new to linux.. major questions!

I'm very new to Linux, and I bought a Dell Inspiron 1525 and it arrived yesterday, and I have never worked on Linux and have never heard of it until my friend recommended it. I would love to connect to the internet, but since I haven't set up my wireless internet (which I've heard will be a hassle) I'm using an Ethernet cable that is being used right now for my desktop, which is a Windows XP (not sure if that helps any with the internet prob, but I just threw it in just in case it does). We have a router, but sometimes it doesn't work, and I thought that a wireless router would be better to use. I'm just wondering, how do I connect to the internet through an ethernet cable? Thanks for your time :)

Also, you generally don't have to re-boot unless you've had to apply network settings. Try plugging in the cable, open a terminal (console) window, and if you're using Ubuntu, type sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart If you're using another distribution, type su <root password> /etc/init.d/network restart or /etc/init.d/networking restart That will usually do the trick! Also, I have _never_ had wireless problems with any of my Linux machines. I know that some adapters have driver problems, but most of them do not.

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