I was wondering if you can connect to your N900's with the default hostname N900-42-11 ?

Do I need avahi-daemon or something to broadcast the hostname, or configure /etc/hosts?

I checked from my router and it seems that my N900 isn't broadcasting it's hostname.

I've done some searching but couldn't find answer for now.

Thanks

I'm using DD-WRT firmware and it shows my N900 broadcasting its hostname, So perhaps it's your router?

I don't think so because I couldn't connect with hostname on another routers either. Seems like my N900 isn't broadcasting it at all. With ip I can connect but, it's pretty annoying when ip changes all the time.

Initially my N900 was not reachable via its hostname in my LAN.
Later I installed "Pidgin Extra Protocols (Bonjour and Sametime)" from Extras - and I updated the firmware to PR1.1.1.
Which of both made it happen? I don't know, but I can connect to my N900 from my Macs using its hostname.
(The other way round still does not work: My N900 does not recognize my Macs by their hostnames.)

think it would be possible to use that mini webserver to give the N900 a domain name and connect that way?

When it works, it works because your router is running udhcpc or something similar which acts both as a DNS resolver for the local network and the DHCP server. Most devices, including the N900, send their hostname in the DHCP request. That hostname then gets put into the resolver on the router and you have happy days.

Needless to say, if your other device (say, your PC) isn't using the router's DNS server, it won't work.