Why is adding a new Ubuntu PC to an existing LAN such a pain?

[Mario Vukelic]

On Sat, 2007-01-20 at 23:26 +0000, Bob Adams wrote:
> No, no DHCP server present so I'm using (or trying to) static
> addresses.

Adding machines to a network without DHCP is _always a pain :) Is there
a special reason why you use static addresses?

> (Ubuntu assumes a server
> will be present which is not a really good idea.)

Which Ubuntu version is this?
>