Dell is to offer Linux preloaded on desktop and mobile PCs, the firm said yesterday. On its Ideas In Action web site, Dell said it will provide an update with more detail of models and supported Linux distributions in “the coming weeks”.

Some watchers have suggested that support costs would mean that Dell would shy away from Linux preloads but the firm may have discovered a halfway-house. In the post announcing the Linux preloading, the firm notes that most respondents to its survey “said that existing community-based support forums would meet their technical support needs for a tested and validated Linux operating system on a Dell system.”

Also from the survey, more than 70 percent of respondents said they would use a Dell Linux system for both home and office use. However, it remains to be seen how many large businesses are satisfied with community support.

Dell did not immediately respond to requests for comment on UK availability.

Separately, Dell also appears to have backtracked on Active Management Technology (AMT), Intel’s technology for managing business desktops. The company said today that it was releasing the OptiPlex 745c with AMT support.

In a press release, the firm said AMT “provides early adopters with an opportunity to test future hardware management capabilities that will be reflected in upcoming standards”.

Last year, Dell said it would not support AMT because it did not allow non-Intel clients to be managed on networks.