In message <4f8e5d4310lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
John Williams <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> In article <0b2e5b8e4f.JCCArc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> J C Conner <jcc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> > I gather some people swear by them but other swear at them!
>
>> Glad someone else said that - I was keeping quiet as I just use the
>> old 'paper and pencil' trick!
>
> The point of them is that you can use 'meaningful' names for your machines
> instead of numbers.
>
> They act as a mini-local-DNS-lookup.
>
> Mine had names such as 'Iyonix', 'Downstairs' (that was the A7000 in the
> morning room which did the CLID and had copies of bank statements on it,
> recipes, and the large-print timer), 'SARPC', 'RPC1', 'PC1' 'Thinkpad'
> etcetera.
>
> If you have a working network, updating them all from one m/c is not
> difficult, and having names instead of numbers is a great advantage when
> VNC-ing. They don't all have to be connected at the same time
>
> My hosts file also had an extra descriptor as a comment (after a hash) such
> as 'Ex ...' - the name of the donor of various clapped-out PCs.
>
> Thus it was a proper list - and available on all the computers! Much safer
> than 'paper and pencil'!
O.K. Sold to the lady in the orange hat.
I now have a Host File!
Jonathan.
--
Internet access with Iyonix and RISC OS 5 : <J.C. Conner>
"*Veni, vici*...Vetinari." -- (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)
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