* HP bundles Mandrake Linux with desktops
If you’re interested in rolling out Linux-based desktops but not interested in building the boxes yourself, new PC offerings from HP may be the answer.
HP has announced two desktops that can be ordered with Mandrake Linux, and offer a list of hardware features that should provide more than enough horsepower for most business applications.
The Compaq dx2000 PC is a microtower that can be shipped with up to a 3 GHz processor – either an Intel Celeron or Pentium 4 processor. The box can accept up to 1G byte of memory, with four DIMM slots, and can come with up to 80G bytes of hard drive. Eight USB 2.0 ports are included for peripheral connections.
The other Mandrake-based PC is the Compaq dc5000, a step up from the entry-level dx2000, with support for 4G bytes of SDRAM memory, and supports up to hard drives as large as 160G bytes. Either Celeron or Pentium 4 chips are also an option on these PCs. The dc5000 is available in either a microtower or small-footprint form factor case. Both the dx2000 and dc5000 PCs offer tool-less entry for opening the cases to upgrade hardware.
The dx2000 and dc5000 can be shipped pre-installed with the Mandrake 9.2 Linux operating system. The operating system features a choice of KDE or GNOME desktop environments, the Mozilla Web browser, and applications such as OpenOffice and KOffice – open source personal productivity suites, with word processing, spreadsheets and presentation software. GIMP, an open-source graphics creation tool, is also included. Open source tools such as Samba, for sharing files between Linux with Windows machines, and OpenSSH for IP traffic security, are also part of the Mandrake package.
The dx2000 is available now from HP resellers, starting at $490. The dc5000 is also available now starting at $600.
