I have had the urge to run Linux as a primary operating system for quite some time. I have used Linux a number of times, and it is an invaluable tool in the field of computer forensics.
But I have had nothing but problems running distros on my desktop due to hardware recognition. One problem after another. Windows may not be the best operating system, but it installs with zero problems and has done for a few versions.
My latest attempts are to run Knoppix (the distro I have had the most luck with in terms of hardware compatibility) to run on my laptop from a flash drive. Everything worked flawlessly until it came to using the wireless on my Dell D830. I eventually gave up in favor of another distro after seeing many posts from other people with that laptop. I turned to Ubuntu.
It would not recognize the wifi. I found compact flash wifi card in the bottom of a drawer. Success!! It saw the wifi networks. I was so close! BUT, it turns out that card does not support WPA!!! Arrggghhh!
A quick try of Fedora 11 which failed miserably booting from the CD – I was not about to try and diagnose that problem.
I then, for some reason, went back to Ubuntu. More googling led me to this post. The sequence worked!
sudo modprobe -r b43 b44 ssb wl
sudo modprobe ieee80211_crypt_tkip
sudo modprobe wl
sudo modprobe b44
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
Now, all I needed to do was get Ubuntu onto the flash drive. Not so fast!!!! I had problems getting Ubuntu onto the flash drive. Not fixed by any combination of formatting, repartitioning, etc.
Already long story shorter, needed to use this piece of software to make the bootable flash drive.
The next step was to create a startup file with the networking commands, so I had to brave using vi, which was a relief after so many problems strangely enough.
So, yaaay! I now have Ubuntu on a flash drive. I am looking forward to finally utilizing more of the CPU power that my laptop has been devoting to running Windows 
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Not content with having Ubuntu working, I had to look at other distros. Glad I did, MEPIS 8 worked out of the box on my Dell D830! Even with the problematic bcm43xx wireless card. No need to setup an NDISWrapper or anything. I don’t know what it is doing under the hood, but I really don’t care. It’s nice to have connectivity without any pain!
Thanks for the tip with MEPIS 8, I’m downloading it now.
I’ve been using Knoppix boot CDs in the past when Windows has been mangled to the point it refuses to boot. Though, the BartPE boot CD that Chris created is an excellent alternative too, especially if you need the Windows interface or to create a forensic-like image backup using Imaging For Windows (you need to use the command line to enable sector-by-sector forensic imaging). The latter has been very useful for restoring a disk as a VHD for booting in a VM environment, but that is another story.