Ok i got bored and decided to give debian a whirl. I just wanted to see how well i liked it, so i only burned and installed disk 1. My only source of internet is easytether, but my Debian seems to be lacking a package manager. Whenever i try to install easytether like i did in ubuntu(moving the package onto the computer and double clicking it to make it install), the archive manager opens it instead of a package manager. I have no idea how to use aptitude and i do not have the Synaptics package manager. Do i need to install another disk, or is there some command i can use to make it install the easytether package, or am i royally boned without a real net connection?

Your only other option without a net connection is finding another source besides using the internet. You can mount the need source to USBs, the hard drive, or burn the needed source on the CD. You can even look at the CD itself if the source you need is there.

The problem isn't getting the source, it is getting a package manager that will install it. And I have no idea which debian disk has synaptics on it

Did you check the install CD you used if it has synaptics?

I have no clue how to, but if it has it, why didn't it install it. Cuz I check system tools and there is no synaptics package manager

Open a terminal window and check if dpkg is installed. There are mutiple ways of doing this, but two common ways: which dpkg or typing dpkg and hitting <tab> twice in rapid succession.

If you use the which command and you see a full path returned (e.g. "/usr/bin/dpkg"), then dpkg is installed. Likewise, if you use the <tab> method and you see a long list of results which includes one entry as "dpkg", then dpkg is installed.

Assuming dpkg is installed, you can manually install the easytether package. Use the cd command to navigate to the directory that you saved the debian package to. Become root by using su - or add sudo to the beginning of the next command--whichever you prefer.

Now, type dpkg -i filename -- obviously filename needs to be replaced with the actual name of the debian easytether package file.

I get the screen displayed in the below image. This is driving me batty because everywhere I look the instructions for installing easytether are the same for debian and ubuntu. But debian opens the file with the archive manager instead of the package manager. I really want to use debian...I hear great things and think it would be a good experience, so I will be eternally grateful if you can find what I did wrong...oh also it says "sudo" is not a recognized command...so I'm beginning to wonder if I did something wrong with the disk....which I got the ISO from the debian site and I. Burned it using Brasero in ubuntu....dunno if any of that info is useful...but at this point I think every bit of info has merit. hopefully you can help me get this system running

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A debian package should have a ".deb" extension. Can you give a link to where you got it? Did you issue any commands to modify/alter the file after you downloaded it?

I tried it with and without the .deb at the end i still get the same results, but i got the easytether file from here http://www.mobile-stream.com/easytether/drivers.html
It says Ubuntu, but I have seen multiple Users here and on other sites say it is also usable on debian and crunchbang. The instructions for installation basically said "place the package in your home folder, double click it and it will open the package in the package manager, hit install" and then the last three steps were how to get it to connect. I have seen about 3 sites saying it can run on Debian and even a few threads on the topic here.

That's not surprising. Ubuntu is a debian derivative. Ubuntu retains the same package management tools and many other parts from it's Debian ancestry.

I don't mean to sound pompous, so please don't take this that way--I have to ask:
Were you sure you were in the right directory? Could you do an ls to make sure the file is in the directory? The error in your screenshot indicated that the file didn't exist.

At this point.....I'm starting to wonder. I dumped the package into my home folder. Which I'm guessing is the usr folder since typing Home and e-r didn't work......should I try putting the package elsewhere?

Ok, if you saved it to your home folder, it's probably not usr. Based on your terminal's prompt, your username is "e-r" and your home folder should be "/home/e-r"

You can be certain by using a shortcut form: cd ~

Still says file does not exist for the ,deb package. Maybe I need to get a new easytether package?(attachments aren't working so I have no screenshots)

I vaguely remember having problems installing it in Ubuntu via terminal...but that could just be stress induced thinking. At this point I would settle for knowing which debian disk contains a graphical package manager. I couldn't configure my mirrors when I first installed debian cuz easytether is my only source of internet...

Before you go get another copy of the package, let me give you another couple commands. Copy-paste this command for me:
Does it give any output?

If it gives only one output, then you can do this (as root) and again, it's easiest to copy-paste: