LinuxQuestions.org - Acer Aspire 7741z-5731 problems with Kubuntu/Ubuntu/and Mint KDE

Hello to all........

I recently acquired an Acer Aspire 7741Z-5731. I've tried to install Kubuntu and Ubuntu 10.10 - both give me problems with video and sound. I have researched this without finding a definitive answer that works. On the video issue - both Kubuntu and Ubuntu boot and work fine on the the USB Drive. When installed however - both just boot to a black screen prompt. Neither address the soundcard that came with the Acer - both show "dummy output" under the gui interface for changing sound settings.

On Linux Mint KDE - installs fine - just not able to get sound - same as above - only "dummy output" is available in the gui.

I've tried reading the Ubuntu and Kubuntu posts at their forums. The problem is that when I start messing around in terminal - I don't get the same results that the posts indicate. I do know that ALSA is not installed by default in any one of the three distros I'm working with. I tried installing it from the terminal per the instructions I found on several linux forums - no luck however.

Here is my simple question......

Why am I having such a problem getting Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Linux Mint to load "out of the box" so to speak on a somewhat standard laptop? OpenSuse worked flawlessly - I just don't like it as much as the Ubuntu derrivatives. I suspect that Debian may also work "out of the box" without issues. I am even considering Mandriva. As a newbie to linux, I find it extremely frustrating that I cant just install the software and have it work without having to do a bunch of stuff in a terminal window that I either don't fully understand, or that doesn't produce the expected results. Is this what a new user can anticipate when they opt to try and learn linux - a bunch of command line hooo - ya ? Anyone have any suggestions on how to get any of these to load on my Acer Aspire 7741Z-5731? It really should not be this difficult or frustrating to get a distro that is touted as "the most popular" to install and work right off the USB or CD/DVD install. It is seemingly easy to understand why Linux has not yet become a windows or mac killer. There should be a website for linux that can determine what drivers you need and automatically install them so for the user so that the command line can be ignored by the new user.

Any suggestions - besides "go back to windows" (which I've heard already from one of the other forums).