Thanks for all the responses to this question. 

For the time being, I've given up and returned the camera. 

At this time, I'm unwilling to upgrade my kernel or Mandrake-Linux 
version because the last time I did so, it royally screwed up my system 
and it took me several days to get crucial things working again.  I have 
also read similar comments from others who have upgraded from 8.1 to 9. 

While I am a devoted Linux enthusiast, the problems associated with 
continually having to upgrade and go through all of the messes associated 
with that are terribly, terribly  frustrating. 

Joe