Enable ethernet?

I understand from other posts that ethernet may not be enabled by default on the Pi. Can anyone tell me how to enable it in Debian Squeeze?

You have been incorrectly advised. What post are you reading?

Here: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=1040&p=85041&hilit=%2Fetc%2Fsysconfig#p85041

(go to the first entry dated 27 May)

That post is specific to the Fedora Distribution which is currently deprecated.

On all other distributions Ethernet is definitely working out-of-the-box.

Many thanks for your advice. The reason for my query is that I have been unable to connect to my Pi using a direct connection (network port to network port) from an ancient laptop running Fedora 14 (I've tried both Putty on the laptop and a vnc client). I think the problem lies with my ancient laptop, though it could well be my own ignorance, as I've never done anything like this before.

On older hardware you may need something called a "crossover cable", although on newer hardware the ethernet port automatically switches to avoid needing that cable. Not sure if the R-Pi has that function, and an old laptop may not either. Can you connect using a hub?

[plugwash]

On older hardware you may need something called a "crossover cable"

In my experiance "older" in this context translates to prety much any network adaptor (switches got the auto-MDIX feature much earlier than network adaptors did) that isn't gigabiit.

Thanks for the hint. I'll try to get hold of such a cable.

You should not need such a cable as the Pi has such a facility built in.

I would expect that the problem is probably that the two ends are not getting compatible IP addresses. When using a direct cable there is no DHCP server, so you may need to assign at least one of them an IP address manually to ensure they finish on the same subnet.