Slow boot waiting for eth0?

[Graham Fawcett]

When I boot Ubuntu Hoary on my Dell Inspiron 8200, and I'm not
connected to the LAN, the boot is delayed for a few minutes as it
tries to bring up the eth0 interface. Frequently, I *am* connected to
our LAN when booting; but when I'm not, the very long delay is
frustrating.

What's the correct way to reduce the time spent blocking for an eth0
connection during boot?

Thanks to the Ubuntu team for a great Linux distribution.

-- Graham

Graham Fawcett
University of Windsor
Windsor, Ontario, Canada