I want to buy a PC from a local vendor such as General Nanosystems and I 
want to install Ubuntu on it.  One thing I'm concerned about is that I get 
a system that is Linux friendly enough that Ubuntu can automatically deal 
with most driver issues.  I'll check that the video card has good Linux 
drivers.  I looked for a web page and found some links that led nowhere 
and pages that didn't inspire much confidence -- can you recommend a good 
hardware compatibility page?

Do DVD burners always work, or are there some to avoid?

What's a good video card for a Linux system? (no gaming, just ordinary 
scientific computing, possibly two monitors, DVI)

The other concerns would be sound card and NIC -- usually both built into 
the mobo these days.  We wouldn't use the modem.

Best,
Mike