alright i am a complete linux noob and wanted to play around on linux so i whiped out my old 1700t, poped on mandrake 8.2 and started to goto work
love what i see learning alot but 1 problem.

i CANNOT for the life of me get my modem (built in or my external usb) to work.
the install through KDE is hell-of-confusing. and when i think i get it to work i either get a Kppp already being used error, or when i dial out i get "initalizing modem" that just stays there forever
info about machine:
Computer - 800 mhz 386 ram dvd floppy and cdrw (all which work and i was suprised as HELL at that.) 20 gig hd built in modem / ethernet (neither of these work i think the modem is a conexant or some weird thing. when i installed it said to goto libmodems to download something)

external usb d-link dsb-560 modem. (this is the one i would like to get to work because it worked with suse 7.0 and thats all..)

if anyone could help detailed or past experiences to help me out i would GREATLY appreciate it (since my icq and aim are going to be on my linux box. it wouldnt do that good to contact me through that)

if more information is needed.. i will provide pretty much everything i know about it. heh.

Did you check out linmodems.org I am not sure, but that could be a candidate?