I used Ubuntu in my college for some light programming and felt really happy about it.
I am more interested in switching to Debian 12 than Ubuntu, since the former is really stable. Also, I came to know installing Debian is easier since it supports non free firmware.
How do I know if my device actually works with all the foss drivers? Is there a list of hardware supported?
From my experience with Linux - your hardware will almost certainly work just fine without a problem.
It’ll be your Windows software that you’re going to have potential problems with. This is likely way less hassle than it was 10-20 years ago - wine has been continuously improved, DirectX 12 was open sourced, and a lot of software is run in web browsers these days anwyay, but depending what you’re trying to do, it can still be a challenge.
certainly not always true… sometimes you can still have issues with wifi cards for example
It would be nigh impossible to list all the hardware Bookworm is able to support. What are you looking to run it on? Anything obscure?
I think my laptop is 7 or 8 years old. I have an HP printer which I use. Will my printer work ?
You’re almost certainly fine. Check the Live DVD, but I’d bet it works seamlessly.
HP actively supports their printers in Linux. Debian 12 is not listed though, only 11.
https://developers.hp.com/hp-linux-imaging-and-printing
Edit: Added the bit about Debian 12