Welcome to the 
GNU/Linux has more built-in hardware support than any other operating system. This page lists articles which describe how to configure Debian GNU/Linux to work with many different kinds of hardware.
Specifics and improvements
How to change your platform (architecture) Migrate PC(i386) to PowerPC(powerpc) (in french).
Open hardware
Opencores, open hardware.
The Kernel Accelerator Device, document in PDF format.
http://www.coreboot.org/ Boot faster with Free Software.
Hardware book: Internet's largest free collection of connector pinouts and cable descriptions.
Other External links
Knoppix Hardware Compatible List (in German)