I’m thinking of buying a new desktop PC. I currently use Windows XP, but was thinking of installing a Linux OS on the new PC instead. Before buying the PC do I need to investigate whether any or all of its components (e.g. motherboard, sound card, graphics card) would be compatible with Linux?
Chances are that as long as it doesn’t contain anything very old, or exotic, the hardware will just work, but some may need a little configuration.
Couple of general rules of thumb -
If you can, get an nVidia graphics card… their Linux drivers are better than everyone else’s, but this doesn’t mean other cards won’t work.
Same goes for HP printers and All-In-Ones.
(for most hardware, including the above, the drivers will be installed automagically)
It would probably be easier if you look for a PC, then tell us the hardware used and we’ll check if there are any known issues… but as I said, there’s very little that doesn’t work with Linux these days.
Thank you very much - that’s good news!
I know it’s been quite a while since there have been any more postings in this topic but, if you’re still interested in switching over to a linux distro’s, read my posts.
My PC is 5 years old and I was going to spend about £1,200.00 on a new PC with Windows 7 but found out about Ubuntu, actually not long after 11.10 was released. I am really glad I switched as it’s save me rather a lot of money and I’m more than happy with my NEW OS.
so… DON’T buy a new PC until you’ve at least TRIED one of the many linux distro’s out there. You will be glad you did…