It seems I'm also living in a different reality than you. ;) The only problems I encountered in Linux were related to nVidia blobs that caused X server to crash sometimes. Currently I'm running fglrx and it's even more problematic, but Open Source drivers work very well. However, I also have Windows XP installed and it's more problematic. Sometimes BSoD happens and HP deskjet printer works only with service pack 2. When I have service pack 3 installed I can't even copy drivers from CD to hard drive, because there's an error.