Last year we decided to try some Linux systems at work. We had launched a web based version of our internal tracking system and figured we could save some bucks by going open source. Used Red Hat Linux and set up a few systems as dual boot. These were fairly new (none more than two years old) Windows machines. We put Linux on a separate, second, hard drive. On all four machines there was some sort of issue. CD-ROM drives may or may not be recognized and, if they were, they may or may not write to disk. Some printers worked with no issues, some seemed to work, but had problems with printing some reports, some refused to work at all. Video support was spotty. After a lot of research, downloads, and forum visits we were able to solve +90% of the problems, but it was hardly the plug and play experience we usually have with our Windows and Apple workstations. I will say that once up, the systems worked well and did not crash.
My laptop uses a M10 ATI Radeon 9600 and I have had zero issues. I also have a DVDRW/CDRW drive and no issues.
I've needed no extra drivers once I installed the OS.
I'm just wondering if you used an older version of Redhat, rather than the curent one (at the time you installed it).