network newb

[eraker]

I just installed debian on an ibook and I really have no idea how to configure network capabilities. The ibook has an airport card and an ethernet card (eth0 and eht1, respectively), but I have no wireless router. When I just tried to plug the machine into the cable modem here at home, the cable modem didn't blink that it was connected to an ethernet card. This might sound lame, but I have no idea how to do any networking stuff, and I haven't yet tried to find a wireless outlet to see if the airport card will work. I'm used to just plugging the cable into the ethernet card and having everything work (that's how SuSE, luckily, has always worked for me).

Sorry for the open question but does anyone know what kinds of information I need to look at or where I can go to figure out how to configure this ibook? I'd like to be able to use apt-get via ftp/http instead of downloading everything onto cds.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

(I should probably post this in the networking section.)

[eraker]

It seems to be fixed now, but I have no idea how. I installed mozilla from a disc and now it works.