hi, I have two computers with debian etch, and I do not know much about networks. In fact I'm doing an error. Can you tell me where?

I would like to connect them at home in a LAN, and eventually have the connection to internet (I found that masquerading will do the work, but it is left for later).
Right now I try to see one from each other with ping.
The ethernet cards of both computers work.
I have an old HUB (that works), I connect the 2 ethernet cables to it and to the computers, and I set /etc/network/interfaces like this:

computer 1:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.255.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.255.0
broadcast 192.168.255.255

computer 2:
the same but
address 192.168.255.2

Then
# /etc/init.d/network restart

and if I try ping one from the other, they are not reachable. Is the HUB a good way to do that?
Please, what do I miss?

that looks absolutely fine, run ifconfig on both boxes to actually show this config in action, and also run "arp -n" on both boxes after trying to ping. do you see valid arp entries for the other machine? that's the base level required to see other boxes on a network, IP addressing comes in quite a bit later, and could easily be being blocked by software firewalls etc...

if it really is a hub, then you might want to join the 21st century with a $10 switch, but it should generally be fine. some old hubs are temperamental with cable types and uplinks whilst most modern cheap switches will work out what kind of cable you have (straight or crossover) and adjust accordingly.

Thank you for the answer, finally it worked. I think you are right, and th HUB is a kind of difficult. Sometimes (by arp -n on both PCs) only one PC saw the other, often every one was blind. I did not succeeded until I unplugged the HUB and plugged again.
I should have tried before..
thank you again