> 
> 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.
> 
DNS is not required unless you have routing to your local net. Try to
add the file "/etc/resolv.conf" that should contain:

---------------snip-----
domain <the.domain.you.are.using, you might have an own?>
nameserver <numeric ip address of your isp's name server>
---------------snip-----

well domain is not really necessary unless you have hosts on that
domain that you want to address without domain name suffix....