Did you say Mandrake Linux 9.2?
That's pretty old by Linux standards, and not likely to be the most user-friendly.
I've got an old machine here that I "play with" using various Linux distros. They all have pros and cons, but I'd suggest Debian or Fedora if you want something that will work more or less "out of the box".
Ubuntu is clever, but it treats you like an idiot and won't let you see what it's up to half the time. I've never been able to get it to work the way I want it to.
For an old machine, I'd steer clear of the latest KDE (version 4) which is sadly bloated. Either use Gnome as the desktop, or pick an earlier Linux.
If you're stuck, give me a yell and I'll see if I can find a recent-ish distro on a CD. (I tend to download the full kit, on a DVD, but those won't work on your machine with a CD drive).