networking

[Eric Kosten]

Hello list members.  First, happy new year.
  I am running the speakup modified fedora dist and installed it last
night.Now to the meat1! If I remember networks correctly, if I can't ping a
local ip address, but can ping localhost (127.0.0.1) if I am correct the
card is working? Example: my notebook is located on 192.168.1.201
I tried to ping an outside network and could not do it, so tried
localhost/notebook.
Aside from localhost, what is the easiest way to check to see if linux can
see my card of type:
broadcom 4401?
thanks
Eric