Plug and Play, my only set back, answer this for charity!
 

The only reason i still use windowsXP, is when i plug in a piece of hardware, it finds it, and installs all the drivers for me.

Is there a way to make Linux do this? if so, tell me in detail, VIVD!

It depends... Redhat provides this sort of tool, called kudzu I think, and Slackware does it too, called hotplug. In fact, those tools are even more plug and play then WinXP itself, since it loads the right modules, not a bunch of dated generic drivers. As you did not say which distro you are using, I cannot help ya :). Atlhough, it's not difficult to get a hardware working under linux without those tools. You just need to make sure it's linux friendly (check out your distro hardware compatibility page) and load the correct modules. Some distros practically don't have hardware detection at all, as the old, but great Debian Potato. During the install, you've to add to the kernel the hardware you wish to be supported. Anyway, if you want to install the scanner:

modprobe scanner

A joypad?

modprobe joydev

As long as they are into the kernel as modules and are Linux friendly. Remember:

auto-detection = generic old crap != quality. (in WinXP case)

Regards!