This is bound to be a simple question and I feel simple for asking but:
I have a LAN which includes a Linux (Slackware 11) system and a Windoz (XP) system connected through a router. Yesterday I got cable internet so the cable modem is hooked into the WAN side if the router. The Windows sytem works fine, browses internet without a problem. But the Linux system can't. I have tried various proxy settingd on the browsers and it changes the problem but doesn't fix it. What do I need to do to Slackware to get it working with the router for internet access? Local access works fine for http, telnet, samba, &c., but Linux can't find remote URLs. Maybe a DNS problem? They didn't give me any DNS server info, so I am confused about that but, like I said, Windoz is working fine. What am I missing?

Routers can be set to aquire DNS addresses form your ISP. If I can remember, windoze uses a setting called 'autoamtic' or something very similar. This means windoze gets the DNS addresses from the router.

Have a look in your router configuration to see if it set up to get DNS addresses form your ISP. I would guess it is, since windoze is working.

Those addresses should wind up in a file called /etc/resolv.conf. on your linux system. You can look there to see if you have any addresses. There is a warning on my system, not to edit that file, changes get overwritten. I assume that happens if my router passes my system new DNS addresses.

It is also possible to set the router up with the DNS addresses the ISP gives you. On my router that is called 'manual'. With that setting, if the ISP changes DNS addresses, I would have to change the addresses manually on my router. Small ISP's would probably not change them, if at all; where a large ISP could change them often.

If your ISP has a support line, you can call and ask for DNS IP addresses. BTW, if they tell you linux is not supported, just ignore that comment. All it means is they don't know anything about linux.

Hope this helps.

I now have the linux system connecting to the internet. The way I got it connected was:
run 'pkgtool' ; one of the options is 'Setup"
Selecting setup opens anothe menu with an entry 'netconfig'
selecting netconfig runs the network setup that came up at install.
One of the choices allows DHCP to be detected automagicly.
That done, I rebooted. I'm sure there is a better way but that's how I got it working.

Thanks for the advice. It helped steer me in the right direction.

Glad you got it going.