Lenovo preloads Linux onto notebooks

Change in tack

By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 08 August 2006, 07:27
CHINESE tinmakers Lenovo has back-tracked on itsanti-Linux comments and has decided to preload SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 on its ThinkPad T60p mobile workstation.

According to Linux Desktop, it is the first time a major OEM has committed to preloading a Linux desktop for ordinary punters.

So far only the smaller vendors have offered it. The only 'big boy' OEM to come close was HP which released the Compaq nx5000 laptop with SUSE Linux 9.1 as a "test" launch.

The Lenovo machine will ship with a 2GHz Intel Core Duo processor T2500. It uses an ATI FireGL V5200 with 256MB of RAM.

All this is taking place just two months after a Lenovo bigwig said that the company was considering dumping suppor for Linux. Although the company later distanced itself from the comments, there was a belief that the Chinese operatives had lost interest in Linux. This was at the same time as Microsoft was busy lobbying the Chinese government and Lenovo was pledging its commitment to the Vole.

More here. µ