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

[Garry Knight]

Brian Fahrlander wrote:

>     There's a tactic I used to help in this exact situation.  Consider
> the ".local" domain.

Well, the domain I chose ends in .org and that might be why attempting to
ping a box whose name/IP isn't in /etc/hosts results in pinging some other
host out on the Internet. Maybe I'll try changing it to .local - or maybe
I'll leave it since everything is running fine the way it is.

> Hand it to the machine doing DNS for the entire site

That's the problem I was describing in my previous post: There's nowhere in
the (Netgear) wireless hub/router's config to put a domain name. In fact,
the only place I can see to put a host's name is in the section where you
configure fixed IPs to particular MAC addresses.

>     DHCP becomes easier. You don't have to use IP addresses, and you can
> set <MAC ADDRESS> to "ws01" and be done with it.

I don't understand this last bit. Set <MAC ADDRESS> where? Is this to do
with configuring a DHCP on a Linux box? I don't have that option since I
installed the router.

>     NFS is easier; with a proper name, you can use a wildcard ending in
> .local.

My /etc/exports uses 192.168.1.0/24 rather than names as I want that stuff
available to everything on the LAN. (Including my Pocket PC, but it doesn't
understand NFS, unsurprisingly...)

-- 
Garry Knight
garryknight at gmx.net