Thanks for all the help. I was able to load Mandrake 10.0 without too much trouble (takes a long time though). The install CD booted just fine - although I am not certain how it boots differently than the Debian install CD, it clearly is different and works. My next task is to get my wireless connection going - but that's another matter. Once I get that running, geda is next. Anyway, for now I will move forward with Mandrake and see where it leads.isolinux is used _very_ early in the boot process. I wouldn't expect very different results from any other distribution.