Installing GNU/Linux on fresh hardware can be challenging. I bought a Medion akoya 10" netbook (MSI Wind U100 platform).
Since then I wanted to install my used distribution, Debian GNU/Linux. After trying the lenny installers, at first I wasn't able to get to it. Kernel 2.6.24 did not support the network card but instead broke the boot process so, after install, I did not have any drives. :(
I reported this install failure and got help so I was able to install a newer, working, kernel.
Thanks to the Debian installer team!