On Dec 2, 2005, at 12:06 am, Colt Freeman wrote: > > Right, I'm familier with the commands and how to use Terminal, the > problem > is with the way I'm using the ping command. For a host that isn't in > /hosts > how do I figure out the ip for it? I can't just type 'ping host' as I > can in > the command window of windows box. > > I understand that ipconfig will tell me my ip address, what I want to > know > is why another students computer is resolving/giving me my host name, > why am > I not simply 'Ideal' which is the name for my computer... My intuitive answer to this is that there's some proprietary Windoze going on on the network. I wouldn't be surprised if the campus runs a Windows domain, and I believe that Windows boxes can do name resolution as part of Windows file & printer sharing (as Macs can do name resolution with Rendevous / Bonjour); there's something called WINS (name resolution?) that I know nothing about. If this / these guesses are correct then I doubt there's an easy way to resolve (boom! boom!) your issues. I had the dubious pleasure of installing Windows SBS Server 2003 last week - it's very easy to set up, but it does try & do everything for you, refusing to run the Internet Setup Wizard because I refused to turn off my router's DHCP server. When I asked for advice on one of the microsoft.* newsgroups I got lambasted my an MVP for not doing things "properly". To my mind my attempts to run as little on this server as possible - or at least, only the services that I've considered & chosen - is far more proper! As I say, my answers are intuitive, not definitive, but if your campus is very much a "Mircosoft shop" then I'd expect problems like those you're experiencing, and little help from the IT services department in fixing them. Stroller.