> Are there any national ISP that are linux friendly?
>

I hate to say it, but I've heard that of all the nationwide
ISPs MSN is about the best in terms of speed, busy signals,
and linux friendliness.  Tech support won't talk to you, but
as I understand it You need to install their software and
set
up your account (it will probably infect your system in some
way so set it up on a box you don't care about).  Once it's
set up, go to your linux machine and use your pppd
application to connect.  Their network is completely PPP,
they just use the shell to remind you that they own the
internet.