<snip>
>
> So, if I buy a white box (e.g. Dell) I'll have to wipe the HDD and start again,

Dell is a branded manufacturer. OEM whiteboxes are usually assembled by a local integrator, or yourself, from branded and or unbranded parts you source out.

<snip>

> If I can't get the white box vendor's ironclad assurance of hardware compatibility with Linux, I could wind up

This has been the adventure.

> stuck with a PC I can't use. I agree it's a small risk. But the advent of "secure boot" and UEFI make me nervous, I understand that these are not yet supported under Linux.

Secure boot is a misnomer. Trusted boot would be a better term, if it weren't most probably just a way of slowing down adoption of Foss operating systems using FUD.

However anti-trust laws are in place and Foss support is well ... Sorry I can't help myself ...

The Foss is strong within BIOS. Luke, do or do not, there is no try. :-)

>
> So my compromise is to specify precisely the components I want (having carefully researched their compatibility with Linux) and then decide how to get the PC built from those components.

One gotcha is the middleware, even branded hw may say linux supported but there is no API or a sketchy one at best.

Russell
Sent from mobile.