Hi,

Don't know if my question fit in this catagory or not. But I'm sure there're people out there who can solve my problem.

I have a laptop running Windows 2000 and a desktop running Redhat Linux 9. I have subscribed the ADSL service and use my laptop to browse the web, but it requires me to set "Obtain an IP address automatically" in the Internat Protocol Properties.

But my web server and a lot of other stuff are on Linux and and do mos tof my work on Linux. I opened several terminals on my Windows and use secureCRT problem to telnet to the Linux. When I need to connect my laptop and desktop together, I have to change the IP address of my laptop to 192.168.0.2 because I set my Redhat Linux IP to 192.168.0.1. So when I use my Linux and Windows together, I can't browse the web.

It becomes a hassle and really annoying when I have to switch the IP address back and forth and log out and log in each time.

I wonder what kind of hardware setting I need so I can use consistant one IP for my laptop and can browse the web and telnet to the Linux at the same time. Will a router solve all my problem? Thanks in advance for any help.



Paul

Yes, a hardware router will solve your problems, because they use DHCP (dynamic addressing), and will adapt your IP address to whatever is available. Because they're dirt cheap right now, I can't think of an easier way to do this, and even the wireless ones don't cost more than a nice dinner for two at a decent restaurant, though I'd avoid older Linksys routers (netgear seems to be nicer to us Linux folks), because of the headaches I've had with their 802.11b systems. (Not that they haven't gotten better, I just haven't bothered. The whole once bitten, twice shy thing.)