Yes, very frustrating!

And odd to have such major problems on two different computers - Knoppix is one of the best for detecting hardware. Klaus Knopper intended it to be a complete working environment on a disk so that he wouldn't have to carry around a laptop - he could just stick the disk into any random computer that he came across during the day.

If someone doesn't come up with a Knoppix answer for you, there are a couple of other Linux distributions that also have good reps with hardware. I nearly gave up a few years ago because I couldn't get Debian to work with my equipment, but I found another that did.

So it can depend on how much you want to mess around with getting things goinig. Go do some aerobic exercise before you give your final answer.

-- Ed