The other day, Wal-Mart let it slip that it would no longer be selling Linux-powered computers in its stores. The retail giant will, however, continue to sell Linux desktop and laptop systems via its online store.

At the beginning of November, Wal-Mart gave shoppers a chance to get an early start on their holiday shopping by offering a $199 desktop computer, both in its stores and online at WalMart.com. As desktop machines go, the Everex TC2502 is not particularly powerful, with a 1.5-gigahertz processor, 512 megabytes of RAM, an 80-gigabyte hard drive and no monitor.

"About a week ago Wal-Mart began selling a $200 Linux machine running on a 1.5 ghz VIA C7 processor and 512 MB of RAM. While the specs are useless for Vista, it works blazingly fast on Ubuntu with the Enlightenment Window Manager. The machine is now officially sold out of their online warehouses (it may still be available in some stores).

Wal-Mart will sell a sub-$300 "back-to-school" PC this fall pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows Vista and OpenOffice.org productivity software. The Everex GC3502 PC, is based on a 1.7GHz Via C7-D processor, and will be available later this year preloaded with Ubuntu Linux.

After around 5 months of stocking the gPC in stores, Wal-Mart has decided to stop stocking Linux-based computers in their stores, although they will continue to sell them on their website, according to the AP.

Reports on the death of the Wal-Mart Linux PC are greatly exaggerated, according to the man selling its operating system.

Wal-Mart officials said Wednesday that the retailer plans to re-stock a hot selling, Linux-based PC that is currently sold out on its Web site. The Everex TC2502 Green gPC will again be available at Walmart.com "in the coming weeks," said a spokesman for the company.

My blogging colleague Dana Blankenhorn reports that ThinkgOS founder David Lui isn’t worried by the Wal-Mart snub. He should be.

...as the week progressed, I kept wondering if this was actually a good thing. Did Linux really belong on the shelves of Wal-Mart now? Or was it too soon?