debian from ethernet to wifi

I have a command line installation of debian on a laptop that's supposed 
to have the hardware to do wifi.  Right now, I don't yet know what 
additional software to install so this computer can talk to the wifi 
network and log on.  archlinux has madwifi and a large section on wifi 
installation on its installguide file but that's not in the debian 
repository so for now I have no clue.  I do have a wifi adapter antenna I 
will have to use with a tower system but don't know if this wil also be 
needed to run the laptop.

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