What's the saying? "The road to ruin is paved with good intentions?" Though I am not a fellow Alabamian like reporter Dan Whisenhunt, I had my own reasons for hoping the Envizions EVO Linux Game Console would at least -- well, get a better review than it did.

The open source gaming console undoubtedly made a few mistakes long before it shipped its beta version to Whisenhunt for review. I'd dare say the first was calling it a gaming console. It isn't even quite right to call it an early adopter gaming console. Early adopter means, to me anyway, ready for the general public that is willing to accept a more than average amount of bugs, crashes, and temporary glitches -- it doesn't necessarily mean they are all developers. As a computer, I think the EVO console sounds as if it is probably workable. As a game console? Not yet.

Whisenhunt's criticisms were very valid (I certainly felt his pain as he reported them), and in conjunction with his observation that there's been a lot of local advertising for the console, I can't help but thinking this may be a significant step back for Linux gaming.

Back in October, we covered the Linux-based EVO gaming console from Envizions Computer Entertainment.  Then, it was slated to arrive in November, but was delayed, and there was some skepticism about whether it would ever arrive. Now, Envizions has announced that developers, resellers, earlier adopters and potential software partners can purchase EVO beta units, which will ship on April 10th. There are 100 beta units in stock, for sale at $279 to $350, depending on who buys them. The retail price is slated to be $379 after April 17th, which seems a little high for a fledgling console. Here are more details.

Last month I wrote about the EVO Linux-based gaming console. The term "gaming console" seemed a bit misleading to me at the time -- it is ultimately where parent company Envizions Computer Entertainment would like the EVO to be -- but it is an early adopter system in the truest sense of the phrase.

The EVO Smart Console was originally scheduled for release on November 18th. It seems the FCC approval and testing process is taking longer than planned. Envizions expects the consoles to ship in the next two weeks. There are also two versions (in four configurations) available. Two versions? You guessed it -- Linux and Windows.