I ended up choosing the Canon A40. It has excellent reviews, its Amazon sales rank is 42 (!), it uses the widely available and inexpensive Compact Flash memory cards, and it is well-supported under Linux.
$100 1.3Mpix 3x fuji big job (incl usb card reader) samy's $169 1.3Mpix 3x canon a10 (uses CF memory, 4AA batteries) $180 2Mpix 3x fuji finepix2600 usb (incl 16MB SM; uncommon, discontinued) Ritz $200 2Mpix 3x fuji finepix2650 (uses xD memory, 2AA bat., USB) (incl 32MB xD Flash, case) Ritz $200 2Mpix 3x fuji finepix2650 (incl 32MB xD Flash) circuit city $200 2Mpix 3x fuji finepix2650 radio shack $200 2Mpix 3x hp photosmart 620 usb (SD memory) office depot ($25 gift certificate) $200 2Mpix 3x kodak cx4230 (uses MMC or SD memory) office depot $230 2Mpix 2x kodak dx3600 (uses CF memory; usb) Ritz $230 2Mpix 3x nikon coolpix 2000 (uses CF memory, 4AA batteries, USB) Ritz (after $20 rebate; incl 16MB CF card) $250 2Mpix 2x sony dsc-p51 cybershot usb (incl 16 MB memory stick) Ritz $250 2Mpix 3x canon a40 (8MB cf) Ritz $250 2Mpix 3x canon a40 (incl. 32MB cf) best buy $250 2Mpix 3x canon a40 (incl. 64MB cf) office depot $250 2Mpix 3x canon a40 samy's $250 2Mpix 3x olympus camedia D520 usb (incl. 32MB SmartMedia) best buy $250 2Mpix 3x olympus camedia D520 usb samy's $250 2Mpix 3x panasonic DMC-LC20 (incl. 8BM SD memory card)
more _interesting_ review/tricks for a40: http://www.utahredrocks.com/a40.htm http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/a40-review/ http://www.dpreview.com/news/0202/02022205canona30a40.asp http://www.megapixel.net/reviews/canon-a40/a40-review.html http://wwwhome.cs.utwente.nl/~schooten/photos/canon-a40/ http://www.jjmehta.com/products/canona40.html http://www.pcpro.co.uk/labs/labs_story.php?issue=98&id=33812 http://electronics.cnet.com/electronics/0-6613935-1304-8984933.html only spanish: http://revista.consumer.es/web/es/20021201/actualidad/analisis2/54621.jsp http://revista.consumer.es/web/es/20021201/pdf/analisis_producto.pdf Canon PowerShot A-Series Users Group: http://www.powershot-a.com and one note: "There are NO MORE A-40 cameras ... Canon will announce a replacement for this great little camera soon ... stay tuned!" http://www.cameracanada.com/eNet-cart/product.asp?pid=7634A005&type=1 ... link about linux support: http://torsten.members.atlantic.net/toshy/powershot.html and good unofficial news, support 1G flash: http://forums.powershot-a.com/showthread.php?s=487e9859e2c9d7de83a8799a088a5c2f&threadid=2547 ... about Battery and chargers: http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM usb reader for support memory cards if gphoto doesn't support your camera: http://www.omniflashproducts.com/unomas.html Digital film (aka compact flash memory card) comparisons: dpreview.com: comparison of many compact flash cards robgalbraith.com: The CompactFlash Performance Database amazon.com: "So you'd like to ... know which Compact Flash card is the fastest"