first part of line in terminal

[Colin Law]

On 9 January 2011 10:22, Jacob Mansfield <cyberjacob at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 09/01/11 08:57, Colin Law wrote:
>> When installing Ubuntu there is a field for entry of the machine name,
>> which is defaulted to a value the installer chooses.  I don't remember
>> exactly where that is, but I do know that it is easy to miss, I have
>> more than once not noticed it and ended up with machine name I did not
>> want.
>>
>> Colin
>
> The hostname is set in the installation when the default user is created.
> assuming ubuntu desktop with a user name of Peter Parker the hostname
> becomes Peter-Desktop by default.
> this setting can be changed by editing /etc/hostname and rebooting

That would explain why I missed it, the option never appeared!  It is
not always name-desktop though, sometimes it is -laptop.

For anyone that does not know, to edit that file open a terminal
(Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and enter
gksu gedit /etc/hostname

Colin