LAN question

[Paul Newell]

Fedora:

Before I switched to F9, all my FC5 machines were happily chatting with 
each other through a Linksys WRT54GL but none of them could see the net. 
I upgraded one of them to F9 and it sees the net and can ssh to the 
others. But the other two machines can no longer ssh into it F9 system. 
I tried to play with things to fix it, but the best I could do was kill 
the network connection so that the F9 system can't see the other machine 
or the net. In other words, I screwed up. Since I can't figure out how 
to get the network back alive by restoring prior conditions, I am 
resigned to yet another re-install (the price of learning is lots of 
starting over...)

That being said, I was hoping to get a bit of advice.

The following is the F9 /etc/hosts file after 1) a fresh install of f9 
and 2) my additions (noted with comments):

    # Do not remove the following line, or various programs
    # that require network functionality will fail.
    127.0.0.1        chowder.localdomain chowder localhost.localdomain
    localhost chowder
    ::1        localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6

    #-# 14sep08 (paul): self
    192.168.2.11    chowder

    #-# 14sep08 (paul): other machines available
    192.168.2.10    chalupa
    192.168.2.12    parsnip

The next section is from one of the FC5 machines:

    # Do not remove the following line, or various programs
    # that require network functionality will fail.
    127.0.0.1    localhost.localdomain    localhost

    #-# self
    192.168.2.12    parsnip   

    #-# other machines available
    192.168.2.10    chalupa   
    192.168.2.11    chowder   

I am suspect of the "localdomain" in the F9 version, but trying to play 
with that is what killed network (LAN and internet) ability.

I went through the system->admin->network stuff and couldn't see 
anything that looked wrong (then again, do I know what is right?)

As always, suggestions appreciated (including general pointers as to 
where to go online to learn more about all this)

Thanks,
Paul