I've not got Win98, but I'm assuming that it's just Win95 plus IE4/IE5, Active Desktop, and some new drivers ;^). So, all the Windows stuff below is based on Win95.<br>
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OK, the Win Login was probably using NetBEUI (Microsoft Networking) as it's protocol. This is the default for Microsoft Networking. (Or, it used to be.) The Win98 boxes will also be using this to see each other's shared drives and printers. To connect to the server you need TCP/IP.<br>
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Because you've set up IP addresses on the Win98 boxes, this must mean TCP/IP is installed. (I also recall something about TCP/IP being available by default in Win98.)<br>
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The set up you've detailed should work OK, although you should consider changing your network address to be in the 192.168 "public use" range. Then, if you do hook up your network to the Net, there shouldn't be any problems with clashing IP numbers.<br>
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When you say the the "... server is not online...", I'm assuming you mean that it's not got an Internet connection, and not that it's powered off. ;^D<br>
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OK, to ping the server from the Win boxes, start up a DOS box/command prompt/whatever it's called these days. In the DOS box, type:<br>
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ping 200.200.200.100<br>
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You should see something like:<br>
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C:\WINDOWS>ping 200.200.200.100<br>
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Pinging 200.200.200.100 with 32 bytes of data:<br>
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Reply from 200.200.200.100: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=63<br>
Reply from 200.200.200.100: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=63<br>
Reply from 200.200.200.100: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=63<br>
Reply from 200.200.200.100: bytes=32 time<10ms TTL=63<br>
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If this works, then TCP/IP is configured and working at both ends. If you see "Request timed out" instead of the "Reply from..." messages above, then TCP/IP is failing on either the Win98 box or the Linux server.<br>
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If TCP/IP ping failed:<br>
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Login to the Linux box as root.<br>
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Type "netstat -i".<br>
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You'll see some output about the network interfaces that are currently recognised by Linux. You'll always have at least one interface for the loopback device called "lo" or "lo0". You should see another. It's name will vary depending on the network card in the Linux box, but could be something like "eE0", "eth0", or something.<br>
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If you don't see this second device, then Linux is not recognising your network card, and that's your problem.<br>
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If TCP/IP ping worked OK:<br>
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Then TCP/IP is up and running. The next thing to try is to telnet from a Win98 box to the server. From a DOS box again, type:<br>
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telnet 200.200.200.100<br>
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A Windows telnet window should appear, and you should see the login prompt from the Linux box.<br>
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A quick word on telnet. You said that you'd telnetted on the server. I'm assuming that you were logged in to the Linux server, and did something like "telnet 200.200.200.100" to telnet back in to yourself. IF this was the case, you didn't touch the ethernet card at all.<br>
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Linux, and Unix in general, doesn't use the ethernet card for local networking operations. It uses the loopback device mentioned earlier. On my standalone Linux box at home, I can telnet and rlogin back in to the box without having a network card. X does all it's work via networking, and this also uses the loopback device if running locally.<br>
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Don't worry about this too much, I just thought I'd mention it cos it's a common mistake to assume that because you can network from the current host to the current host, networking is up and running.<br>
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A point on the name of the Linux server, also. The hostname looks a bit bogus, and might cause problems. You should change ".plt.com" to be something like "myserver.plt.com".<br>
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Finally, and you probably know this already, the Microsoft equiv of /etc/hosts is c:\windows\lmhosts. It's the same format, so just set it up as you would the Linux /etc/hosts.<br>
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OK, I've rambled on enough for now. Sorry if it's made no sense, but I'm getting over major jet lag at the mo.

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Let me know how you get on.