I got Kubuntu 8.4 on an Aspire 1680
I have gone through a silly ammount of various Linux flavours on this LapTop, and they have all gone on just fine.
No USB anything, straight CD/DVD in the drive and straight onto the LapTops HD.
Only issues I had were that ( And this is a real doozie ) is that I must use both the PSU and an external Mouse??
If I miss out on the PSU, or the Mouse, then as soon as I touch the touchpad, it hangs???
Whats really weird about that, is that the next time I start it up, whether I have the PSU & Mouse connected or not, it will hang as soon as the desktop comes up, and the Second time as soon as I touch a button, but the third time is fine??? - Go figure?
Other than that, as long as I use the PSU and mouse, its fine.