Windows hasn't been able to do this for 10 years.
I haven't used unix for a while but I may get make a CD and boot it up to check it out.
I highly reccommend it. Knoppix is a pain-free way of getting your feet wet with unix. It's a part of my standard toolkit now. I was pretty suprised at the fact that it booted up just fine on my dell laptop at work and recognised everything from the usb and sound to the power management functions. Altogether, it's an excellent tool.