[plug] network problem

[David Hillier]

Hi
I am a first time user on the linux system ,what I am trying to do is make a 
connection between my linux system and the windows machine ,the internet is 
already connected to the linux box through an adsl modem into (eth0)and works 
well , the modem incidently does not have routing capabilitys 
There is another ethernet card also installed in the linux box (eth1) which 
goes to a switch and from there to the windows machine ,now the problem is  
that when I configure the second card to what i think are the correct 
addresses and try to apply these settings  the config software hangs or 
crashes ,in anycase nothing much happens, the other problem is that I my 
knowledge about networking is limited  so I was looking for some assistance 
with this problem if possible.

I am using mandrake 10 with the kde gui 

David