Try Morphix, Knoppix, Gnoppix or DamnSmall.  you will have to do a few tweaks after install to get 
it like a standard Debian (these are supposed to be LiveCD distros, after all), but its worth it 
and its doable.  I'm proof of that.  I couldn't get a std Debian installed, but I got Morphix going 
and I "get" DamnSmall and Knoppix.  They all have an install to HDD script or process.  Morphix 
recognizes other partitions and OSes and allows you to access them via lilo.  Morphix is the only 
one I've installed to HDD, but it's not hard unless you don't know what existing partitions you 
have and where Windows/DOS lives like the problem Jon had two meetings ago.

—-----Quote-------
<snip>
So, searching for an easy to install solution for my desktop, I installed
Mandrake.  It's running fine and everything, but I am missing the coolness
of Debian.

The reason I didn't install Debian on the desktop was because it also has
WindowsXP on it.  RH and Mandrake do a good job of dummy proofing the dual
boot setup.

How tough is a dual boot install of Debian?  I'm probably setting everything
up manually right?  (partitioning, boot loader, fstab etc etc.)

Brian Kelsay