Logging in
A bit dull, isn't it! Log in using your username from earlier, and we'll try and fix that.
The first thing we need is some absolutely essential software. We will use Debian's Apt system to download and install these. Installing software, however, is a potentially iffy activity, so only one person is man enough for the job - root! We can switch to the root user from the current one without logging out, by typing "su" - this will ask for the root password, then give you full root access when given it.
So, what do we do? Type in the following: "apt-get install smbclient mpg321 vorbis-tools links irssi-text" and hit enter (all Linux commands are case sensitive, so make sure to use lower case). This asks the system to download and install five programs, whose purpose I will explain later. Typing this will give you a summary of what Apt plans to do:
The top section covers packages which Apt will install, because the packages you asked for need them. The second section is for related packages you might also be interested in, based on the packages you've selected. The third section details packages which the system reckons you might need, but aren't strictly required. The final section is a summary, where as well as details of all the packages to be downloaded, there is a count for how much needs to be downloaded. Hit Y and press enter to have Apt do its thing. Some of the packages might have extra configuration settings required - in this case, a few settings are needed by the samba-common package that the system automatically added.
Samba is the Linux implementation of Windows' file sharing standard - the one used to display computers in My Network Places. The first question you are asked is asking which Windows workgroup to become a member of - mshome and workgroup are very common settings on a Windows network, so enter whatever you feel best matches your household setup. The next couple of screens don't make a lot of sense to the average user - and it's worth learning now that if in doubt, the defaults are probably fine. Hit enter a couple of times, to be dropped back into the console. Press Control and D to log out of being root, and go back to being a regular user.