Ubuntu Certified

Trying to figure out whether your computer supports a specific Linux-based operating system can be something of a crap-shoot. While most PCs that ship with Windows feature a sticker on the box that says they’re certified to run the operating system, you often won’t know if your computer has a funky wireless card or unsupported graphics driver until you try to load Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE or another Linux distro and find out that it just doesn’t work.

Now Canonical is making things a lot easier for anyone looking for a PC that supports Ubuntu Linux. The company has started a certification program with top computer makers including Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Toshiba. You can find a complete list of certified computers at the Ubuntu website.

Not surprisingly, Linux PC builder System76 has a few computers that made the cut. But there are a whopping 98 Dell laptops on the list, as well as 46 desktop computers, 8 netbooks, and 46 servers.

Lenovo and Toshiba also have a number of Ubuntu certified devices, and there are 8 Asus netbooks on the list.

That isn’t to say that the computers on Canonical’s list are the only systems you can run Ubuntu Linux on. But if you buy one of these computers there’s a pretty good chance you won’t have to pull your hair out trying to figure out how to add WLAN support.

via Hacker News

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3 replies on “Now there’s a list of Ubuntu-certified computers”

  2. Haven’t they been doing this for a while now? I used that page when I was buying a new laptop last year.

    1. Well, it’s new to me; there is an older page at

      https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Netbooks

      that goes into more detail for various models, including discussion of any issues.  The “certified” page linked from this post is, one hopes, for the “best of the best,” with only minor issues as noted or none (nirvana!).  Regrettably, neither page appears to be very complete or up-to-date; the wiki page at the link I gave is haphazard, like most “crowd-sourced” support pages, while the “certified” page is unhelpful in actually tracking down specific hardware if, like me, you’d like to buy a netbook to Linux-ify rather than just check the Linux-ifyability of one that you already have.

      For example, the only HP netbooks listed have been out of production for quite awhile (no help on the mini 110 or 210, in which I’m currently interested), and “HP mini 1000” or “Acer Aspire One” cover a large variety of actual hardware.  The “certified” page lists components (Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, webcam, …) that were used in the models that have been tested; however, I don’t know how one would actually find out _if_ those components are the ones used (rather than some “funky wireless card”) in a particular instance of, say, the “Acer Aspire One” (listed with no model designation given, like 522), unless you have the computer in your hands.  Not much help for online shopping!

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