First of all, enable the Full Desktop mode, it's pretty simple if you follow this instructions:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/11/06/eee-pc-tips-a-crash-course-in-linux/ [downloadsquad.com]
Then, download the latest production build for 32-bit Debian, and install it.
For some reason, I had to reinstall sesinetd, and installed the apprentice license after that.
I also set this environment variables, by using the /export/ command in a shell:
HOUDINI_OGL_SOFTWARE=1
HOUDINI_ENABLE_THREADED_UI=0
Just source houdini, and run it.
And finally, change the UI size to tiny or small or whatever, you won't be able to reach the apply button unfortunately, but just close the window and restart houdini.
I got some graphical glitches as well, but this were fixed when I restarted the system (startup the first time was really slow, but when I restarted it was very fast). Everything seems to work fine, it's just a matter of customizing the UI and desktop environment to maximize available space. The performance is much better than I expected!
Please share any additional tips!

thanks for the info, on that cute little comp.

I was pretty impressed, it's so small and lightweight, perfect for reading or simple tests on the Tube

I ran a Fluid sim on it, not as fast as my quadcore box of course, but usable!

Cheers,

Peter B

I've done some more test on it, and this are the problems I have found: Everytime I reboot I have to restart the license server manually (I don't really know how to set it up so that it runs automatically at boot time, any ideas?)
Drop down menus and buttons don't draw correctly, but they're still useable.
I get a ton of errors on the shell but houdini works ok.
I'll keep updating this, and I'm sure others will join in soon!
Might try and install ubuntu 7.10 which is great, but I want to give this OS a try as it seems to be very optimized for the hardware and it is fast to boot (around 15 seconds!)