“There has not been a comprehensive, up-to-date freely available catalog like this for a long time,” said Victor Palau, Platform Services Manager at Canonical. “By making this open and easily searchable we want to speed the component selection for Ubuntu machines, and allow us and our partner manufacturers to focus on the value-added user experience.”
Canonical made public its complete database of certified components for Ubuntu and Linux earlier this month. This catalog includes a selection of over 1300 certified components from 161 manufacturers and Canonical says, "With this database, corporate buyers can specify the design of their Ubuntu desktops or servers from manufacturers much more efficiently."
As far as the individuals user is concerned this list can be used to see if a machines key components they are considering will work with their preferred Ubuntu or Linux distribution.
More information on the certified components catalog can be found in the press release and the Components Catalog and Certified Hardware list can be found on the Ubuntu website.