list advice

[Tony Alfrey]

I'm thinking about creating a webpage which would be a list of systems 
(hardware) and distros that together form a foolproof Linux system.  In 
other words, it would state, essentially,

"My box consists of these parts.  I installed Distro X on this system 
and it works *out of the box* with no tweaking, additions or magic".

Why would I do such a thing?  Because my premise is that if a Linux box 
were like a Mac, then more people would use them.  One component of a 
Mac is that they are absolutely free of hassle, and the other component 
is that the Mac GUI is gorgeous.  Linux apps still have a way to go, but 
there are clearly some combinations of hardware/distro that are 
bullet-proof.

So I need to think about how to quantify/organize such a listing.  The 
(obvious) question is "what makes a system"?  Clearly, for towers, we 
need a motherboard/CPU, video card, hard disk/disk buss, sound card, 
network card, DVD burner, wireless card/router.  Laptops, having less 
adjustability, usually exist as bricks purchased as complete entities. 
But often, the correct video card in a laptop can make all the difference.

This would not be a hardware-compatibility list, it is a complete 
system-compatibility list (full hardware listing plus distro).

So do any of you have thoughts about additional things I should add to 
said list of hardware components and comments on the structure and what 
might constitute "works out of the box"?  Should I include things like 
price and vendor?  How about the e-mail address of the contributor?



Tony Alfrey
tonyalfrey at earthlink.net
"I'd Rather Be Sailing"