Shuttle PC Maker Picks Foresight Linux

Back during CES 2008, Shuttle, the PC maker known for their SFF (Small Form Factor) PCs announced a $199 (USD) Linux PC known as the KPC. The Shuttle KPC was just one of the Linux PCs announced in January, and like the gOS-backed Everex budget PCs, is really designed for web surfing and basic desktop tasks. The hardware on the Shuttle KPC consists of a Celeron processor, Intel integrated graphics, and up to an 80GB hard drive. What was announced yesterday, however, was their Linux distribution of choice for the KPC. Shuttle will not be shipping Ubuntu, gOS, Xandros, or any of the other desktop distributions that other vendors are using, but they are going with Foresight Linux.

In an announcement made on the Shuttle news section, they have selected Foresight Linux for the KPC due to its "intuitive interface and user focused design." The Shuttle KPC will also come preloaded with OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Pidgin, and other desktop packages.

Foresight Linux generally isn't considered one of the tier-one desktop Linux distributions, but it does stay in tune with the GNOME quite closely for showcasing the latest improvements with this desktop environment. Foresight also uses the rPath-developed Conary package manager, which is user-friendly but hasn't seen the limelight compared to Debian or Red Hat packages. We do have up screenshots of Foresight 2.0 Alpha from last November.

More information on this $199 Linux PC is available from the KPC Mini Site.