Redwolf the other-not-so-guru is here.
1. Very much so. The graphics card is great for linux too, even tho you need a driver for it (many drivers are built into the Operating System as modules). The only worry I have is the 56k. If it is what's known as a 'Winmodem', support under linux may be quite limited, if any at all. If not though, then you're set. Oh, and if you plan on downloading the ISOs through that thing, forget it, it will take upwards of a week. Get a friend to DL it for you, or go buy some CDs (or the Mandrake Box to get a nice, big, thick manual with it).
2. Programs a plenty. For the ones youy mentioned:
Audiograbber - Grip (
http://www.nostatic.org/grip/ )
Soundforge - I don't know of many sound editors under linux. If you really like Soundforge...there's always WINE, the Windows Emulator.
ACDSee - XnView or, ironically, an app called PronView (not jsut for that mind you). Linux can use Digital Cameras, so either should work well, provided you can get some Digi Camera Software for Linux (don't know what for that, don't have a digicamera).
Adobe - What adobe app are you looking for? If you are talking about the Acrobat reader, then Adobe has that for Linux on their site. Beyond that, Adobe doesn't make Linux software, but there are plenty of equivalent software, and Photoshop can be emulated.
Mozilla - Made for Linux (
http://www.mozilla.org/ ), so grab a 14.1 mb download!
Games - Linux's weak point now, sad to say. Americas Army and Wolfenstein:Enemy Territory
do have Linux versions out. UT has a patch for getting it to run in Linux. UT2003 has an installer (on Disc 2 I belive) taht loads it on Linux. There are also some unofficial patches avaliable at
www.iculus.org for download. Beyond that, you would either have to see if it has a Linux version out (and buy it again), or jsut forget about it. You can emulated games under Wine
X, but it's more trouble than it's worth IMO.
-edit- XnView has Digital Camera capabilities, but your camera has to be supported under Linux or have a driver for it. More info at
http://gphoto.sourceforge.net/ ,
http://www.teaser.fr/~hfiguiere/linux/digicam.html , and
http://dplinux.org/
3. The only bit of hardware you'll need to 'install' to get it to work in Linux is for the Video card. It will work fine without, but won't have any acceleration. Official drivers available at
www.nvidia.com .
), and install it on your second drive, leaving the 1st drive solely for winXP, if that is possible. 
Linear Mode
