How to know what hardware works well with linux?

It's not hard to find desktops that work well with Linux. However it is much harder to know which laptops will work without fault on say a Debian or Red Hat system. I recently ran into an issue with Intel GMA hardware on a Dell D420, after being reassured by most forums that it had no hardware issues with the current kernel that Debian uses. (Kernel 2.6.30 however works great, btw)

What resource would you recommend to quickly, easily, and accurately know what hardware will work well with a particular distribution? Or is it always a hit or miss approach?

Solution 1:

Check Linux hardware compatibility list http://www.linux-drivers.org/

http://www.ubuntuhcl.org/

Solution 2:

You can check the hardware compatibility list at www.linuxdrivers.org

If you have time to spend, you can try using some live cd, like ubuntu or mandriva.

If the livecd run correctly, is a good sign that it will work at your system.

Solution 3:

2 list sites: linux.org/hardware/ linuxcompatible.org/compatibility.html

This is a little more user-friendly and helps you see general trends: http://linux.com/news/hardware/drivers/8203-is-my-hardware-linux-compatible-find-out-here