EmperorLinux, Inc., was founded in 1999 on the premise that Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 users needed a source for fully out-of-the-box supported laptops. EmperorLinux was started by Lincoln Durey, an EE Ph.D. from Tulane University

Tulane University

Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...

. The company's first product was the BlackPerl Linux laptop, based on a Sony VAIO

VAIO

VAIO is a sub-brand used for many of Sony's computer products. Originally an acronym of Video Audio Integrated Operation, this was amended to Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer in 2008 to celebrate the brand's 10th anniversary...

 505TR with a highly modified Linux kernel. Since 1999 the company has added a range of IBM ThinkPad

ThinkPad

ThinkPad is line of laptop computers originally sold by IBM but now produced by Lenovo. They are known for their boxy black design, which was modeled after a traditional Japanese lunchbox...

s, Dell Latitudes

Dell Latitude

Latitude is Dell's business laptop brand, designed and manufactured mainly by Compal and Quanta.-Overview and product type:The Dell Latitude is targeted for business use. This means that standardized parts are used throughout the line and are available for several years for support purposes...

, and Sharp laptops to its lineup.

These laptops are available with most major Linux distributions, including Fedora

Fedora (operating system)

Fedora is a RPM-based, general purpose collection of software, including an operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat...

, RHEL

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is a Linux-based operating system developed by Red Hat and targeted toward the commercial market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is released in server versions for x86, x86-64, Itanium, PowerPC and IBM System z, and desktop versions for x86 and x86-64...

, Debian

Debian

Debian is a computer operating system composed of software packages released as free and open source software primarily under the GNU General Public License along with other free software licenses. Debian GNU/Linux, which includes the GNU OS tools and Linux kernel, is a popular and influential...

, Ubuntu, and SuSE. Significant improvements to stock Linux distributions come from the empkernel, and a carefully configured /etc directory. Supported features include APM and ACPI suspend and hibernate support, CPU throttling, LCD backlight brightness control, wireless, and generally full support of the hardware under Linux.

The company is privately held and based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.