Since replies are rolling in in great numbers, however, I figured life would be easier on us all if I just subscribed for myself to deal with questions, objections, etc. When I first went to the newsgroups to see if anybody had done this before, I got similar responses to what I'm getting now. Built our own new server machine this weekend, in fact. But last spring, the need was for a notebook. Patronize a pro-Linux hardware vendor.
Shipping's usually more than sales tax, folks.
If we were talking about other architectures, this argument might hold weight, but there are more options for 80xxx boxes than any other game around. That we let anybody say there's only one, or only two, options is to shovel the truth under the rug, and perpetuate consumer ignorance. Just delete Win95, install Linux, and forget about it. That's what I did. I'm not so willing.