When Linux was in its infancy, hardware support was one of the biggest issues for the open source operating system. Good drivers for everything from video, audio, network cards, human interface devices, and the like had to be reverse engineered and written from scratch by hackers. Broader support these days by major PC hardware and peripheral manufactures has made the Linux hardware compatibility more widespread, but no one's claming "mission accomplished" on this yet.

One site that maybe useful for users still struggling with Linux hardware compatibility is Leenooks.com, which maintains the "Linux Incompatibility List" - a database of hardware, ranging from audio components to Wi-Fi gear, that does not work with Linux. (This is at least according to the Web site's maintainers.)

Even the disclaimer on the Web site recognizes how far Linux hardware support has come: "Fortunately, at this point in time, there is far, far more hardware that works without any problems with Linux, so this site aims to make Linux users aware of hardware to avoid (or if you want to be famous, hardware to write free drivers for)."

This means that there are not a lot of core computer devices on the list; motherboards, Ethernet cards, hard disk controllers and other "guts" categories of hardware are few and far between on the incompatibility list. (Although a few video cards do show up.) External peripherals such as digital cameras, MP3 players are numerous. Mobile Linux users should also check out the dozen or so Wi-Fi cards flagged on the list.

Surprisingly, a fair number of printers are listed on the site. Printer makers lacking Linux support on more than a dozen models include Canon and Lexmark, but even names such as Dell, HP and Oki Data show up.

The site gives users the opportunity to add and remove items, by indicating new hardware that's a problem to install on Linux, or listing new drivers that have since been written for previously compatible devices. A Wireless Markup Language (WML) link is also included, allowing users to look up data on cell phones - handy if you're at the store, and unsure if something you're buying will have Linux support or not.