knoppix 3.4 works nice on my Laptop which is HP Pavilion ze5375us. It uses VESA mode(1024X76 for X since my laptop has a Radeon IGP 340M graphics chipset.
Ethernet controller: National Semiconductor Corporation DP83815 (MacPhyter) Ethernet Controller which worked right out of the box.(Mine is a DSL connection)
Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device works wonderfully well. Far better than the existing Windows XP home installation.
Soft keys for Num pad, LCD brightness works excellent in 3.4.
The onboard Wireless LAN(Harris Semiconductor Prism 2.5 Wavelan chipset) works well to. Not sure about the onboard Modem which is a ALi Corporation Intel 537 [M5457 AC-Link Modem]

Overall a very excited Knoppix user. I have recommended that to a number of my friends.
Good luck.