You will want to do your install first, then get your internet working. If you don't have internet, then instaling the nvidia driver is a minor concern at this point.

RO

Did you check IF your hardware is compatable with Mandrake BEFORE you got Mandrake? If NOT, well...
I think you need to put Mandrake aside for a while, buy a good Linux introduction book and spend some time with that. Or maybe crack open those fine manuals that came with your powerpack.
Maybe visit Mandrake's numerous help web sites would be a good thing for you to try too. And spend some considerable time reading what's on them.

You are inexperienced in linux, therefore an easy solution is to try a couple of other distros - try Fedora, SUSE and Slackware.

Many people Slack is tricky to use and not for beginners, but I have the easiest time getting Slack set up and everyone working correctly.

oh yes ...

Most of us remember our first install of linux ...

Don't dispair, Linux is good, Mandrake is ... not my first choice, but it's not bad (as such), heck most are alot harder. But that said, most are also different.

just because you've downloaded the latest kernel, doesn't mean you've INSTALLED the latest kernel. Even if you have untared or whatevered (rpm, etc) it doesn't mean it's installed. installing a kernel is the most difficult thing a newbie has to face.

back in the day, we didn't have fancy accelerators, i had a 2MB pci card and it worked great. point being, i never had to compile a kernel in 1996, heck i didn't know one could (i'd missed the fundamental part of linux) point is a 166 would not have had a great time doing it anyway, so Redhat 7.x came and went and still no kernel compile, and SuSE 7.2 was the first time i delved into it, that was ... 2001 ish. And yes, it was because of Nvidia.

So as tech has progressed it's gotten more complex, BUT it's not the fault of GNU / Linux. The Nvidia drivers are closed source, if they weren't something could be done (possibly) ... but be lucky you have NVidia, i have one system with an ATi card, and i loath the day i agreed to that one ... well it's a work machine so it doesn't matter THAT much ... but it'd be nice to have a real accelerated driver set there ...

Don't dispair, and ... read the manual, cause it isn't Windows, and with time you will see the benefit of the Linux way ... well ... an alternate distro might be a start ... but for the time, stick with mandrake, afterall you've got that one.