User Feedback :: Newbie to DSL

For a full-featured Linux distribution with nice out-of-the-box hardware detection and supporting a huge repository of 14,000+ packages, I suggest that you give the KNOPPIX livecd a try.

It should automatically detect and configure just about all of your hardware and it is easily installed to the hard drive. Once installed, it uses standard (both "stable" and "cutting edge" versions) Debian pacakges for installation.

Think of it as "The power of Debian Linux" but with astounding ease-of-installation.

FYI, the DSL core OS+autodetection is built upon a KNOPPIX foundation.

original here.