Initial installation ran into problems when it tried to start Xwindows, causing whole machine to hang.
After performing a text based installation, I used mouseconfig to set  the machine use a generic PS/2 mouse configuration then installed and ran  tpconfig to configure for the touchpad. Next I ran "gpm -t synps2"   I then tried to run Xconfigurator to get Xwindows working with the same result of the machine crashing whenever Xwindows was run.  Finally found a XF86Config file for earlier model Travelmate and after changing the memory setting, Xwindows ran up OK.  Unfortunately the keyboard mapping was a bit screwed up under Xwindows with "z" and "y" keys transposed and many of the non alphanumeric keys are incorrectly mapped.  Installing and running the xkeycaps program enabled the keyboard to be remapped. A copy of the Xmodmap file which I generated is available here and can be placed in /etc/X11/xinit
Finally I managed to get the modem (which is a Lucent) using the driver available from www.linmodems.org/linux568.zip

One other thing. I found that if I booted to Windows 98 then rebooted the system to linux without turning off, the mouse was all over the place.