HP is set to offer Linux machines for the consumer desktop market, according to Linux Watch.

Hewlett-Packard has been offering desktop Linux for enterprise customers willing to make special orders via its HP Factory Express service service.  However these machines have been selling well.

Doug Small, HP's worldwide director of open-source and Linux marketing is quoted as saying that the Linux desktop nearing critical mass.  But it is not quite enough to get a preconfigured Linux desktop or laptop on the price list."

However all that changed when Dell started selling its preconfigured Ubuntu machines. HP is now ready to make a formal announcement any day now.  Despite its long association with Red Hat, it looks like the deal will be done with Ubuntu.

Linux Watch claims that the announcement will be made in August at the LinuxWorld trade show in San Francisco.  It predicts that there will be two Linux desktop SKUs. One will feature Novell's SLED 10 SP 1 for business users. The other will be for home owners and use Ubuntu 7.04.

More here.