Problems setting up a local lan

[Colin Paul Adams]

I'm trying to set up a local lan between two of my linux boxes.

On one (I will call it the server), there is a wireless connection to
the outside world.

In addition. I have turned on ip forwarding (via the proc file system)
and set a static ip
address of 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 on eth0.

On the other, I have set a static ip address of 10.0.0.2 on eth0,
netmask 255.255.255.0. I also tried adding a gatewat address of
10.0.0.1, and also tried omitting the gateway.

There is a physical ethernet cable connecting the two machines.

in either case, the two machines cannot ping each other (destination
host unreachable). If I do a netstat -r, as well as the default
gateway route across wan 0 (on the server only), I see entries on both
machines for 10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 eth0 and also  link-local
255.255.0.0 eth0.

What is this last entry, and is it the cause of my problems? Have I
omitted some important step?

NetworkManager is managing the wireless network, but I am activating
the eth0 manually (using the Activate button on the network control gui).
-- 
Colin Adams
Preston Lancashire