Just saw on CNET TV that Asus has a motherboard, the Asus P5E3 Deluxe, that contains a Linux operating system with Firefox (Web browsing) and Skype (Internet phone calls) in a flash chip right on the motherboard itself. No need to wait for a full system boot up from the hard drive to check your web mail or call a friend. The feature is called Express Gate and means that within five seconds from powering the system on, you can be in Firefox. How cool is that?

Since Express Gate boots from flash, it’s not only fast, but it’s pretty safe as well as a Web workstation. The system’s main hard drive is not accessible during express mode so it won’t get infected should someone bother to create a Linux/Firefox virus or Trojan. Another benefit is that shutting down is also fast since the operating system doesn’t have to do a lot of cleaning up.

The downside is the price. It’s only available in this high-end version of Asus motherboard. Hopefully, more motherboard manufacturers will be doing this and with more models in the very near future.