Sorry for such a big ask here!
But have finally rid my self of any MS related stuff!
I am having a huge problem installing stuff on mandrake 2007 official platform! am a newbie of the worst kind i am afraid! also i need drivers for my dvd, wireless etc! i have listed my spec if it helps! appreciate ANY help you can give!

HP Pavilion DV5000(dv5031ea) Laptop

Microprocessor AMD Turion 64 Mobile Processor ML-32 with PowerNow! Technology
Microprocessor Cache Level 2 cache 512 KB
Memory 512 MB DDR 333 MHz (2 x 256 MB)
Memory Max up to 2 GB DDR
Video Graphics ATI RADEON® XPRESS 200M IGP graphics
Video Memory 128 MB shared
Hard Drive 40 GB Hard 4200 rpm
Multimedia Drive DVD Writer Dual Format (+/-R +/-RW) with Double Layer support
Display 15.4 WXGA High Definition BrightView Widescreen
Fax/Modem High speed 56K modem
Network Card 10/100 LAN Ethernet integrated
Wireless Connectivity 54g 802.11b/g WLAN
Sound Altec Lansing® speakers
Keyboard 101 key compatible keyboard
Pointing Device Touch Pad with dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down pad
PC Card Slots One ExpressCard/54 slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
External Ports
1 VGA port
2 USB 2.0 ports
1 RJ 11 modem connector
1 RJ 45 Ethernet connector
S-video TV out
Remote control infrared port (Remote Control optional)
1 Headphone-out
1 Microphone-in port
Cable docking connector
Dimensions 26.39 cm (L) x 35.78cm (W) x 3.5 cm - 4.4 cm (H)
Weight 2.98 kg (6.6 lbs)
Power
65 W AC Power Adapter
6-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery

Moved: This thread is more suitable in the Mandriva Forum and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

You shouldn't need drivers for your dvd drive because it should just work out of the box. As for your wireless card, can you check what chipset it runs. You do this by starting a terminal emulator such as konsole and enter
Post back the output.

[kip@localhost ~]$ $/sbin/lspci | grep -i net
bash: $/sbin/lspci: No such file or directory
[kip@localhost ~]$
appreciate this, sorry i posted in wrong forum

Don't put the $ in the command, its just a symbol that represents a command prompt. Just enter "/sbin/lspci | grep -i net" (without quotes) as the command.

the sticky is a must read in the forum,
you will also need to google for urpmi+zarb
google also wiki+ndiswrapper for your wireless,
go to lq bookmark and search for rute and also for newbie admin guide, and google for mandriva website documentation, even the 10.1 version doc will get you started.

for the modem, google technion and scanmodem, but winmodens are "pigs", you were warned

[QUOTE=Emmanuel_uk]the sticky is a must read in the forum,
you will also need to google for urpmi+zarb
google also wiki+ndiswrapper for your wireless,
go to lq bookmark and search for rute and also for newbie admin guide, and google for mandriva website documentation, even the 10.1 version doc will get you started.

for the modem, google technion and scanmodem, but winmodens are "pigs", you were warned[/QUOTE
[kip@localhost ~]$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 10)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 5a37
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 81)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI (rev 80)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)
00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 80)
00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc ATI SB400 - AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 80)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)
06:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
06:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

Ok, from the output it seems like your Wireless card uses a broadcom 4318 chipset which is supported by current versions of the Linux kernel (2.6.17 upwards). All you need to do is run the Mandriva Control Center and go to the Networking section and chose to configure a wireless connection.

For your wireless reddazz is almost correct, some devices are fully supported by the bcm43xx module, some such as the bcm4318 are "Unstable (transmission power issues, work in progress)" and you would also need to get the firmware with the bcm43xx-fwcutter tool for the driver to work. See here for more http://bcm43xx.berlios.de/ .
As Emmanuel_uk suggested, ndiswrapper is probably your best bet. Luckily it is just a case of going to hardrake and setting up your new connection - the option to use ndiswrapper and windows driver is there.
Do lspci -n and look for 06:02.0 to get your pciid, something like 14e4:4318 and go here - http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/m...index.php/List to get the correct *.inf files.

Well you were both right and loving the fact that I can now connect without wires! Much appreciated guys (gals?) now if i can just figure out how to turn this thing on! hehe

Well i now know what the Konsole is! god i really am a newbie! loving Linux though, the learning curve far outweighs the MS OS pooh of yesteryear!