near newbie question

I have been running Linux on one of my boxes for about 4 months now. I'm not
quite a newbie, but I don't feel near as confident with it as I do with
Windows. But I have been able to do basic stuff with it like get it talking
to my home network and getting out through my router to the internet.

My next project is to hook up a modem so I can call into my network and get
files when I am away. I would also like the dial up connection to have
access to the internet through my cable modem.

What software packages should I be looking at to do something like this? I
think I can work out the detail by reading the man files. I just need to
know where to start.

I'm running Suse 8.0 on an AMD 1.1 Ghz processor.

Thanks

Devin