If you've never heard of the upcoming Microsoft UMPC, then you've been in a cave too long. If everything goes well, you'll see more of them on trams and trains than those heavy notebooks and they'll be running Linux as well. But they've got to keep the prices down so that more people can afford them and then they'll be really cost viable.
In their testing of a prototype UMPC, UMPCOrigami found that Samsung's engineers, awaiting the 'official' operating system from Microsoft, had taken matters into their own hands and installed Linux in Windows' place. Refusing to name the distribution used in the test, the team managed to proudly display Tux at 800 x 400 and loaded up the GNOME Desktop Environment with no trouble..."
Intel previously stated that the first run of UMPCs will not be commercially available before the second half of this year - 2006 . If the three vendors are able to ship the UMPCs, then this is a clear indication that Intel is well ahead of schedule and is pushing the platform for an accelerated market adoption. The “breakthrough” of the UMPC so far has been targeted for the 2007 and 2008 timeframe.
Linux running on Samsung UMPC source
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