I'm very interested in this topic, as I've been having problems setting
up for the internet & networking other computers. I'm having a bit more
success now after much experimenting, so I thought my comments might be
of interest.

I haven't had any success with using DHCP, although it is recommended as
the easy option. I suspect that it's something to do with the settings
in my router/modem, although AFAIK it is set up for DHCP.

However, I prefer static settings, so that I know the IP addresses of
all the computers on the network, and they won't change.

The biggest break through came when I found an instruction in the
'Dummies' book. After setting up all the IP addresses you must the
DEACTIVATE the network connection. Then REACTIVATE it. On version 6.06
there is box on the 'Connections' menu for doing this. In version 7.04
there is a little box to check or uncheck. Before reactivating, it's
probably best to save the settings, and exit from the network menu,
before resetting.

I've just tried this with the 'live' version of 7.04, running from the
CD, and it worked.

The default gateway setting is very important, as it carries all the
stuff coming from the internet, and allows you to set up the
router/modem. It's usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1.

The DNS server addresses are supplied by your ISP.

Regarding networking other Linux computers, there is a facility called
'Open SSH Server'which seems to be recommended. Ubuntu comes with the
'Open SSH Client' but you have to install the Server package. I tried
this and found it quite easy to install & get going.

For communicating with Windows, IIRC a package called SAMBA is used,
although I haven't tried it yet.

Trust this is of interest, and I'll be very interested in any comments
or corrections