Are you looking for a new notebook and you are willing to run Linux? There are a few details to consider before fetching the hardware from the shop of your choice.

This article provides you with some important information if you are new to Linux.

Important to Know

There are a lot of hardware vendors that are developing drivers just for MS Windows. You should know that hardware will work only if the Linux kernel has access to driver software that wants to talk to your devices. From the view of your kernel this means: no driver – no hardware!

Linux Distributions

If you do not know what Linux distribution to utilize, you may take a look at the following list of vendors providing distributions with the most up-to-date device drivers.

• Fedora
• Redhat
• SuSE Linux
• Ubuntu Desktop

If you are dedicated to a certain Linux distribution or if you did choose your distribution right now, please follow our advice: It is important to test the hardware whether it is supported by your Linux distribution!

Test or Not to Test?

Test the Hardware

There are some shops that are providing the opportunity to perform a test installation. This is a nice approach if you have got a lot of time and the required knowledge for that task.

Otherwise take a look at the next section…

Do not Want to Test?

The internet provides a number of resources regarding Linux and supported notebooks. Here are some examples of available websites.

• http://www.linux-laptop.net/
• http://www.tuxmobil.org/
• http://www.linuxfordevices.com/
• http://www.linux.org/

Additionally there are shops available that are selling notebooks with Linux preinstalled. One of the biggest player in this league is the Dell online shop and there are countless other small and large shops that ship hardware with Linux preinstalled on their systems. Here are some examples:

• Acer (India)
• Asus (America, Europe and India)
• Dell (America, Europe and India)
• HCL (India)
• HP

Incoming search terms:

• linux < support - laptop