Dell has confirmed it will soon ship systems with the latest version of Ubuntu Linux pre-installed. However, the move will only benefit US buyers at first.

The move by Dell to pre-install Ubuntu 7.04 ends weeks of speculation that the PC maker would respond to requests from its own customers for a desktop Linux distribution.

"Today, we are excited to tell you that Dell will begin offering Canonicals' latest version, Ubuntu 7.04, as an option on select Dell consumer models in the US in the coming weeks," the company said in a statement on its web site.

Ubuntu is widely regarded as one of the easier desktop Linux distributions to install and use, and it has even been reported that Dell founder and chief executive Michael Dell runs the software at home.

The new 7.04 version was released in April, adding auto-detection of wireless networks for laptop users and improved multimedia support, among other features. The distribution also includes the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, FireFox browser and Evolution email client.

Dell said that the operating system will appear on select consumer products, but it would continue to offer a wide variety of Linux options, including Red Hat on Precision workstations and Novell certification of all its business systems.