Nick Race02 March 2008, 10:06 PM
HP has come to the party with full Red Hat Linux support for one of its business-oriented desktops, the Compaq dx2250.
Adoption of Linux on the desktop for businesses is much trickier than the average Joe installing Ubuntu on his laptop. One of the major concerns for business operators is the support of the OS: not just the software, which has been offered by incumbent Linux distributors like Red Hat and Novell, but the hardware itself.
Though lurking on a forum board or mailing list to get a driver for an off piece of hardware may be par for the course for the home user, an IT department will never stray from the STABLE tree. Maintaining security, ensuring hardware compatibility and to keep those pesky end users from calling with problems, they need to ensure their hardware is fully supported and compatible with robust drivers and software. This happened long ago with server hardware and vendors, but it’s been a slow take-off on the desktop side of the fence.
Small and medium businesses are the ideal candidate for adoption of Linux. The lower initial outlay suits smaller budgets, and with a comparable level of support to the incumbent Windows, there’s less risk in switching. Dell were the first major supplier to offer Linux on its desktops. Though we’re still to see it here in Australia, the uptake where it’s offered has been good.
The HP dx2250 is a low-cost, AMD-powered mini tower PC, available with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop pre-installed. The hardware and software combination is supported by HP and Red Hat in full, with Red Hat offering its Tiers 1, 2 and 3 support on dx2250 desktops.
We received a unit for evaluation and were pleased with the results. The dx2250 was built with an AMD Athlon X2 4000+ on an ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 chipset. It was loaded with 1GB of DDR2 and a 160GB hard disk drive. Graphics are integrated and around equivalent to an X300: more than ample power for business needs. The dx2550 is also built with a 16xDVD/RW, no floppy and a 10/100 Ethernet connection. AC97 audio and six USB ports make up the whole package.
The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop was pre-loaded, with drivers for all the hardware present and correct, as expected for any system, business, Linux or otherwise.
The system ran like a dream, even considering its relatively low hardware specs. Pre-installed productivity software includes OpenOffice, Firefox and Evolution, which act in place of the typical Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer and Outlook. The good news is OO, Firefox and Evolution are interoperable with the products they replace, so integration of Linux desktops into a Windows network won’t mean changing everything.
Overall, we were quite happy with the dx2250. It’s a low-cost, off-the-shelf business PC running Linux instead of Windows — and that’s all it should be. HP and Red Hat’s work on this machine have given small and medium businesses a real option, with real support at a good price. The barrier to the adoption of Linux on the desktop has been lowered once again.
The only milestone left for HP now for a desktop Linux network is releasing Linux-running notebooks for business users. Running a single OS shop is much easier to manage than multiple installs, so migrating mobile users to Linux as well would make the IT department’s job that much easier.
The HP Compaq dx2250s are available through its reseller network, with HP not currently offering RHEL as an option on systems bought directly from its web site.