Lenovo Group is planning a full embrace for Linux. The PC maker, at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo beginning Aug. 14 , will announce a plan to pre-load Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 on one of its ThinkPad notebooks, sources familiar with the two company’s plans said. Lenovo, whose ThinkPads have long been a favorite of Linux users, will become the first PC manufacturer in recent history to allow individual customers to buy one of its notebooks, a ThinkPad T60p mobile workstation model, with the operating system pre-installed, the sources said.

Lenovo has projected itself as a strong supporter of the operating system in the past—it has certified most of its ThinkPad and ThinkCentre PC models to run Novell/SUSE, Red Hat and TurboLinux distributions—but to date it has only pre-installed the operating system on a custom basis for large customers. Lenovo officials declined to comment for this story. However, in June 2006 they indicated a desire to more fully invest in the operating system.

“We’re about to reinforce that [Linux] strategy and go beyond what IBM [Personal Computer Division] or Lenovo, until now, was doing in terms of its commitments to the Linux community … and to our business partners who want to use Linux,” said Marc Godin, vice president of marketing for notebook at Lenovo in Raleigh, N.C., during a June 2006 interview with eWEEK. Lenovo, which purchased IBM’s Personal Computer Division in May 2005,appears to be tightening its relationship with Linux in part to help differentiate its products. Source: eWeek