My sound card died just recently and I am looking for a replacement but all I really know about hardware is that part A goes in slot B. I am looking for a good sound card that won't be to hard to install in linux. Can anyone tell me a good place to find a comparison between sound cards would be?

and if this site has comparisons for other hardware as well that would be a good thing.

Definitely check out the LQ HCL Good luck with it -- J.W.

Yes but can the HCL tell me this sound card is better than that sound card because that is what I am looking for. A site that will do that.

It depends on what do you want to do with your card. If it's just ordinary use for listening purposes, I'd choose a Cretive sound card. They have pretty good sound quality, they're not too expensive if you don't go for the most expensive stuff, which you in this case don't need to. Linux systems support Creative cards widely, so I don't expect you'd have a problem.

If you need it for more heavier use like recording and/or making music, I'd suggest you go trough manufacturer's sites and look which ones provide Linux drivers. Digidesign unfortunately does not, but others like m-audio might. I haven't checked because I use mac's at work in the studios.

now I'm looking for a drive that will both read and burn CDs and DVDs and I have looked on the HCL but it looks like doesn't have many of these. Am I just missing them or what.

I want to make sure it works with linux before I buy something so any help is welcome.

For CD and DVD drives, I recommend Lite-On -- J.W.