Prior to attempting to install Mandrake 10.1 I've ben reading an installation document . It says to configure the BIOS and mentions "PNP OS" or "Plug'n'Play OS"., so that linux will detect my hardware.

I've been into the BIOS settings and find these two likely looking options-
CPU PnP Set Up with following options;
CPU Over-clocking - set to disabled
CPU frequency - 133 Mhz
DRAM - auto

actually looks like I've missed copying a line.

Second option -
PCI Plug and Play Set Up
Share memory size 32 MB
Primary Graphics Adapter - PCI
Allocate IRQ to PCI VGA - yes
PCI IDE Bus Master - disabled

Is it one of these options? They are the only selections that seemed to have the correct words.
Thanks
silverbirch

it usually literally says "PnP OS" meaning the operating system installed will take care of assigning irq numbers for some hardware instead of the bios (hence the term plug and play OS)

What is it I need to do to have the computer recognise my hardware in relation to this?

Make sure PNP OS is set to no or PNP is set to BIOS instead of OS. Also make sure "PCI IDE Bus Master" is set to enabled or yes because it will make the installation quicker and make your system more responsive.