I want all my boxen on static IPs.  This has not heretofore been a problem.  
It still isn't on the rest of the network, but it is on my desktop.  I have 
solved it for teh moment by using DHCP, but I would still prefer a static IP.  
(Easier for port-forwarding etc.)
As the interfaces file stands (see below) it works fine.  But if I comment out 
the fourth line and comment the following five lines back in, I cannot 
connect.  So something is wrong.  I have tried other files that have worked 
before for me or now for other people, all with no success. :-(
-------------------------------------------------------
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
 iface eth0 inet dhcp
# iface eth0 inet static
#       address 192.168.0.2
#       netmask 255.255.255.0
#       gateway 192.168.0.1
#       dns-nameservers 212.23.3.100 212.23.6.100
---------------------------------------------------------
Can anyone see what is wrong?  All suggestions very gratefully received.
TIA
Lisi