I have linux (ubuntu) and if you’re going to be bothered by Vista...trust me, you won’t want to put up with linux. It’s good for what it’s good for but it’s not good for people expecting a totally polished OS.
What flavor and version? My biggest trouble so far (Kubuntu 7.04) was a Lexmark win-printer that was marginally supported in 6.10 and not in 7.04. Switched to an old HP that had been sitting in the garage, and it works great.
As I noted earlier in this thread, I've played with Linux for many years, but it was only two to three years ago that my main home machine became a Linux box.