HP deploys Linux desktops in Asia

Turbolinux goes down a bundle

HP announced yesterday that it would the first top tier manufacturer to offer desktop PCs loaded with Linux across the world's biggest and most populous continent.

The company will bundle the Turbolinux operating system on HP Compaq business desktop PCs for sale in 12 Asian countries.

The new agreement adds 11 new countries - including Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam - to a pre-existing agreement to deliver Turbolinux on HP systems in the People's Republic of China.

Japan-based Turbolinux and HP have pre-certified all hardware to be shipped under the OEM agreement for Linux compatibility and smooth operation.

The Turbolinux OEM software bundle is built around Turbolinux 10 Desktop (10D), one of the first distributions to ship with the new Linux 2.6 kernel.

In addition, 10D offers applications for technologies such as 802.11b wireless Lans, FireWire, CD-ROM burning, Bluetooth and digital camera image loading software. Turbolinux will also provide HP customers with OpenOffice.org 1.1, the integrated open source application suite.

Customers can update their desktop software with the latest Linux kernel, packages and security patches by using a graphical update tool.

Turbolinux will provide technical support to HP's engineers to help in resolving any tricky support issues.

Neither company is talking about how many computers they expect to sell under the agreement. ®