Attempting to get online.
 

I have a few different options however one of them looks like a dead end road i can't find a dialup modem that will work for linux so im forced to attempt to dial up on my windows me, uplink to the hub and share internet access to linux mandrake 9.1, is there any known patches or drivers for this? or am i looking at trial and error? thanks for any help you might be able to offer me

Well, telling us what type of modem you have, make/model, might help determine if it works in Linux, were not psychic you know?? Have you checked out www.linmodems.org ?