not givin up yet
 

Hey there I finally got mandrake to work just fine on my system except my modem is a winmodem. I am gonna have to break down and get a new one. Now what is a good modem that is good for linux and windows since i am still running win98 (dual boot) thanx in advance

You will want to try to find a hardware modem.. usually isa and not pci. I use a Best Data modem. works great and is around 20 bucks and it even says Linux Compatible on the box.