Hey Knoppixtryer,

I'm also a computer consultant, a software and (hopefully soon to be former) Windows developer and have been for 20+ years. The two above posts are more thorough and helpful than anything I ever got from M$oft's technical support (even when M$oft was my client!) in all those years. Pretty darn good for free IMHO.

Knoppix is a great distro, Linux is a great OS and Open Source software is the biggest breath of fresh air this industry has seen in decades. Learning Linux isn't a walk in the park, but it isn't that hard either. As a noobie, google and these forums are your best source of information. If you're smart enough to edit a config file (and I'm sure you are) you can lick this thing, it just takes time.

I was just as frustrated as you, but with the help of many of the folks here I'm running Kanotix almost 100% of the time and all my hardware is working.

It just takes time and a bit more effort. I hope you stick with it, I think you'll be glad you did!