Linux in 2008: The New Linux Powered Devices

In 2007 the Linux operating system proved more popular than ever. 2008 is set to be a banner year with even more PCs and devices running Linux behind the scenes. Here are just a few of the new Linux powered devices scheduled for 2008

Desktop PCs
Microsoft has had a stranglehold on the desktop for the last 20 years. With upstart Apple making inroads and the less than stellar performance of it's new Vista operating system, Microsoft is waging an all out PR war. The Redmond company has pledged to spend $500 million dollars in advertising on it's new OS. The time might just be right for the open source Linux operating system to take a bigger slice of the desktop pie. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) seem to think so, especially in the low end, low cost sector.

Everex gPC
Everex released the gPC just in time for Christmas in 2007 and Walmart sold out immediately. It's modest hardware runs the gOS Linux Operating System at a surprisingly quick pace. The folks at Everex believe that most users spend a majority of their time surfing the web. With this in mind, the entire system is designed around Firefox and web applications from Google. Many users felt the gOS is too limited and discovered Ubuntu runs quite well on this 1.5ghz processor machine. For the $199 price you also get 512MB ram, an 80GB Hard Drive, a DVD/CDRW drive, a Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers. Just add a Monitor and you have a the perfect second computer. Walmart has recently restocked their supplies of the gPC.

Shuttle KPC
At this years CES, specialty PC manufacturer Shuttle unveiled its newest Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs. The KPC will come in 2 flavors, a full system for $199 with Intel Celeron processor, a 945GC chipset, 512MB of memory and either a 60GB or 80GB hard drive and a barebones $99 model upgradeable to a Core Duo processor and 1GB of memory. Interesting is the decision to not ship an optical drive. The system comes in the familiar cube shaped case like Shuttles XPC line, but with a choice of colorful graphics on the cover appealing to a younger set of Myspace customers.