Linux laptop

At a laptop near you …

If you like having Linux on your desktop PC, you might be wistfully eyeing your laptop. Though Linux has made strides in becoming more user-friendly, It can still take some time and care to get it to work with all of a PCs hardware components. For entrepreneurs who don't want to deal with the OS installation, there are a couple of options for getting your Linux to go.

EmperorLinux (www. emperorlinux.com) sells a host of laptops from manufacturers like Dell, IBM and Sharp that they've loaded and tested with Linux. They cover the gamut, from ultraportables to desktop replacement machines, with a wide selection of Linux versions available. Hewlett-Packard is the first major manufacturer to come out with its own Linux laptop, the $1,199 (street) HP Compaq Business Notebook nx5000. Loaded with the SuSE version of Linux and Open Office, it's another indication of Linux slowly inching its way into a more mainstream business market.

--A.C.K.