Installing Ubuntu (or any other Linux) on a Macintosh is a slightly different process than installing Ubuntu on a more traditional PC. Various differences in the hardware, particularly the use of the EFI firmware system, mean that some extra effort is required to get your favourite distro up and running on your favourite hardware.

Whether to buy a box preloaded with Linux -- even if it costs more -- was a question that captivated the FOSS crowd in the last week. Buying a Windows machine and reformatting the hard drive might be cheaper, but buying one with Linux preinstalled means your hardware is compatible and it sends a message to the vendor.

Installing Ubuntu 11.04 or any other distribution on an external hard drive connected to a computer via USB is about the same as installing it on an internal hard disk. The key is to remember, after partitioning the disk, to install GRUB, the boot loader, in the MBR of the external disk, rather than in the MBR of the internal disk.

The world's third-largest PC vendor has announced a "netbook" based on a 1.6GHz Intel Centrino Atom processor and Linpus Linux. Acer's $380 Aspire One offers 512MB or 1GB of RAM, 8GB flash, an 8.9-inch, 1024x600 display, WiFi, webcam, and an optional 80GB hard drive.

With the abundance of netbooks and other optical drive-lacking computers, a USB external DVD drive is quickly becoming an essential accessory for any geek. Unfortunately, a new one will run you about $50 from most stores. Luckily, you can upgrade most external CD drives for half that.

USB devices are quite common these days. I’ve digital cam, Pen drive, external hard disk, mouse and other stuff. So how do I tell what hardware is connected via USB to my Linux desktop?

Value-priced - after $100 mail-in rebate - Linux PC features an Intel Celeron 1.6GHz Intel Celeron processor, 1GB memory, 80GB hard drive, Freespire 2.0, free CNR software delivery service and more.

The big news in tech today is of course Intel buying McAfee, in a deal valued at about 7.7 billion dollars. I think this deal is all about mobile devices and mobile computing security. I think Intel has made a huge misstep here and the reason maybe they don't understand open source software.

When you buy a new PC, laptop or server and install a Linux you want to know what hardware is actually in the Linux box and more importantly which piece of hardware is supported by the kernel out of the box and which needs special tweaking with modules to get it work. Here is a list of commands which should help you to troubleshoot your hardware and find some information about it.