I remember my excitement for a Ubuntu Shipit CD quickly dissipating once I realized I couldn't use a USB-A cellular modem dongle, which was the only way for me to get internet connectivity at the time. This was even after having compiled a custom driver, and so on and so forth.

As a Linux newbie, this experience gave me an immense sense of revulsion towards the Linux desktop. However, one fine afternoon, I tried to boot up the Ubuntu partition, and try running the wvdial command instead of using Gnome PPP. Imagine my surprise when it just worked...