Is it possible to manually activate an eth0 connection?

[Bas Roufs]

Dear everybody

After a fresh 'install from scratch' of Kubuntu 8.10 at a laptop, the
system does recognise the eth0 connection - the connection between the
ethernet modem and the laptop, via a "RJ-45" cable, connector and
access. However, eth0 is 'down', according to the feedback from the
system -  Kubuntu does not automatically establish the connection.
I even tried out a 2nd option for such a connection: linking the RJ-45
cable to a special connector combined with a PCMCIA ethernet card. As
soon as I poke this combination into the laptop, Kubuntu immediately
recognises it as 'eth1'. However, that connection is 'disconnected'
according to the system feedback.
However it may be, so far I do not manage to link the laptop to  the
internet, although I did, as far as I know, full fill all possible
hardware preconditions for a successful connection via an ethernet
modem.
Can somebody give me a clue on how to manually configure the software
in such a way, that the internet connection can be established?

Thanks for your possible reply.

Bas.

-- 
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Viaconsensus
Bas G. Roufs M.A.
Van 't Hoffstraat 1
NL-3514 VT  Utrecht
M. +31.6.446.835.10
T. +31.30.785.20.40
BasRoufs at gmail.com
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