[mdcarter1]

My home network consists of OS X, Linux, and XP computers. Up till now, i've always accessed each computer using its ip address. I would like to know if there is a way i can access each machine by its host name ie alpha.local, bravo.local, etc....

[thesearcher]

http://www.opennet.ru/docs/BSD/ppp-p...lan-hosts.html
Or this:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;294437

I'm not sure about Linux or XP, but a google search suggests that linux also uses /etc/hosts, and Adding Static Clients to the Hosts File looks like it might be what you're looking for with regard to XP.

[Camelot]

Alternatively, configure any of your hosts as a DNS server and create a zone for your local network.

Then configure all the machines to use this machine as their DNS server and you're all set. If you use DHCP to assign IP addresses to your system, a simple change in your DHCP server will propogate that change automatically.

Both Mac OS X and Linux come with DNS servers built in. I'm sure there's also a solution for the Windows machine, but I don't play that game.

The drawback here is that the DNS server will need to be on all the time - or, at least, all the time any of the other machines need to access the net. This may or may not be a problem for you.

[BigMac2]

I wonder if Microsoft will ever support ZeroConf. things are so much easier with the multicast DNS of Rendez-Vous ;-)

[ghporter]

Actually MS is starting to implement Zero Config hardware. XP Pro (and maybe Home) supports this-which is a problem when XP tries to control an older device whose drivers don't support Zero Config! Anyway, MS also supports Universal Plug and Play, or UPnP, for network devices, which puts control of your router, chat adapters, etc. in Windows' network controls. Pretty cool, but not yet smooth.