The only way to do that would be to use the Live CD kernel, which uses auto-detection for kernel modules and pretty much everything else hardware related. With Linux you can build in hardware support into the kernel or you can load "modules". The module loading process takes a few seconds longer, so most Linux enthusiasts (typically Gentoo users) build support in. The best example of this is Gentoo's Genkernel vs. a menuconfig'd kernel.
That being said..it is possible to run Ubuntu from a flash drive and save back to it like a portable drive. The question is whether the non-EEE computer would be able to boot from it. But for the sake of the question:
USB Ubuntu 7.04 persistent install | USB Pen Drive Linux
