dereenigne.org

To enable NetBIOS name lookup in Linux, simply edit /etc/nsswitch.conf and add wins to the hosts line.

Before:

hosts:          files dns

After:

hosts:          files dns wins

Then install the winbind package.

sudo apt-get install winbind

You should now be able to address other machines on your LAN by their hostnames.

Before:

user@host:$ ping otherhost

ping: unknown host otherhost

After:

user@host:$ ping otherhost
PING otherhost (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from otherhost.local (192.168.1.1): icmp_req=1 ttl=64 time=0.382 ms
64 bytes from otherhost.local (192.168.1.1): icmp_req=2 ttl=64 time=0.446 ms
64 bytes from otherhost.local (192.168.1.1): icmp_req=3 ttl=64 time=0.422 ms
64 bytes from otherhost.local (192.168.1.1): icmp_req=4 ttl=64 time=0.495 ms
64 bytes from otherhost.local (192.168.1.1): icmp_req=5 ttl=64 time=0.440 ms
--- otherhost ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.382/0.437/0.495/0.036 ms