HELP!!!

[urbanyon <urbanyon@urbanyon.com>]

apologies for the drama, i'm just at the end of my rope trying to install
debian.

i am using a cdrom that came with the book 'learning debian gnu/linux'
(oreilly).  various packages that even the book tells i need are not on
there.  i figured i would try and connect to the internet, but i can't
seem to get that to work either.  i am connecting to the 'net via a
dsl-type connection, using a netopia router.  the network card in the
potential debian machine is a 3com PCI card, model # 3CSOHO100-TX.  the
router lights up when i connect it to the card with a cable, and the NIC
lights up as well (i realize that this means nothing, but i'm including it
to show that the hardware is, in theory, working).

here are my questions:

1. is there a program that i can use to set up a 'net connection using my
NIC?

2. do i need to do anything to check that the NIC is, in fact, installed?

3. i've been using apt-get - what should my sources.list file read?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!!

-brett