Rather than drop ~$80 or so on a router, I thought that I'd get acheap
second NIC for an old computer and have it manage my DSL modem for me.

The system seems to configure the card okay, and (perhaps a bit foolishly)
I upgraded the OS to 1.5.2 (from a 1.5_ALPHA), wiping its old config.

Now I've got some problems with the new system:

 (a) It doesn't seem to consult /etc/hosts anymore.  Instead, when it
     has to resolve a name, it just bails out with a lookup failure.
     What might I have done (or failed to do) to cause this?

 (b) If I use the IP number directly, I get messages about no route
     to host.  I assume that this isn't simply because of the extra
     network interface.

I assume that both problems are caused by simple, basic problems.  My
network configuration experience is quite limited.  (^&  But, I've had my
ethernet LAN working before, so I'm exasperated that it suddenly stopped.


  ``I probably don't know what I'm talking about.'' --rauch@math.rice.edu