Who makes the most Linux friendly desk top. My 10 year old Gateway was as Linux friendly as a computer can get, but this computer has died.

Are Gateway desk tops still Linux friendly? Or is everyone buying something else?

Thanks.

HP has become popular for Linux gurus. If your seroius about Linux buy a PC from a retailer who ships it with Linux preintsalled. Plenty are out there.

Build your own.

If you have the mental capacity to turn a screw driver and follow simple instructions, you'll have no probs. You won't save as much money as you could even a few years ago, but you get WAY more PC for your money, not to mention higher quality components.

IGF

Building your own is actually a good suggestion. I built my own. Its not hard.

Physical assembly--no problem. You DO need to know which end of a screwdriver does what--and how to protect against static electricty damage.

The HARD part is picking the components.

The GOOD news: It is increasingly rare to find hardware that does not work with Linux. If in doubt, search Google with a name, model number, and the word Linux. Chances are you will find a success story (or otherwise)

Unless your after a cheap, low spec machine then yes, building your own offers the best bang for your buck. However if your after that cheap and cheerful machine look at the sales offers from the big companies such as Dell and HP, there are some bargains to be had.

While the above suggestion looks good on paper, the problem is, cheap components. EMachines, and even some of the cheaper Gateway/Dells, all use cheap hardware, so you're usually replacing some crap constantly. Recently encountered a problem with a Dell PC that was just barely out of warranty, and the Power supply was bad. Probably a 15-30min job tops. Well, I open the case, lo and behond, Dell uses some jackass powersupply that you have to order from them, and they want like $230 for it, which is absurd. I've heard of Gateway doing the same thing with their P/S, but I've not experienced it.

At least when you build your own, you don't get stuck using some proprietary part that a manufacturer will charge you an arm and a leg for if it goes out after the warranty expires. Building your own, you can decide what components to invest in at the time of the build, and what might be upgraded later on.

Either way, if something goes bad, its as simple as going to Best Buy or CompUSA, or ordering from http://www.tigerdirect.com or http://www.newegg.com to get the part.

IGF

Buy Used..

I typically build all my own systems, but when I can buy a Used Dell P4 2.4 Ghz 512 MB 40 GB HD system for around $220.00 Complete.. it's hard to pass up a deal like that if all I am in need of is a basic machine, or want to setup a lab, upgrade a number of older machines, etc..

If you need specific hardware, high end video card etc.. then definitely build you own. but the used marketplace has some great deals if your needs are modest.

http://www.retrobox.com
http://www.intechra.com
http://www.assetforwarding.com