So far I've been tweaking this laptop for about 2 months and have gotten almost everything working. I was able to install and run linux in 64bit mode without any hassle.

Not Working
-----------------
* SD+MS/Pro+MMC+SM flash reader
* Volume control buttons on front and 3 useless buttons on top

Maybe Working
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* Onboard modem (haven't tried)
* Firewire/IEEE1394 (haven't tried but shows up)

Working
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*Sound -> snd-intel8x0
*Video -> Official binary driver from nvidia. See http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_amd64_display_archive.html
*10/100 LAN ->8139too
*Touchpad -> Needed to patch kernel and build XF86 module to get wheel support. See http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/
*CD-RW
*DVD-ROM
*USB1.1/USB2
*32-bit cardbus slot

System is HP Pavilion zv5000 w/AMD64 +3200 80Gig + 512 M

/sbin/lspci reports following:
00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 Host Bridge (rev a4)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 LPC Bridge (rev a6)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation nForce3 SMBus (rev a4)
00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 USB 1.1 (rev a5)
00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 USB 1.1 (rev a5)
00:02.2 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 USB 2.0 (rev a2)
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: nVidia Corporation nForce3 Audio (rev a2)
00:06.1 Modem: nVidia Corporation: Unknown device 00d9 (rev a2)
00:08.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation nForce3 IDE (rev a5)
00:0a.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 PCI Bridge (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation nForce3 AGP Bridge (rev a4)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 NorthBridge
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 440 Go 64M] (rev a3)
02:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
02:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM94306 802.11g (rev 03)
02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments: Unknown device ac54 (rev 01)
02:04.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments: Unknown device ac54 (rev 01)
02:04.2 System peripheral: Texas Instruments: Unknown device 8201 (rev 01)

System installed FC2 easily in dual-boot with WinXP Home.

Issues encountered: 1) Had to buy Partition Magic ($20 online) to handle the NTFS partition which had all of the drive initially; 2) Had to "chkdsk" the ntfs fs because PM bombed out. After that it was easy; 3) Kudzu didn't recognize the monitor so I had to guess at it. It works but won't drive a projector off the monitor port. Get a pattern that looks like one of the old defrag screens from Win; 4) Wireless does not work. In all fairness, it doesn't work in Win either. 5)The wireless touch pad does not work. 6) CD burner doesn't work. Will read CD's but not burn. 7) Doesn't handle the USB removable drives. Win side did.

Sounds like a lot of problems, but still the systems work well.

Overall support of the hardware is fair, but documentation is scarce.

Problems:

- the internal wireless network card support is dodgy: it requires ndiswrapper, and even then it's buggy. PCMCIA card is a must.
- the monitor is not identified correctly: the nVidia driver needs some unusual configuration for maximum performance. (look for EDID module parameters)
- the TI controller of the 5-in-1 memory card reader does not have a driver.
- the "internet" keys above the keyboard do not work.

I found some helpful documentation at:
http://www.research.rutgers.edu/~angheles/zv5000/index.html