A router route to the internet

My internet access is via a 'wirefree' system which involves a radio somewhere. This is not wireless. Apparently there are towers which relay the internet to people in areas too remote for more conventional systems. It is very fast broadband that works exceptionally well!

My win98 OS connects via a SMC cable/dsl broaband router through a usb ethernet adaptor. The router is a 'BarricadePlus' and boasts that it has VPN. I got interested (again) in Linux because I have been playing with a Knoppix bootable CD and, while I would love to load a full Linux distribution, I need to be sure that I can get the internet.

My searching indicates that some people find it 'easy to do' thru a router but being completly new at this, I am baffled. Is there a way of getting to the internet with a linux OS and the configuration I have descibed? If so, can you tell me how?

PS; This may not be, strictly speaking, a network issue but my link is to a network on this system. So I don't know where else to put this question!:p