ubuntu

Last time I tried installing Linux on my laptop, it was a nightmare. Wireless card wouldn't work, screen resolution was off, sleep mode and power control were crap. That was then, this is now. I downloaded, burned onto CD, and installed Ubuntu 6.06 on my Dell Latitude D400.
I would love to brag about how I had to recompile the kernel and hack all kindsa cool deep, technical settings to optimize the OS, but alas it was delightfully simple. I booted from the CD, clicked on Tokyo, and installed. Wireless PCMCIA card was recognized, software installed, everything worked. And the machine is FAST. Boots and runs way snappier than Windows ever did.
Struggled a bit to upgrade Firefox to a 2.x version, but after some googling I found a simple install script that ran all the package install and registration stuff. And now it works.
A couple more years of innovation like this, and I could even get my mom to use Linux.