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I probably spent 20 hours this week trying to get a not-that-obscure piece of software that explicitly states "Debian 12" support on their website working on a

I probably spent 20 hours this week trying to get a not-that-obscure piece of software that explicitly states "Debian 12" support on their website working on a freshly-installed (as in - install Debian 12, update system, install software); and it still just doesn't work. After hammering my way through 4 different errors, and hopelessly out of date (and wrong) documentation, I finally got them to issue a refund this morning. "Linux Compatibility" often means "someone got it working once 6 years ago, on an extremely out of date version of the OS, but its probably still fine".

graemep 3y ago
Not often. I have nit rub into that problem, ever.
dingnuts 3y ago
This is why you do an internet search instead of just looking at what the vendor says, and/or look at what the vendor actually ships for support. If you see something like a binary blob, run away. If you see stuff shipped upstream, go ahead. As a counterpoint to your experience, I've had great luck buying laptops off of Canonical's approved hardware list. As a corollary, I've had worse luck buying computers that come with Linux pre-installed, only to discover that the pre-installed distribution is very specifically and carefully configured and includes proprietary bits and it's impossible to install any other Linux on the device or upgrade it.