VDQ : machine names??

[Beartooth]

	I know it's a Very Dumb Question; I just can't find a general 
answer that works. 

	I want to stop calling all the machines on my LAN 
localhost.localdomain, and give them distinctive names. I have found two 
or three ways of doing so; but they don't stick. 

	The only way that really works, for me at least, is to think of 
it (and be ready) while doing a fresh install. When anaconda asks me 
whether to use dhcp, I can click on manual, type in a name, click back to 
using dhcp, and that name lasts.

	I'm not even sure now whether it's mere logging out and back in, 
or just actual reboots that do it, but in a location subject to longer 
power failures than the UPSs I can afford will ride out, I get enough 
reboots, too (alas!).

	One other way that I've tried is to use system-config-network, 
and edit the configuration of eth0; but that seems to be little more than 
a pacifier. I want something that shows up in the prompts, and that I can 
use in ssh and scp, without having to look up IP numbers on the router 
all the time -- especially since not all LAN machines are on one floor.

	Clue, please? Pretty please?

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, PhD, Neo-Redneck Linux Convert
Fedora 8 & 9; Alpine 1.10, Pan 0.132; Privoxy 3.0.6;
Dillo 0.8.6, Galeon 2, Epiphany 2, Opera 9, Firefox 2 & 3
Remember I know precious little of what I am talking about.