On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 18:14:59 +0000, usenet@alienrat.co.uk (Woody) wrote:

>William Black  wrote:
>
>> "nickm"  wrote in message 
>> news:47aa2506$0$13930$fa0fcedb@news.zen.co.uk...

>> 
>> , all your
>> > machines need to discover by other methods, the friendly names of your
>> > computers.  This can take a bit longer than if using DNS.  A quick way
>> > round this is to address each PC and shared folder by its IP address,
>> 
>> Except,  like everyone else in the world,  I use DHCP.
>
>Not me. I have fixed IP here.

I have fixed IP too; for the benefit of may mailserver, and so that I
can time-limit the kids' internet access.
>
>> And what's more if I force an IP address the laptops becomes useless if I
>> want to use the free WiFi point down at the pub.
>
>Mine switches location if it is not on my home network and uses dhcp.

On my school laptop I set DHCP on the wired connection, so I can connect
at work, and a fixed IP on wireless for my home connection. But it will
still connect wireless at work if I ask it to. That's running XP.
>
>> Microsoft are trying to make a 'one size fits all' networking system that
>> includes everyone from home users to vast governmental ministries and
>> reasonably obviously it just doesn't work at the extreme ends of the 
>> spectrum.  The problem is that the majority of users are at the extreme ends
>> of the spectrum.
>
>I never understand how windows manages to make networking so
>complicated. It is never a good thing having to solve network problems
>on windows. Having said that, vista is better than XP, setup wise.

They try to make it idiot-proof. In the process they make it difficult
for people that understand how to set up a network! I used to find Win98
much easier to set up than XP.
-- 
Chris Bolus (change o to zero to reply by email)
A guitar is for life, not just for Christmas!

On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 21:51:03 +0000, usenet@alienrat.co.uk (Woody) wrote:

>Chris Bolus  wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 18:14:59 +0000, usenet@alienrat.co.uk (Woody) wrote:
>> 
>> >William Black  wrote:
>> >
>> >> "nickm"  wrote in message 
>> >> news:47aa2506$0$13930$fa0fcedb@news.zen.co.uk...
>> 
>> >> 
>> >> , all your
>> >> > machines need to discover by other methods, the friendly names of your
>> >> > computers.  This can take a bit longer than if using DNS.  A quick way
>> >> > round this is to address each PC and shared folder by its IP address,
>> >> 
>> >> Except,  like everyone else in the world,  I use DHCP.
>> >
>> >Not me. I have fixed IP here.
>> 
>> I have fixed IP too; for the benefit of may mailserver, and so that I
>> can time-limit the kids' internet access.
>
>You don't actually need a fixed IP of the mailserver, as long as the
>router knows where it is, but it is certainly eaiser.

You're assuming I have a router ;-)
-- 
Chris Bolus (change o to zero to reply by email)
A guitar is for life, not just for Christmas!

"Chris Bolus"  wrote in message 
news:6f2pq3dmd6h29mjogcbhsktko75ru5crch@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 21:51:03 +0000, usenet@alienrat.co.uk (Woody) wrote:
>
>>Chris Bolus  wrote:
>>
>>> On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 18:14:59 +0000, usenet@alienrat.co.uk (Woody) wrote:
>>>
>>> >William Black  wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> "nickm"  wrote in message
>>> >> news:47aa2506$0$13930$fa0fcedb@news.zen.co.uk...
>>>
>>> >>
>>> >> , all your
>>> >> > machines need to discover by other methods, the friendly names of 
>>> >> > your
>>> >> > computers.  This can take a bit longer than if using DNS.  A quick 
>>> >> > way
>>> >> > round this is to address each PC and shared folder by its IP 
>>> >> > address,
>>> >>
>>> >> Except,  like everyone else in the world,  I use DHCP.
>>> >
>>> >Not me. I have fixed IP here.
>>>
>>> I have fixed IP too; for the benefit of may mailserver, and so that I
>>> can time-limit the kids' internet access.
>>
>>You don't actually need a fixed IP of the mailserver, as long as the
>>router knows where it is, but it is certainly eaiser.
>
> You're assuming I have a router ;-)

True, but if you had dhcp you probably would, so you wouldn't need the 
static IP on the mailserver!

-- 
Woody

On Fri, 8 Feb 2008 20:41:12 +0000 (UTC), David Haggett
 wrote:

>On Fri, 08 Feb 2008 16:54:13 +0000, Chris Bolus wrote:
>
>>>> >Not me. I have fixed IP here.
>>>> 
>>>> I have fixed IP too; for the benefit of may mailserver, and so that I
>>>> can time-limit the kids' internet access.
>>>
>>>You don't actually need a fixed IP of the mailserver, as long as the
>>>router knows where it is, but it is certainly eaiser.
>> 
>> You're assuming I have a router ;-)
>
>Actually Chris,  you're telling us you have a router.  Your router may 
>look like a PC with a broadband modem, but the fact you are using fixed 
>IP to limit Internet access means without a doubt that you are using a 
>router.

I suppose that's effectively what it is. A PC that has one job: Internet
Connection Sharing, with Sygate controlling access. But internal mail
distribution from the mailserver bypasses that.
-- 
Chris Bolus (change o to zero to reply by email)
A guitar is for life, not just for Christmas!