Great install - up to a point! But it stopped at the Hostname and Domainname questions. The default filled-in hostname was inappropriate, but how and what to change? My references say domain and host names aren’t that different - my.domain.name is a host name, after all. And the box check question: to uncheck or not?
The Help available is a bit threatening:
snip
if you are using DHP to get an IP address, your hostname will be written to /etc/hosts and be resolvable as a 127.0.0.2 IP address. … To disable this option, uncheck this box. Now your hostname will not be resolvable without an active network.
*end snip
Looking this up on the wiki leads to further confusion. It is not clear what the “active network” problem will be, for example. Will I be able to establish a network connection (it’s not active until I do)? What about an internet connection?
Short question: what does a new user do here? What to fill in for names and how to manage the check boxes?
First thing to decide is if you are/will use a DHCP server. This may depend on how you connect to your ISP and if you ISP provides/presses you with the service of a DHCP server. When yes you get all from DHCP.
When not, read on.
You will know hostnames as the names systems are know throughout the interenet (and also internal networks like forums.opensuse.com. This is a fully qualified host name, that is: formuns is the real hostname and opensuse.com is the domain where ist belongs to. So more hosts named forum may exist, but only one inside the same domain. In fact opensuse is a subdomain of com, which is a top level domain.
So in fact my.domain.name could be a host names my in a domain named domian name or it gopuld be a domain where yoy can havve hosts like johns, marys or you could even have subdomains like office.my.domain.name wher you could havehosts.
So when you have only a few system in side a home network you can choose names like: nice, backup, kids, wifes. When you want these names known in the internet you have to register a domain etc. But as I suppose you do not do this the domain could be something like: local, home, or your family name.
From the internet you will either have no name at all, or one given to you by your ISP.
During the Installation disable the autoconfig (if you install from the DVD) - on the page where you select new installation, upgrade etc. - there is a checkbox for the autoconfiguration - untick it an you can select your hostname and domain during the installation. For a single PC behind a router it does not matter what you choose.