanced version of the technology for creating stereoscopic images. The honor of presenting this technology at the world premiere of the ASUS G53J-3D gaming laptop, which I once wrote about.
And in the new business series of laptops (“B”, which I talked about using the example of the ASUS B43J model), the company became the first to use ATI Eyefinity technology, which allows you to connect up to three monitors to a laptop. It is not clear, really, why so much :)
Charger
There is a ASUS and development of the power supply devices. For example, in a number of new business notebooks of the “B” series, Boston Power batteries are used. The capabilities of these batteries have yet to be checked, but for now it is known that up to 90% of the charge they charge in 90 minutes, and the manufacturer gives them a three-year warranty (1000 charge cycles) - this is more guarantee for the laptops themselves.
But much more I like the USB Charge + technology, which has already begun to appear in many Eee-devices (it happens, for example, in the netbook EeePC 1015 , 1018 , 1215 and VX6 ). This technology allows you to charge USB-connected devices to the netbook / laptop (players, phones, etc.) even when the laptop is turned off and not connected to the network.
Also for a number of devices (mostly motherboards) on the support.asus.com website you can download the AiCharger utility, thanks to which it will be possible to fully charge the iPad via the USB port . While other manufacturers for the sake of this one chips already release new versions of motherboards, ASUS has a problem solved at the software level.
Link increased utility
To be honest, I have long wanted to share this link, but somehow I did not find a suitable occasion for this. In general, bookmark or just remember:
ark.intel.com
There is official information on ALL products of the company, ranging from mobile and desktop processors to motherboards, chipsets, controllers, adapters and all sorts of server solutions. All information is official and reliable, and in most cases - more than exhaustive; conveniently organized and easy to read. Most of the time, I use it to get information about processors, because there literally everything is indicated: release date, frequencies, power consumption, technical processes and cache sizes, all supported technologies, and so on. There is a separate page telling about ALL of Intel's code names - if one day you have a problem with inventing a nickname for a virtual, be sure to visit this page) In the same place, all datasheets, manuals and other documentation. One of the interesting parameters is the price, thanks to which you can get an idea of ​​the greed of a store in our area.
There is also a convenient comparison function, which, for example, will help determine when choosing the same processor. The search for a processor model in the address bar of Google always leads to this site, but many still do not know about its existence.
The end
I hope these unobtrusive little advice will be useful to you - this information was in no way hidden by anyone, but as practice shows, many did not know about it. Therefore, I urge you not to be lazy every time to read the instructions for the devices you buy ... and read not only when something has already broken;) Tweeter has already unsubscribed that AiCharger started charging the iPad on laptops;)
If you know something else interesting, then write - read.
Successes!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/110924/
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