thanks guys
I tried Mandrake 9 first, but that was before the new nVidia drivers came out. Trying to get all resources/drivers now to install. I am using a NIC card so wont have any modem issues. I guess all that is left to do is to install everything. Trying to set up a dual boot w/bootMagic--once I have everthing working, I'll post results. Any other tips for troubleshooting this ahead of time would be appreciated---first time Linux user so we'll see....