Hardware configuration of Red Hat Workstation 6.1 on laptop

Hello, all:

New to Red Hat and had questions concerning hardware configuration of Red Hat Workstation 6.1 on a laptop.  My familiarity has been in the Windows-world for many years, and I'm adapting to linux quickly... but, there is so much to figure out in the ways of the many command-line tools.  I'm able to follow directions really well, but due to a lack of familiarity with "said-tools", I'm lacking in knowledge.

The grub.conf file is where the majority of the magic happens, and I am unsure of what to do next.  There is a point where patching the kernel is necessary in reference to hardware, and lacking the ability to really "know" what to do is my problem.

My question is:  "Is there a specific set of commands I may use that are in comparison to the routine of installing individual drivers in a Windows environment?"  And, after everything is patched correctly... can the drivers no longer in use be removed easily?

I only make mention of that because of installing the nVidia video-driver, and removing the nouveau driver.  It was a post I read that was straight-forward and to the point.  So, if I could find the hardware driver listed in a particular format... say source... from the manufacturer, I would be able to patch the kernel with the source correctly for my device... right?

This is where I'm at... of sorts.  I'm trying to work around some hardware pitfalls to make sure everything works as it should when I begin running the software I need.  So, if anyone has the time to help out, I'd really appreciate it.  I'm open to any questions concerning my setup to aid in accomplishing this task.

Thanks in advance