I got as far as getting the card. I have a Broadcom BCM-4401. I actually searched for this, and found this: http://www.broadcom.com/support/ethernet_nic/4401.php. I got the i386 for linux. is this the right thing? if so, how do I install this onto my linux machine?

lspci
lspci -n

cdimage.debian.org

Wireless is still a non-intuitive install for many devices. I've found that using a wireless router (stand alone device) and connecting with ethernet is simpler at least for an initial install. aka Good enough to let you download the wireless network drivers to get your wireless network working so you can download ANY drivers. Or at least that's how I resurrected my old laptop so I could use it as an ethernet to wireless bridge for my desktop. And for light web browser to read game guides while playing the game on the desktop.

The actual how to depends on your device. For me b43. Which wasn't intuitive in that I had to chose between b43 and b43legacy, and b43legacy wasn't the right choice for my circa 2006 laptop. News to me I guess. I used to always use ndiswrapper back in the day.

Well i386 would imply 32 bit, which may not work (well) with 64 bit systems. Try modprobe b44 before you get too invested.

$ find /lib/modules/ -iname '*b*44*ko'

And then see if ifconfig and friends shows your device. aka dmesg and whatever else applies. Used to be called bcm4400 and other quirks with drivers that used to exist external to the linux kernel.

it is actually a 32-bit machine.
I am still not sure where to get the driver from. is the cd image site for the OS?

Take a look at this page.

The only reason to go looking outside of the official Debian repositories is that Debian doesn't have what you need. This is highly unlikey. Takea look at the link above.

Don't worry about this until you have tried firmware-linux-nonfree and/or firmware-brcm80211. To get them, assuming you have a wired connection, you will need to enable contrib and non free in your sources.list.

Most drivers are included in the linux kernel and are already there per say.

$ find /lib/modules/`uname -r`/ -iname '*.ko'

Otherwise you should be able to use the distros package management system.

# apt-get update
# apt-get dist-upgrade
# apt-get install <package>

With various ways to find the package you are looking for.

# apt-get install apt-file
# apt-file update
$ apt-file find name_of_file
$ dpkg-query --load-avail -l '*partial*name*with*wildcards*'

Used to just be dpkg -l '*xxx*', but on my current install of debian sid that seems to only scan "installed" packages these days.

Not in Debian. Since the release of Squeeze Debian has removed all non-free firmware from the kernel. The OP will need to install it. The only other way to get around it, apart from what is alredy mentioned, is to get a non-free install CD and install Debian or the firmware from that.

I tried selecting those two options, which are check boxes, and they would not check when clicked on. it was ran as sudo.

I'm sorry but the link you quoted doesn't give you options or check boxes. It is a page that tells you what is available. I have no idea what options you are talking about.

Can you tell me a few things.
1. Do you have a wired connection that you are using with Debian?
2. Have you enabled contrib and non-free in your sources.list. Infact could you post your sources.list up for us please. You can find it in /etc/apt/sources.list
3. Have you downloaded either in Linux or Windows the packages I suggested in post 20? If not do you intend to do so?
4. Why are you running anything as sudo in Debian?

i'm sorry - i meant in the linux machine, the sources.list. don't you need sudo to access it?

Nope, open the root terminal and type in
and it will open so you can edit it. if you are in a normal terminal type in type in your password and when the ~$ changes to a # you have root access. Then type in the gedit command above and it will open for you

i am not sure how to edit it in a text file. I was in the windows explorer, if you can call it that. not sure what they call it in linux.

In Gnome it is called Nautilus, other Desktop Environments have different names because they use different ones.

If you open it how I said to open it the rest is easy and it will help us to see if you have the required things in your sources list. I am taking a guess but I think it is probably only listing the CD/DVD you installed from. If it is you will need to add entries to it to get anything more than what is on the CD/DVD.

Go to this page and it will help you to create a sources.list for what you need. Make sure you select:
1. Your country.
2. The correct version of Debian (Squeeze or Wheezy, Squeeze is the current stable).
3. 32 bits.
4. main, contrib, non-free, security, updates.
5. Where is says "Do I include the source packages?" do not select that at this time.
6. Click "Generate sources.list".
7. copy the list that comes up into a txt file and save it to your home folder.

Once you have done that compare what is on your system already to the one you just made on the website. If they are different, which I am bettng they are, we can change it to your new one and then go from there.

This is what a basic sources.list for Squeeze from an Australian mirror would look like

Which is the video driver and wireless network driver. But not the audio driver in most cases. Or keyboard, mouse, HDD, and "most" drivers. I was just pointing out that one does not "HAVE TO" install a linux kernel from sources. Or download and use proprietary drivers directly from the manufacturer. Although one could. As far as video goes the "vesa" driver is good enough for many things associated with a desktop. And the ethernet drivers almost always work out of the box.

Wireless is a pain. And if you can't get that going, and it's your only network option. Getting those not included by default non-free packages can be a bit of a hassle, but not an impossibility.

I agree totally, my only concern is the level of difficulty for the OP with anything other than Debian packages. If I can help him get his sources.list sorted and install the appropriate packages (I still don't know if he has a wired connection or not) then he'll have a good base to work from.

My first foray into Linux wireless was with ndiswrapper and back in 2007 it was a very hit and miss affair. The availability of firmware is much better now but experience levels play a big part in getting things working properly. It is still, to me, Linux's only drawback but only a minor one.