| Dell leaves room for Linux in new US PCs |
Oct. 04, 2005
 Citing "growing consumer demand for open source-ready" computers, Dell Inc. -- the world's largest computer maker -- has commenced US shipments of several models in its popular consumer-oriented Dimension desktop PC line that come with an empty hard drive and a FreeDOS boot disk.
Dell states that these systems are "extra economical because they come without a Microsoft operating system."
The E5150n (pictured above) features up to to a 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor, up to 4 GB of DDR SDRAM, 10/100 Ethernet, up to a 350 GB hard drive, and a CD-ROM or DVD drive. The low-end model is priced at $649 (monitor not included), or about $50 less than a comparably-equipped model pre-loaded with Windows XP. Two lower-end Dimension models, also without installed operating systems and monitors, are priced at $339 and $319. Full details and ordering information are available online.
This is not the first time Dell has shipped PCs without an installed operating system, to allow for end-user installation of Linux or another OS. Dell recently launched a group of Windows-free PCs in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), and it has offered the n-Series workstation without an installed OS, in both the US and EMEA, since 2002.
FreeDOS "aims to be a complete, free, 100% MS-DOS compatible operating system," according to its SourceForge website. It is released under the GNU GPL open source license.
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