[NTLUG:Discuss] Newbie Question re: LPD Initialization and Local Host Bad Message

[Fred Hensley]

Greetings All,

After a few months of immersing myself into the Linux world and meeting
several of you at the last few NTLUG meetings, I am finally at wits end
on one problem whose solution escapes me.  Neither my brand new "Running
Linux" book nor some net searches have helped thus far.  This latest
issue has also caused strange 3-d images to appear on my forehead
curiously resembling letters and outlines from my keyboard... <g>

Two weeks ago, on good advice from some of you, I punted on my Debian
Woody installation, and installed RedHat 8.0 (with kernel
2.4.18-24.8.0).

My PC is locally connected, via LPT1, to an HP Laserjet 4.  Also, I
utilize AT&T as my cable internet provider, and am dynamically assigned
a new IP address on each system reboot.

The issue centers around two seemingly related symptoms as follows:

1.  Upon startup, LPD does not initialize, but instead give me the error
"Host Name x1-6-00-90-c9-04-42-7e bad".  Therefore the line printing
daemon cannot start, and my printer is effectively offline.

2.  When starting Gnome2 (a.k.a. Bluecurve), I receive the following
error: 
     "Could not look up internet address for x1-6-00-90-c9-04-42-7e. 
This will prevent Gnome from operating correctly.  It may be possible to
correct this problem by adding x1-6-00-90-c9-04-42-7e to the file
/etc/hosts."

I have checked /etc/hosts and noted that the only IP address listed is
"127.0.0.1".  Although the above address doesn't resemble an IP node, I
have added it to the file without success.

I suspect that I'm missing something relatively obvious, and ask for
some guidance from my new peers.

Question 1:  Am I simply missing something in one or more local
configuration files to straighten out Gnome and LPD?

Question 2:  Once item one is fixed, is there a simple way, via the
console, to independently confirm that the OS recognizes my LPT1 port?

Question 3:  What's your favorite linux reference/tutorial for
ex-Windoze users?

Many Thanks in Advance,

Fred Hensley
Ex-Windoze Guru, Brand New Linux Disciple

------ "When you come to a fork in the road, take it..." Yogi Berra ----