Oh boy Linux has a ways to go yet when it comes to usability. Try dropping a new piece of hardware into your box and see how easy it is to get it going. Sure it'll be rock solid once you get it working, but that's going to take time and grey hairs.
Yeah yeah I've ranted about this before.
For the search engines, here's how I managed to get the OPL3-SA3 chip on my Dell Dimension XPS D266 going. This is the sound chip on my motherboard. Works nicely now!