December 16, 1999 Web posted at: 12:59 p.m. EST (1759 GMT) by Rebecca Sykes

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BOSTON (IDG) -- Xybernaut has announced that its Mobile Assistant IV wearable computer is available running the Linux operating system.

The Mobile Assistant IV is a full PC that connects wirelessly to a customer's network, and porting it to Linux will help satisfy customer requests that have heated up in the past three or four months, especially from Europe, according to John Moynahan, chief financial officer and senior vice president at Xybernaut.

"In many respects (Linux is) a good fit for wearable apps, because of its inherent networking capabilities and the fact that it's a robust OS," Moynahan said.

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The Mobile Assistant IV can be worn in a number of ways, including on a head-mount display, which looks like what people on the tarmac wear at the airport.

The head-mount display includes earphones and a projecting 4-to-5 inch arm with an inch-long VGA monitor on it, according to a Xybernaut spokeswoman. When positioned over a user's dominant eye, the monitor gives the appearance of a 15-inch screen, she said. Input into the device is achieved in one of three ways. Users can wear the head-mount display with a microphone below the monitor, or can wear a keyboard or a touchpad on their wrist, she said.

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A battery pack on the belt completes the ensemble, which has a total weight of just under five pounds, she said.

The Mobile Assistant IV is available running DOS, Windows 98, Windows NT and Unix operating systems, in addition to Linux.

The vast majority of Xybernaut customers -- automotive, shipping and aerospace workers who use wearable computers on factory or facility floors -- use Mobile Assistants running Windows 98 or NT, but that could change if a big car manufacturer, for instance, decided to run Linux, Moynahan said.