Barry,
Thanks for helping, I know it's hard to help someone who refuses all advice...
OK, I can't add samba/netbios to the name resolution setup, that's fine. You say that the only other way would be to have the DHCP server update a dynamic hosts file or DNS server.
Firstly, doesn't e-smith run just such a DNS server? I look in the DHCP logs and there are no client hostnames, so wouldn't I need some software on the clinets?
Secondly, I'm unsure why this is not regarded as a a shortcoming in e-smith, or even linux in general. The reasons for DNS on the internet also exist when talking to my local LAN -- I don't want to manually update a hosts file, or to memorise all the names/addresses.
I want to [see if I can] use hostnames in the firewall rules, the ssh tunnels and so on. I know LNW (linux is not windows) but something like e-smith is at least partly designed as a drop-in replacement for a windows server on a windows LAN.
Thanks in advance!