Quote Originally Posted by rec9140
Netmask = should ALWAYS bee 255.255.255.0
This is a huge generalization, and not one that should go without a response. If you had said something like the netmask is usually 255.255.255.0 then I could accept that, but an uppercase always is just too strong. I have seen home networking equipment that uses different masks. A much better statement might be that DHCP should always set this for you, and when it doesn't, one should understand network masks and set it properly. I've written about how to set the mask and it's relation to broadcast address and the assigned IP address in other threads and don't have time to go into it again, but there is plenty of good information on the Internet that explains it in easy to understand terms (caution: not all of that information is correct).

Quote Originally Posted by rec9140
Default Gateway = your ROUTER's IP, which in the winworld is normaly 192.168.0.1, or 192.168.1.1 NOT 192.168.1.254 like *nix
I'm not really clear on what you are saying here. Usually the default setup for a router is one that ends in .1, but I've seen 192.168.0.1, 192.168.1,1, 192.168.2.1 and 10.0.0.1 used pretty commonly (Belkin likes to use 192.168.2.1) and I've seen some routers that don't default to the last digit being 1. I must be missing what you are trying to say about a xxx.xxx.xx.254 address, while you can move most routers there, wherever the router is it would be reached by the same address from Windows, Linux, Unix or any other OS that you are running.