A few months later, I bought a copy of "Linux France" (or maybe it was another magazine?) that came with a CD of Mandrake 6.1. Thanks to the French instructions in the magazine, I was able to install Mandrake without issues and they gave instructions on how to use kppp to connect to the Internet. Since kppp looked similar to the modem connection utility from Windows 95/98, I felt comfortable and for the first time, I was able to go on the Internet with Linux! (Also, I believe that it detected my winmodem, which was probably the main problem I had with Slackware and Red Hat.)
From then on, I basically never looked back: I learned how to operate a Linux machine, I learned English, I learned to program, and 18 years later, though I haven't used Mandrake/Mandriva/Mageia in years, I am still very thankful that it existed when it did and opened up a whole new world to me. I hope that this release of Mageia can do the same for another 15-16 year-old who's interested in computers, wants to run Linux, but feels intimidated.