Ok right now my main pc is windows ME because i have a usb modem and the linux distro I have (mandrake 8.1) says that is it not supported.

However the linux site says that it will work and i found the drivers for my usb adsl modem. Now my question is, how hard is it to recompile the kernal and how much experience with linux should i have before i try and do it myself?

Keep in mind that i have just started using linux about 1 week ago :/