Help on /etc/network/interfaces
 

I looked for similar threads and the closest I found was regarding someone who had wired and wireless simultaneously, but that's not my problem.

I'm trying to set up a static IP because I intend to use my box as a fileserver and webhost among other things.

I have a Linksys WRT45G router, the DHCP pool starts at 192.168.1.200,
And I have "Static DNS 1:" set to 192.168.1.100

now I understand I need to use nano and edit /etc/network/interfaces, but when I edit it as instructed I lose my internet connection.

eth0 refers to ethernet connection 0 (the only one I have), what does "lo" stand for?

address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the static IP I want to assign as I understand it.
netmask 255.255.255.0 I know this
network xxx.xxx.xxx.x <-- what is this exactly? Where do I find what goes here?
broadcast xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx <-- Where do I find what goes here?
gateway xxx.xxx.xxx.x <-- router IP correct?

I also have some confusion as to what needs to be done to the router itself. If /etc/network/interfaces is set to an IP below the dhcp pool will the router automatically give it that IP as long as nothing else is set to the same static IP, or do I need to change some kind of setting on the router to allow it to obtain the static IP?
Thanks, I hate being a newbie sometimes lol
-SS

Variant A: From router assign a static IP to your server, associated with it's MAC address. In this case run DHCP client from server and it gets the same address every time.
Variant B: Reserve some addresses for static connections (I think you did it already).
Read up on networking: http://www.ipprimer.com/overview.cfm
IP calculators are helpful too, like this: http://jodies.de/ipcalc?host=192.168...ask1=24&mask2=

Success
 

Alright I got it to work.
A lot of the tutorials online don't explain how they found the numbers they listed and I put in an incorrect number, as well as didn't forward the ports.