The poor aspie friendly hardware list

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In the spirit of computerlove's aspie friendly software list, I am starting one for hardware.

Because free software is good for broke aspies, linux is great for the community. I know that many aspies have switched over, or are considering it. I hope to ease this process.

Perhaps the greatest cost associated with linux though, is hardware compatibility. So I will list what i am using for hardware(all of which works flawlessly). After all, you dont want to buy something that doesnt work, right? That negates the point of using linux.

What inspired me to start the topic was the purchase of a 60 dollar archos 2 mp3 player. It didnt say on the outside if it were linux friendly, but i took the chance. In the user manual though, it specifically mentions linux as being compatible. Great!

Archos 2 mp3 player - about 60 canadian dollars - recognised as an external drive.
nvidia 8600gt, nvidia 9800gt, nvidia gtx 250 graphics cards - 100, 150, 250 dollars respectively. All have official drivers for linux.
samsung 2493HM LCD monitor - 400-500 bucks - any samsung is good though, and monitors are rarely a problem in linux.
microsoft 101 keyboard and mouse - 40 bucks - again, mice and keyboards are pretty universally accepted by all operating systems.
kensington bluetooth usb dongle - 30 dollars - good for use with my phone and...
wii remote! - 20 dollars at costco - used as a 3d mouse - its bluetooth which is why i needed the kensington bluetooth.
asus p5n-sli motherboard - 150 bucks? - no problems after a bios upgrade. had a mouse freeze issue prior to that.
intel duo 3.05 ghz CPU. - 300 bucks(2+ years ago)
maxtor and western digital hard drives - various prices 100 dollars currently for 320 gigs.
LG cd/dvd rewrite w/ lightscribe. - 40 dollars - auto detected. had to install lightscribe labeling software though.
4 gigs ocz ram - 300 dollars(2+ years ago) - probably only 150 dollars now. I could have 2.. i have never managed to even touch the upper 2 gigs. I dont use a swap/page file either.

and my cell phone(but it only links through the bluetooth) a razr 1.

Linux has come a long way for being hardware compatible. In fact, it is natively compatible with more hardware than its Micro$oft counterparts. It has to be in order to compete with Micro$oft because vendors cater to Micro$oft'$ operating systems due to it's market share. When I started using Linux, hardware vendors for the most part refused to provide information needed to write drivers. However Linux hackers have either reverse engineered the devices, or they figured out how to make provided Window$ drivers to load. This is especially true with wireless network cards. NDISwrapper is used to make the hardware vendor's Window$ drivers work in Linux. There are ways to designing a system with off the shelf parts that will be nearly guaranteed to work with Linux.

What I do is go to the stores (or Internet site) to look at the hardware I want and then write down the brand and model number of the items in which I'm interested. After that, I come home and search for the model number combined with the phrase "Linux drivers." If I find results, I look at the instructions and download the drivers. In easy to use distributions, many times, the drivers are listed in the hardware configuration options. If that is the case, then the hardware should be easily configurable.

I have found ton's of cheap hardware on Ebay and have yet to be ripped off. Just about everything works with Linux. Just do the research. Linux has come a long way since 1993, and in most cases, it is nearly as easy to install than Window$. In some cases, it is even easier.

Thats good advice cyberscan, and its what I do too. Thats how I came to buy the archos mp3 player.

I agree completely. Great list, Fuzzy.

I first installed Red Hat Linux on a Sony Viao laptop over 10 years ago. The installation was easier than reinstalling Windows 98. Fast forward to the present and there's no reason to be bundled to MS or Apple. For anyone on a budget, Linux is a great choice. And it's a great choice even if money isn't a factor.