how do i ensure that my wireless adapter was detected

I am booting live from the cd. I am extremely new to linux and what may seem simple to you will probably blow my mind. I have read many articles with problems connecting to internet after installing to hdd. I am booting from cd. I don't know how to run simple commands like ipconfig /all or even how to look at the device manager to know if the card is present and working. As you can tell I am used to Windows. I am going to have to print any instructions given because when i get home i will not have access to the internet. The knoppix version i have is 3.9. My network card is a d-link DWL-520. The machine it is in is custom Intel board P4 3.2Ghz processor 1024 DDR2 Ram. Ide 30 GB harddrive. Nvidia 8x card not sure model. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.