ssh within home LAN issues

[Dazed_75]

I have multiple systems in my home.  The Linux boxes all currently run
Ubuntu 5.10.  The LAN also has several boxes running windows (mostly
XP) and a TiVo unit.  My Linksys router and wireless AP is the DHCP
server and gateway to the cable modem.  I currenly have no static IPs
assigned within the LAN.  BTW, this is all hobby stuff.

The other day I decided to experiment with using ssh mostly for fun,
though it could be handy to not have to flit between chairs just to do
something on another box.  I DID get this to work ... sort of ... but
not very elegantly.  IOW, I have to do ssh username at nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn
rather than using the name of the desired host.  Given that IPs can
change, I still need to flit to another chair to get the IP.  Note
that I do get the proper host name in the title of the terminal from
which I did the ssh connection.  I suspect I need to do something to
provide name resolution via a DNS server, Hosts list or something (the
issue again being DHCP assigned IPs).

Also, the ssh material I read seemed to indicate that ssh supported
running X based GUI programs remotely and when I tried that I got a
message that it was unable to open the display.  This could again be a
name resolution issue but I do not know.  Late last night I read that
Ubuntu defaults X "Forwarding" to OFF for ssh so that could be it as
well.

Hence 3 questions for now:
1 - How best to not have to use IPs for the ssh functions?
2 - Is X "Forwarding" being off the primary/sole cause for the remote
GUI failure?
3 - Where might I find CURRENT and fairly simple HOWTOs for ssh which
cover this situation (I have read many outdated docs and which assume
you are in a corporate environment with an internal name server)?

Sorry for being so wordy, but newbs are that way. :)
--

Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.
  - James M. Barrie