I ask because I have never done that. I have stayed
away from obvious
conflicting things like Win-Modems and Lexmark
printers but I have never
paid more for Linux support.
I'm glad you never had to buy a more expensive system, particularly laptops, to get hardware which is supported. Many others have, definitely including me.
--
I have had the opposite experience. I have had great success with the so called WinModems :) The LinModems folks have been very kind and supportful[1]. Since about 2001-? to the present, I have had great success with Intel 536 EP modem, Smartlink Modems, LT Modem, and/or pctel Modems. I have a little space on the net dedicated to getting these WinModems going on several versions of Linux. I have one page dedicated to Smartlink Modems on Fedora[3].
Candidate PCI devices with modem chips are: 00:09.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 536EP Data Fax Modem 00:0c.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems Lucent V.92 Data/Fax Modem 00:0d.0 Modem: Smart Link Ltd. SmartLink SmartPCI562 56K Modem (rev 04) 00:0e.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems LT WinModem (rev 02)
For candidate card in slot 00:0e.0, firmware information and bootup diagnostics are: PCI slot PCI ID SubsystemID Name ---------- --------- --------- -------------- 00:0e.0 11c1:044e 1235:044e Communication controller: Agere Systems LT WinModem
For candidate card in slot 00:0d.0, firmware information and bootup diagnostics are: PCI slot PCI ID SubsystemID Name ---------- --------- --------- -------------- 00:0d.0 163c:3052 163c:3052 Modem: Smart Link Ltd. SmartLink SmartPCI562 56K Modem
For candidate card in slot 00:0c.0, firmware information and bootup diagnostics are: PCI slot PCI ID SubsystemID Name ---------- --------- --------- -------------- 00:0c.0 11c1:0620 11c1:0620 Communication controller: Agere Systems Lucent V.92 Data/Fax Modem
For candidate card in slot 00:09.0, firmware information and bootup diagnostics are: PCI slot PCI ID SubsystemID Name ---------- --------- --------- -------------- 00:09.0 8086:1040 8086:1000 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 536EP Data Fax Modem
All these modems are functional and working beautifully either with Fedora/Slax/Slackware which I use on my home systems.
About the LexMark printers, I *do* stay away from those as those are difficult to deal with, but with some patience and help they might work^{YMMV}
Regards,
Antonio
[1] http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/ [2] http://modemhelplinux.741.com/ [3] http://modemhelplinux.741.com/slmodemd-setup-1.html