Installing: Debian 2.2
Using Debian 2.2r3, which is what I use on my home file server, I was able to get everything except sound and the modem working right out of the box.  Unfortunately, I was never able to get any further than that.  For some reason, the Kernel, 2.2.19pre17, did not like the Linmodem drivers (see below).  I also attempted to get the ALSA drivers to work with the sound, but was not successful.  When I upgrade the hard drive, I will try again..and hopefully, it will work.

The only trouble I ran into with Debian aside from this was getting X configured. The eraserhead pointing device did not work properly, but that was because, for some reason, X did not like using /dev/mouse.  A quick run through xf86config to change the mouse device to /dev/psaux did the trick.

A quick rundown of my xf86config reveals:
1.) Choose the standard 3 button PS2 mouse.
2.) Point the mouse device to /dev/psaux
3.) I used option 4 (31.5, 35.15 Super VGA @ 87 Hz interlaced, 800x600 @ 56 Hz) for horizontal sync range.  The display *WILL NOT* display in 1024x768, so this will force the mode into 800x600.
4.) Use option 1 (50-70) for Vertical Sync range--2 (50-90) will also work.
5.) Use the Neomagic 128 for your graphics card (I believe it's number 452--check the card database)--2 MB RAM
6.) Don't worry about probing or the clock or anything like that.
7.) Set the 24 bit color depth to 800x600 ONLY.

This will get you an 800x600x24 x server!

If sound and a modem are not priotities to you (they are to me, as I am trying to get someone to use LINUX, rather than winblows), then I would go with Debian. However...

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Installing: The Fallback, Redhat 7.1
So I went with Redhat.  Redhat also installed flawlessly, but took considerably longer to install (and it's 2 cdroms I have to tote around until I get the laptop config'd).  I used the "laptop" settings, which installed 1.2GB of bloat on my system (If you have not already figured out, I'm not a big fan of Redhat).  

After installing, Kudzu picked up the sound card and installed the appropriate modules, but did not activate the sound card.  I had to run sndconfig (/sbin/sndconfig) and let it autodetect your settings. then all you need to do is turn up the volume in X with the Audio Mixer application included in Gnome (I also don't like KDE very much.  Personal preference, I suppose.  Your milage may vary in KDE.).

After running like a fool around the house screaming "I HAVE SOUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDD" in a very childish voice,  I tackled the problem with getting the modem to work.

Believe it or not, Winmodems are supported in Linux.  Lucent even has a driver for 'em, but it's buggy as hell, so don't even bother using it. www.linmodems.org  has information on running Winmodems in Linux, but the drivers are at www.heby.de/ltmodem.

You can read my not-so-professional, yet soothingly workable instructions on how to compile this stuff for Redhat right here.