I live in the UK. My boss has suggested I install Linux onto my home computer so I can learn to use it (Linux). I am looking to buy a new cheap computer to do this on. My local shop has a Dell 2400 for about £300, but when I talked to them they said that it this was not suitable for Linux because of the graphics card that Dell puts in the computer, and that I needed a higher spec machine. Does anyone know what graphics card I should be looking for, why I need a particular one, and has anyone a recommendation for a cheap Linux compatible machine? I have tried searching the Web but as yet have not found any sites which will tell me what hardware is good with Linux. Please feel free to tell me I have not looked in the right place and point out where that is!
Thanks.

Hi,
I have a Dell 2400, I run Mandrake 10.1 on it with absolutely no pb so far. I've also tried other live CDs and they have all worked
fine : no pb with the graphics card, except the Debian-based ones like Mepis and Ubuntu. So I advise you to avoid them
on this computer.
Maybe they want you to buy a more expensive box ? Wouldn't come as a surprise, would it ?
Cheers.

Thanks very much. The one I was recommended from work was Suse (that's one we use quite a lot). Presumably if one version of Linux works on the hardware then they all will?

Try getting any cheap system with an Nvidia based graphics card. Suse is usually very good at hardware detection so I would definitely urge you to try it out. Not all versions of Linux have the same level of hardware detection or support, some distros are better than others. Personally I believe Mandrake is the best for hardware detection and support followed closely by Suse and Fedora Core.

See

http://www.websamba.com/Linux_Docs_Links

Hardware -> Hardware Compatibility

You need to check the distribution's site to see what works.

Sheng-Chieh