> The problem is, once I get connected I can't do anything on the network
> unless I know the IP address of the computer I'm trying to reach!  Any name
> address that isn't specified in my /etc/hosts file comes back as "host
> unknown".  The computer doesn't even _try_ to look for the DNS.

Do you have /etc/resolv.conf set up?

domain xmission.com
nameserver 1.2.3.4 (replace this with IP address of primary nameserver)

If you can ping the nameserver, then it should just work.