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This document is maintained and periodically updated as a service to the net by Eric S. Raymond, who began it in 1992 for the very best self-interested reason that he was in the market and didn't believe in plonking down several grand without doing his homework first (no, I don't get paid for this, though I have had a bunch of free software and hardware dumped on me as a result of it!). Corrections, updates, and all pertinent information are welcomed at . The editorial `we' reflects the generous contributions of many savvy Internetters.
If you email me questions that address gaps in the FAQ material, you will probably get a reply that says ``Sorry, everything I know about this topic is in the Guide''. If you find out the answer to such a question, please share it with me for the Guide, so everyone can benefit.
If you end up buying something based on information from this Guide, please do yourself and the net a favor; make a point of telling the vendor ``Eric's FAQ sent me'' or some equivalent. The idea isn't to hype me personally, I've already got all the notoriety I need from doing things like the Jargon File --- but if we can show vendors that the Guide influences a lot of purchasing decisions, I can be a more effective advocate for the net's interests, and for you.
Note that in December 1996 I published an introductory article on building and tuning Linux systems summarizing much of the material in this Guide. It's available here.
I finally found a vendor who consistently lives up to my standards of quality and expertise. In fact, I liked the company so much that I accepted a seat on their board of directors. They're VA Linux Systems, the leading vendor of pre-configured Linux machines. They're not the cheapest (quality and careful engineering costs money) but they're the best. And they're very active in supporting the Linux community.