The only equipment I know about is my own, but maybe these comments will be useful:

1. Be sure to find all of your manuals (or browse the web and get the info) on your computer's components.  Otherwise you are going to be like me and find yourself 3/4 of the way through the install needing some information to complete the job.  Especially, you will want to know your monitor and your video board.
   
   
2. Modems:  Modems, and especially laptop modems, are a real problem.  "Modern" modems tend to turn over a lot of the work to the CPU and software.  This is bad news because the software is generally only written for Windows and not for Linux.  Before you get started, you may wish to check out the big Linux Modem List to see if your modem is on there.  Otherwise, you will be buying a new modem.  If you rely on the modem to connect to the internet -- this is something to be thinking about before you start your linux project.
   
   
3. Video:  Your Linux install will probably recognize lots of video cards and lots of monitors.  In my case, since I buy "el cheapo" clones, this is not the case.  I ran into this horrible "flashing screen" problem.  The screen was readable, but it would flash intermittently.  The solution in Icepack was to use the "vesa.drv" video driver.  The solution in Mandrake is ... well, I forget, but the "help" tells you that when all else fails you should use this particular driver, which is something like fbdev01.drv as best as I can recall.  It is found under "other" / "unlisted" in the video driver list during install.
   
   The manual for my monitor was no help and I ended up just designating the "VESA" driver.  Linux did not properly identify my laptop monitor either.  I ended up just using whatever the installer selected.
   
   Warning:  I don't know how big of an issue this is, but I have read that setting the monitor scan frequencies incorrectly can actually damage the monitor.  It is possible to enter the monitor specifics, however.
   
   
4. Network cards:  I did three Linux installs before running into a network card problem.  Mandrake recognized the internal Accton EN1216 in my HP Pavilion N5290, but Icepack did not.  (The tulip driver works for this card).
   
   
5. USB:  I've been very lucky with USB and everything I've tried works okay.
   
   
6. PCMCIA: There are some issues with some cards.  Right now I'm not using any PCMCIA cards. I did try to implement a Zoom 3000 voice/data/fax modem.  This is one of those "Win Modems" and doesn't work very well.  I was able to install the "ltmodem" PCMCIA driver after a lot of trouble and the modem was able to act as a data modem.  I could not implement faxing or voice mail.
   
   
7. Sound:  My first install had a lot of problems with sound although Icepack correctly identified my SoundBlaster Live card.  I eventually fixed it, though I don't know how I did it.  One thing to note is that one of the steps in the "install" involves turning on services.  After the install is done, you can reaccess the installer and you may want to check "services" to make sure sound is being turned on if you are having a problem.
   
   I later reinstalled Icepack on the same computer and didn't have any problems with the sound!  I also did two installs on my HP laptop and I can report that the ESS Allegro 1988 (Maestro) sound works just fine.  (However, if you are planning on making the modem portion of the same card work, all I can say is "hahahahaha!")  The sound portion is the subject of  the "AC97" standard.  (Since I don't have this in front of me right now, I hope I have identified it correctly.)
   
   

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