ok, ive looked just about everywhere...there is obviously no help for noobs like me. ive only known windows until i decided to major in software engineering. now i need linux knowledge. but im stuck on setting up my internet/network. i feel like a total idiot. i have a toshiba pcx2600 modem (USB) with an always on cable connection, and i cant get the internet working on mandriva 2006. someone please help me get the internet up and running on this computer. i would apreciate the help, even a link to a tutorial would be ok with me. thanks in advance

What does "lspci -vv" look like? Type "lspci -vv" (without the "s) at a terminal prompt and post the output here.

please forgive my ignorance, but im not sure what this means.my modem connects via usb or ethernet 10/100 card. i am running mandriva 2006, but i am seriously thinking of switching to fedora core 5...would fedora make it any easier???

I need to know what hardware your linux is seeing in order to assist you. Please go to a terminal shell (e.g. konsole) and type "lspci -vv" (without the "s) at a terminal prompt and post the output here. You might have to run the terminal shell as root. First try "lspci -vv" in a terminal shell as a regular user and if you get an error, then do "su root" (without the "s) to get to a root shell to do "lspci -vv"