August 14, 2006 9:00 PM PDT
ThinkPad--now with Suse Linux
- Related Stories
-
LinuxWorld revs up
August 17, 2006 -
Lenovo gets second helping of AMD chips
August 7, 2006 -
Novell hopes its next desktop will leapfrog Windows
March 9, 2006
Lenovo and Novell plan to announce at the LinuxWorld conference Tuesday that the ThinkPad T60p will ship with Novell's new Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (SLED). The Linux laptops will be geared toward engineers and other high-end users, but they will be available for purchase by anyone on Lenovo's Web site, said Bill Iori, worldwide segment manager for ThinkPad T Series.
In addition, Lenovo will provide Linux support for the laptop, including drivers and its ThinkVantage technologies found on ThinkPads loaded with Microsoft's Windows operating system, he said.
As the industry gathers for another Linuxworld this week in San Francisco, desktop Linux watchers have a reason to feel hopeful that this might be the year. Desktop Linux has yet to make much of an impact on the overall business PC market, although it has its corporate-based proponents for tasks like engineering, call centers or kiosks, said Justin Steinman, director of product marketing for Novell.
One reason Novell and Lenovo are more excited about the new T60p is that the Linux kernel now offers better support for notebook-friendly technologies such as sleep mode, Iori said. Novell and Lenovo did their own work on top of the kernel to ensure SLED would work well in a mobile environment and take advantage of ThinkVantage technologies such as RapidRestore for backup and recovery and Access Connections for discovering wireless networks, he said.
Customers who purchase the T60p with SLED will be able to call Lenovo for support, unlike in the past with other Linux deployments where users were basically on their own, Iori said. Two systems will be available in 14-inch and 15-inch display configurations, with many high-end components. Prices start at $3,099 for the 14-inch model.
See more CNET content tagged:
Novell Inc.,
ThinkPad,
Lenovo,
IBM ThinkVantage,
SuSE
So now we have the largest PC OEMs promoting Linux and bundling them with their PCs.
It's nice to see somebody shipping with Linux pre-installed but at that price forget it! I'll get something less expensive and still be able to install Linux (SLED, RedHat, Ubuntu, whoever!)
I just hope that the vendors don't say "hey, it isn't selling at that price, so nobody wants Linux pre-installed!". I will admit there won't be the same demand for Linux systems as there are for "any system with an OS", but this is something that is going to grow and especially now with the stunts Microsoft is pulling I think people will be happy with an alternative.
The other important feature of the story, though, is that the notebook will be supported which is probably bigger news than the actual laptop!
1. How many people buy laptops that *start* at over $3,000? Very few I suspect - it would be nicer to see Linux pre-installed on lower-priced models.
2. Doesn't it cost $50 a year to get SLED 10 updates or does Lenovo throw those in for free (and if so, for how many years)?
3. What's the price difference between buying a SLED 10 Thinkpad vs. the same hardware spec'ed Windows XP Thinkpad?
4. Will there be an upgrade path for users (e.g. when SLED 11 comes out in 12-18 months, will there be a way to get it from Lenovo [or Novell] and will it be supported if installed over SLED 10)?
any!