| It really depends on what you want and what you use your computer for. There are obviously political and ethical aspects you may be concerned about but I think it's better to just not get into that now. You mention needing a laptop with hardware supported by Linux. I would recommend first beginning with looking at various laptops sold with Linux. This should take care of any hardware incompatibility others have mentioned (though do your research). Linux (or GNU-Linux) packages most of it's drivers in the Linux kernal (please correct if I'm mistaken) so that if a piece of hardware is supported it is ready to go after you install the OS. It should be noted however that graphics cards/units have various levels of support with from what I understand Intel currently having the best open source support with Nvidia haveing pretty decent proprietary drivers. Ati/AMD varries though that shouldn't necessarily preclude you from an AMD processor. Importantly do your research on support for those components. As far as software is concerned that I haven't the foggiest idea what to recommend. If you just need a web browser, an office suite, and streaming video, then Ubuntu I would say handles all that pretty good. (It's all I've run for the last couple years, and mixed before that). Most importantly patience, research, and if you can't find an answer always ask. And be open to learning (until you die). |