well.. as many said.. u better start with mandrake and then advance to other version..
till getting there u may need to get some basics.. for exemple know the command lines and other staff.. the easy way i would recommend is to keep ur windows if ur new so u can get rid of both Linux and Windows when necassary without much trouble.. if u have win98 or less and wanna install with it 2K(XP or 2000 or even 2003) then install 98 first.. then put 2k after that u may proceed to installing Linux..
Before starting all that "*"(hell)"*" u better devide ur hard drive to diffrent partitions 2or3 deppending on the number of the OS(Operating Sysytems) u wanna install..

I hope m not repeating what was said previously in the forums.. Have fun.. and don't forget that 98Se or 98 don't know ext2 or ext3 or NTFS pertiontion..
Ciao