How can I configure my site to use IP address instead of domain name HI,

I created a site on my dev server and I want go live with it. The domain is being transferred from another registrar. I didn't realize it was going to take 7-10 days to get things moved over. I'm not able to get the installation to work on the old host's servers and I can on the new (bluehost).

Problem

Until the domain is transferred, I only have the IP address to work with on the new server. I have the site installed in a subdirectory of the public_html root. If I type in the URL, http://"IP"/~user/subDir the index displays as it should. Apparently the server knows that this is the public_html directory somehow without having to state it as the full path is http://"IP"/homex/~user/public_html/subDir/. If I click on any of the menu items to go to another page I get error 404 and the URL is http://"IP"/~user/~user . Note the second "~user" directory which, of course, doesn't exist.

If I deselect the SEO options in the Joomla Admin, then the menu links work and the URL displays the usual DB URL.

I currently have the standard Joomla .htaccess file enabled with the following directives in the SEO section;

Code:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/index.php

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.php|\.html|\.htm|\.feed|\.pdf|\.raw|/[^.]*)$  [NC]

RewriteRule (.*) index.php

RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization},L] 

I'm not sure what to enter in the configuration.php for the live_site either;

Code:

var $live_site = '';

since it is unclear to me how to define the base URL for the site.
Related to this is how to do a .htaccess redirect from the old site.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.