I have recently installed debian / Sarge. I added KDE 3.2.3, however my mousewheel does not scroll the page like it did in RH9. How do I set the mousewheel to scroll?

You must make sure that the mouse is set up properly in XF86Config-4, i.e. The number of buttons, and the driver.

i have set the xf86config settings to auto, to ps/2, and many others...None allow my scroll wheel to scroll. After the choice of driver the next screen asks for the full device name...could it be that the default is not correct for my system? I let it choose default of /dev/mouse..if that were wrong my mouse would not function at all....correct? Other options are the /dev/tty??

The only real way to check is to look in the config file itself (usually /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 these days). There should be a section something like:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "PS/2 Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Buttons" "7"
EndSection

The ZAxisMapping entry is the relevant thing. For a simple wheel mouse "4 5" is also a common setting. You can edit this file directly if you like, but make sure you keep a copy of the original in case you stuff it up.

If you run the command 'xev' you can see what events the mouse is generating.