If your laptop is getting long in the tooth, there is no reason to rush out to buy a new one. Instead, you can relegate the most demanding computer tasks to your desktop machine and use your laptop to run applications remotely.

The big news in the Linux realm for the past few months has been Dell's introduction of Ubuntu-preinstalled computers. Dell's not the only game in town, though -- there are also some Lenovo machines that are certified to work with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. You don't need assurances and certifications to get a good laptop system that will work with Linux, though.

As Dell Inc. approaches its one-year anniversary of selling laptop and desktop computers preloaded with Ubuntu Linux, the company is continuing to expand the fledgling program to new computer models and markets.

Dell's U.S. website has started offering Ubuntu 9.04 on a Mini 10V and Inspiron 15N laptop. The move comes less than two months before Microsoft's Windows 7 launch - essentially reinforcing Dell's commitment to Ubuntu. But will Dell pre-load Ubuntu 9.04 on a desktop PC? Here's some analysis.

More laptop computers preloaded with Ubuntu Linux are coming from Dell Inc. in response to demand from potential customers around the world.

It’s an amazing thing to watch—at least, to a city slicker like me who doesn’t get to witness the miracle of birth every day. But what makes this particular video remarkable is that it was shot by a fourth-year student at Villa Cardal’s Public School 24, using the built-in camera and recording software on the student’s XO Laptop, within weeks of the machine’s arrival at the school last year.

I looked back in the blog, and I began running Debian Lenny as my main desktop distribution just about two months ago. Debian is snappy, as it has always been for me, even with GNOME. I don't even see any performance issues due to using fully encrypted LVM. And with that encryption on my laptop, any anxiety over it being lost or stolen is gone.

A former student of mine noticed that my laptop looked different. Well, maybe not the laptop itself, but the user interface. She immediately inquired how I “did that” while she pointed at the screen of my Thinkpad.

"Finally I did it. I decided to point to an higher goal asking Dell to produce a free software laptop. I made a campaign in english and italian inviting all the people to ask Dell for a machine with coreboot, atheros wireless chipset and gnewsense preinstalled. Now I am asking your support..."