getting on a network
 

I am trying to hook my laptop up to a network, and I really don't know what I'm doing.
I'm running Debian, and the rest of the network is using Windows, if that matters.
Can anyone please help?

what services are you trying to access/provide ?

for file/printer sharing you probably should look into:
- samba
- smbclient
- smbmount
manual pages