winmodemdriverforhppavilion
 

i have an hp with a winmodem and have been told by my isp tech that i need to compile a driver for Mandrake 8.2 to recognize the modem is this true and if it is where might i go to learn more or do they have a premade one

first, you need to identify the chipset of your modem. try lspci:

/sbin/lspci -v

And look for your winmodem. then check http://linmodems.org/ for a driver.