Silicon Graphics and Hewlett-Packard have both decided to offer Linux as one of their core operating systems, according to the Wall Street Journal. HP is the most enthusiastic of the two companies in its support for the free operating system. The company will be shipping Red Hat Linux on some of its Intel-based servers -- Red Hat will be handling Linux technical support on HP's behalf. At the same time, HP will be developing a version of Linux for Intel's forthcoming Merced 64-bit processor, though given the deal with Red Hat, it's possible the latter will actually handle the port. Either way, since Merced is a joint development between HP and Intel, the Merced version of Linux is likely to appear very soon after the release of the chip itself, possibly even ahead of the equivalent Windows release. Silicon Graphics, meanwhile, will be offering versions of its recently announced Intel-based machines that offer Linux as their main OS. The company is supporting the product itself, according to the WSJ, but it's not clear whether it is simply offering one of the established Linux distributions, such as Red Hat, or has created its own release. ®