[Techtalk] Host names on a LAN

[David Sumbler]

I have 2 desktop computers (one running Ubuntu 9.10 and a new one with
10.10) and a handheld one running Windows XP Pro (yuck!)  They are all
connected to a Netgear DGN2000 router which is a DHCP server.

The router knows the hostnames of all the computers, but the individual
conputers don't know each other's names, so when I want to use SSH or
Samba to connect two together I have to log into the router to find out
the relevant IP address and then use that.

The easy solution to this problem would, of course, be for me to set up
fixed IP addresses, which is easy with just 3 computers and 1 router!

But surely there must be a way to get the router to act as a DNS server
within the LAN, or to inform the client computers of the names of the
other hosts.  How can this be done?

David
-- 
David Sumbler <david at aeolia.co.uk>