This post was written previously. I include it here so that maybe other people can benefit from this long story of how I got my laptop to finally work, and because I like posting to blogs.
--New Computer--
Well, I've got a new computer. It's a Dell Laptop Inspiron 1521. It's great, but now I'm trying to put linux on it. I'm using debian linux, and my goal is to run 'lenny', or what they also call 'testing'. I still have dial-up at home, but the computer has a wireless card, so...