Best PC spec for Linux

Such a positive answer... The perception of the sentance "something good" changes from person to person.

Basically, pretty much all computers sold in the last 5-8 years will run Linux.

Spend your money on a decent computer for Windows, and then dual boot it with Linux. If its a separate computer specifically for Linux, any dual core or above PC with 2+GB RAM and 20GB plus of hard disk space will be more than adequate.

How or why does your existing computer not support Linux?

If its running Windows XP it can run Linux.

In 99% of distributions the network card is recognised and configured automatically. In 60% of cases the wireless card (if fitted) will require additional drivers in order to work correctly.

http://www.linux.com/directory/Distributions

If you're new to Linux (which I'm assuming you are given that you asked where to download it) I would strongly recommend you download Ubuntu from here.

Its ideal for beginners. I also have a how-to guide to installing it once you're ready to commit to it. Just click the link in my signature, below this post.

I find LinuxMint to be my preferred distribution when it comes to Ubuntu based distro's, I even prefer it to Ubuntu itself, but I wouldn't say it was for beginners really.

Neither is Fedora, which can often require additional configuration beyond the capability of newer users.

Ubuntu does indeed get a lot of stick, but in terms of compatibility out of the box, very few distros come close, and it is considerably easier to navigate and "adapt" to than most are.

As most of us experienced realise, most people once they gain experience and understanding of how Linux works will usually move away from Ubuntu, but it can't be beaten for those wishing to be introduced to a easy transition from Windows - The difficulty of that is more often than not the reason so many people try it, and then never successfully move over to Linux; its just too much, too soon for some people.

Its for these reasons I specifically recommend Ubuntu Linux to those new to, or otherwise starting out in using Linux in general.

That and I think a lot of people end up trying it on some old machine that maybe they had laying around, or simply put it on a machine they feel is getting slow in XP now. (A machine that is slow in XP today is probably a machine that ran it well before SP1, SP2, and SP3). So even though you always seem to hear that "linux" runs great on older hardware, the truth (at least in my opinion) is that a modern release of something like Ubuntu probably isn't going to be much if any faster than XP. If you built something from the ground up, like Gentoo, you could probably get it to run pretty well, but thats over the head of a lot of us linux beginners.

So in summary, people try it on older hardware and then are disappointed when it doesn't run like a $2000 build.

Yeah, there is that as well SNGX.

Some of the bigger distro's really aren't very light any more, and that has had a big impact on how they run on older hardware.

The problem is those that are, are really only for the intermediate to experienced users and well beyond the capability of a new user to Linux. Slackware is a bloody good example of this.