two basic "new to Debian" questions: network config & RMS

[vineyard saker <vineyardsaker@gmail.com>]

Hi everybody,

I just completed a switch from 5 years of Mandrake to Debian
GNU/Linux.  The install went well, although I had to use a couple of
tricks to configure X and my soundcard.  I now have to basic
questions:

1) during my install I was not connected to the Internet (I had
ordered the 14 Debian CDs from budgetlinuxcds) and I therefore did not
configure my network card.  Now I would like to connect my computer to
the rest of my computers on a home network.  What would you reccommend
as the best application to do this?

2) I vaguely remember hearing that there were some disagreements
between the Debian team and Richard Stallman but I do not remember
what caused it.  Could anyone point me to the right place to read up
on this?

Many thanks,

VS