Hi Mauro, Please sorry for my English...
I tried a couple of recent Linux live-CDs (Knoppix 5.0 & latest Ubuntu, both
debian-based) and both failed to fully recognize my hardware. Most notably the SATA disks were not seen.
I have installed Ubuntu 6.06 on a machine with SATA disk and it's working well. I did not need any parameters or drivers. Jonas - Brazil