Yay! I'm running Linux again after a few months of using Windows. I didn't know how to configure Linux to connect to the internet at my new place, because it wasn't setup for wireless.
So, I finally decided that I was going to give my Linux box an internet connection. I started following the instructions in madwifi's debian help file.
In the process, I had to download and install a few dozen debian packages by hand. I figured out how to predict dependencies (debian indicates package dependies with a red dot) and what to do in the case of mutual dependencies (use dpkg -i packageA.deb packageB.deb).
I've figured out how to use grub to boot Windows even though Windows isn't on the first hard drive:
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
root (hd1,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1
boot
and figured out how to write grub onto the MBR: you get grub running inside linux and run the commands from inside grub:
grub> root (hd0,0)
grub> setup (hd0)
I figured out how to use module assistant, created a kernel image using make-kpkg, and managed to install everything so that I could run
sudo modprobe ath0
what then?
It turned out that all I had to do was run
sudo iwconfig ath0
and I could ping google.com
Yay. I am greatly proud. Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled physics homework.