PcLinux sounds good, but I'll have to think about it. Can't download it myself so I depend on my friends' goodwill (which I in turn generally make up by fixing their systems after their bimonthly crash and by generally speaking English and being able to figure out what they need) so I can't be asking too much.
Would PcLinux be a good complete system or more of an evaluation version before you jump into getting something bigger?
And if MDK 10 is really as good as some of the rave reviews would have me believe is it worth adapting my hardware configuration...
Lots of questions to answer (myself?) but I'll get there eventually

I had read in a review of Mandrake 10 that you can choose which kernel you want to use, ie, 2.4 or 2.6. That was one of the reasons given for Mandrake 10 being better than other distros...

I'm going to try and find confirmation (if you happen to know where I can find it please let me know)

If this is true than it's MDK 10 for me!

Here's the review I was talking about....
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20040531

Even I was really happy when I heard that...even I have a Conexant HSF modem...

Thanks! I also found this thread which indicates that starting installation with F1 allows you to choose between kernels 2.4 and 2.6

mdk 10 installs both 2.4.25-2mdk and 2.6.x kernel. Since i only needed the 2.4 for my winmodem i deleted the lilo entries that were pointing to the 2.6 kernel. The kernel source for 2.4.25-mdk needs to be downloaded from somewhere else, unfortunately

Where? Why? What's the size?

that kernel source come in a fourth installation cd i don't have, so i dowld it from here and worked like a charm
it's about 42Mb

cheers