This isn't by any means a flame, or disagreement, just my own experience.
My first experience with computer ownership was not well thought out. I
bought a bargain basement PB 486sx. Ironically I installed my first Linux
Distribution on that machine a year after ownership. My buddy made the same
claims you did about not being able to reliably install Linux (that time my
flavor was Slackware.) on it. It was just a matter of knowing the hardware
(no matter how poor it was) and taking the necessary countermeasures. The
thing I couldn't get over was the CD-ROM. The %^%$^$% thing was
proprietory. It claimed to IDE. Not so. I spent 1 night and half a case
of 24 Labatt Blues on that thing. I got it. Things may have changes since
way back then though!
> 9. (As I say, flame ME, not the list) Packard Bell computers of any
> vintage. I have managed to make about one in three work well under
> windows, and have the same success rate with linux. If I wanted to be
> rich and had no ethical qualms, I could keep busy in Anchorage, Alaska,
> reinstalling OP systems for P-Bs. I have never experienced anything
> more likely to drop its MBR or a few clusters off the disk than these
> babies.
