Linux will run on almost all personal computers, including most older models. Each new release of Linux generally supports a larger number of computer architectures. For a complete list of currently supported hardware, see these sites: Redhat's hardware compatibility site, Mandrake's hardware compatibility site, Linux on Laptops , another laptop site and a big list. There are many more sites. Just search on http://www.google.com/linux if you want to find something quickly.

There are a few companies that make support difficult by not releasing specifications for their hardware. This means you might not be able to use their hardware with GNU/Linux. Some companies provide non-free drivers, but that is a problem because the company could later go out of business or stop support for the hardware you have. We recommend that you only purchase hardware from manufacturers that provide free drivers for their products (i.e. not open source).