The slow, toe-in-the-water approach by PC makers to the Linux desktop continued on Wednesday, with Dell (NSDQ:Dell) and Novell (NSDQ:NOVL) formalizing a deal to ship Dell OptiPlex 330 and 755 desktops preloaded with Novell's SLED 10, to commercial accounts in China.

HP selling Linux PCs? Surely this must be a mistake?

With the release of 7.10, many have been wondering if Dell will ship 7.10. Well, the answer to that question has been answered, according to a DesktopLinux story. Anne Camden of Dell corporate communications said: "We will offer Ubuntu 7.10 preinstalled on our systems soon"

Certainly another reason to consider when buying your Ubuntu PCs from System76 over Dell, it seems to me. Having dealt with Dell 'support' in the past, it's clear. It is the over-sized anchor on an already sinking ship.

Podcast. Now that Dell offers Linux as an option on desktops and notebooks, how does that affect the company's hardware selections? LinuxWorld Conference and Expo speaker Matt Domsch explains how Dell uses vendors' free drivers at kernel.org to help pick the hardware that goes into the next generation of Dell products

Even as Dell prepares to ship computers with Ubuntu 10.04 pre-loaded, the PC giant is battling rumors that it no longer remains committed to Canonical's Linux distribution. For Dell, it's time for a clear, concise statement that specifically describes the company's history with Ubuntu and next moves with the operating system. Here's why.

Recently I found that Dell has partnered with Canonical to offer the latest version of Ubuntu (7.04) with the sale of new Dell computers. This piqued my interest because of the hoops I had to jump through to get my Dell Intel Pro Wireless (IPW) 2200bg card to work with Fedora Core 4. My theory is that Ubuntu 7.04 should be incredibly easy to install and configure on my Dell laptop.

Plenty of folks are confused about Dell’s commitment to Ubuntu, the Linux distribution promoted by Canonical. In recent days, old rumors about Dell abandoning Ubuntu have returned. But in reality, Dell indicates it is preparing to ship systems with Ubuntu 10.04.

Ubuntu 7.10 arrives Oct. 18, and not long after that Dell will start shipping that version of the Ubuntu Linux desktop on its laptops and desktops.