You can usually get the same drivers you have on Ubuntu, you just need to know what they are and maybe peek a little bit under the hood how they are configured. If they are "restricted" then they are not available as part of Debian proper, but you can get them from the same place as Ubuntu gets them, or maybe even retrofit the Ubuntu drivers if you're a little clever.

Knoppix is a live distro which I believe has a rather vocal customization community, and it's Debian-based. Maybe you want to try that. It's sort of leaning towards Ubuntu in that they take drivers where they can get them, regardless of those pesky firmware licensing issues, but it should be one of the easiest to get rolling.