[PLUG] local hardware

[Carla Schroder]

On Friday 17 March 2006 22:15, Michael M wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-03-17 at 15:12 -0800, John Jason Jordan wrote:
> >  What the Linux world needs is a total, comprehensive, all-in-one-place
> > database of every component that has ever been used in a computer, and
> > a mandatory requirement that everything be posted on it.
>
> I would settle for a solidly researched site that broke out components
> by type and level and just focused on what is widely supported across
> distributions -- i.e., here are the 10 best high-end motherboards, here
> are the 10 best mid-range motherboards, 10 best low-end graphics cards,
> etc.

Sooo, what's stopping you from doing this yourselves? 

Linux hardware support really isn't a big deal anymore. The two trouble spots 
are high-end video cards and wireless a/g adapters. Video is easily solved by 
sticking with NVidia, though that is a problem for folks who would rather 
support cards that use 3D FOSS drivers. ATI also makes Linux drivers, and 
they are somewhat "open", but ATI quality is not very good.

Wireless b adapters are easy, lots of them work fine on Linux. Wireless a/g 
adapters are a pain because vendors don't like to make it easy to find which 
chipsets are in them. But once you know the chipset, you're golden. Atheros 
is the friendliest to Linux, and is good quality. Netgate.com is a good place 
to buy Linux-friendly wireless gear.

Printers can be troublesome, but we've been down that road on the list many 
times, with many good answers. 

Mainboards, SATA, PATA, SCSI, USB devices, sound cards, monitors, PCI-E, 
hotplug, CD/DVD writers, etc etc all work fine. No worries.

Don't even bother with Tier 1 vendors like Dell, Gateway, and so forth. If 
you're serious about supporting Linux and want genuine Linux expertise, 
support the shops who have genuine Linux support, and have for years, like 
Penguin Computing, Monarch, Linux Certified, and Emperor Linux, to name a 
few. Or support the good local shops like people have named here. 

It's really not a big deal.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Carla Schroder
 check out my "Linux Cookbook", the ultimate Linux user's
 and sysadmin's guide! http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxckbk/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~