First, see
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smar...ons.html#intro
Next, if you want all of this to "just work," and you want Debian package management, you might be better off starting with Libranet or Knoppix.
Last, if you're more interested in just learning how to do things the Debian Way, take a look at "man interfaces" and also make sure you do have a module loaded for your network card. The "lsmod" command should tell you that.
