I am a networking student at NSCC in Seattle and my Unix instructor wants us to install Linux to learn Unix on. So...
How do you Linux people find drivers for your machines? I am not in a position to build a Linux box from scratch this quarter but trying to find drivers for the box I have looks doubtful.
I am not a Linux fanatic so how do normal people approach istalling Linux to an existing machine? Are ther generic drivers that may sort of work to get by? In particular my ethernet card is a Netgear FA311 and I don't see it on the Lycoris HCL.
Considering the overwhelming array of Linux flavors how can I find one that will match my unique hardware requirements?

Oops, perhaps a hardware list might be helpful

ASUS CUSL-2 PIII 1Ghz 815E chipset
Radeon VE dual monitor video card
M Audio Delta 66 Sound card
Netgear FA311 ethernet card
ps/2 mouse and keyboard
HP 777i USB printer

Any advise whatsoever for finding the best Linux version match would be appreciated.

I would check http://hardware.redhat.com/hcl/ and http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/hardware.php3
these are two freindly OS's. I think there won't be any problem with netgear NIC.

I think there won't be any problems if you'd go with Mandrake 8.2, here is a mini-howto for your sound card ( is it really that expansive $395.99 ?)
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache...in+linux&hl=en
but I think Mandrake won't have any trouble detecting and configuring the sound for you. And if there is a problem there is always non-free solutions from OSS, they have a full feathured support for you card, check this out http://www.opensound.com/readme/README.Envy24.html

The FA-311 is natively supported in the latest distros; it uses the built-in natsemi.o module (driver). Redhat 7.2 and Mandrake 8.0 both picked up my FA-311 with no problem.
Older distros that use v2.x.x kernels do not natively support the card, and getting the driver loaded manually can be a real pain in the arse.