Monitor and wireless network problems when trying a live CD
 

I use Ubuntu, Debian and Mint but now and again I like to try out other distros by running a live CD.
Since I bought my Aspire 5336 this has become increasingly more difficult as more often than not I get a blank screen when booting up a live OS. I think I've sussed the reason for this and it does help, most of the time, with adding the command 'nomodeset' just as it is booting up.
I also get the 'no wireless connection available' with quite a few distros, which of course doesn't make it any the easier when trying to find out the reason, if you can't get on the internet.
Is this something that will improve perhaps? It won't get any easier to try to get people to try Linux out if they stumble on the first hurdle. Anyone who has never tried Linux out before will not embrace this great OS if he/she is told to start tweaking it first before they can get it to work!

Hi, hardware issues certainly can be fiddly with new installs on some machines. It's hard to comment specifically because you haven't mentioned which live CDs you're getting this problem with.

Not all the reasons are strictly technical - sometimes wireless and video cards require firmware and/or drivers that are not available in a free(libre) way - that is, they might be available at zero cost (free as in beer) but with problematic license issues (not free as in speech). Some distros will not include these or make them optional (like Debian's "non-free") while others like Ubuntu take a more inclusive approach so that many users will be unaware of the existence of these packages.

If the situation is to improve then much of the onus lies on hardware manufacturers who might (I hope) realise that *nix users are a customer base worthy of support, and review their policies about releasing code and specifications.