I'm new to linux and was wondering if someone could write a short explanation of configuring an ethernet card to get an IP from a DHCP server and browse the internet. I can't seem to get mine to work.

Here's a little info on my situation:
dmesg | grep eth0
eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xcecc4800, ....
eth0: Identified 8139 chip type 'RTL-8100B/8139D'
eth0: link down
eth0: link down

and lsmod reveals:
mii 2272 0 [8139too]
crc32 2880 0 [8139too]

The card shows up as BROADCAST MULTICAST under ifconfig eth0

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong/not doing?

From your other posts I take it you are using slackware. I have never used slackware but hopefully something I write here will be of assistance.

Are the the correct packages installed from slackware cdrom?

installpkg tcpip1.tgz
installpkg dhcp.tgz


if dhcpcd is installed then I believe you only have to run these commands from the shell (as root or sudo)
netconfig
dhcpcd eth0