Mirus Innovations and Linspire today announced the availability of the Koobox range of desktop PCs which will come preloaded with Linspire Linux OS. Koobox PCs are based on AMD processors and come in three models - Essential, Multimedia and Performance. At the lower end is the $299 Essential Koobox which is targeted towards the student community. This machine comes with an AMD Sempron processor, 256 MB of RAM, 40 GB hard disk, CDRW drive, 5 USB ports and onboard sound and networking. The $399 Multimedia Koobox bumbs up the RAM to 512 MB, replaces the CDRW drive with a dual layer 16x DVD+RW drive and has a 160 GB hard disk. The high end $499 Performance Koobox is a killer machine based on AMD 64 bit Athlon 3000+ processor, which retains the other configurations of the Multimedia Koobox.

As open-source applications are slowly catching up with their Windows and Mac OS counterparts, Linux is expected to gain grounds in the desktop space too. Loaded with a complete Office Suite based on OpenOffice.org 2.0, Internet Browser, Email, IM client and a host of media players, Linspire Linux provides a full-blown desktop system at the fraction of the cost of other commercial operating systems.

Koobox computers come with a one year warranty. Customers can purchase an optional premium warranty for $29 and get toll free support and replacement parts. More details of the Koobox computers are at http://www.koobox.com