Is it possible to manually activate an eth0 connection?

[Bas Roufs]

Dear Alex, Brian and everybody else at this list

Thanks for your suggestions so far. However, I still get stuck at some
point. 'eth0' in the laptop is still 'down'. Quite probably I still
overlook something;.

> sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

This command seems to work OK. But: .....

> .... file ...to edit: sudo emacs /etc/network/interfaces ..
> .....then you add "auto eth0"...
Quite probably you are right. 'eth0' is indeed the name of the
internet connection device available in my laptop; but that one is
still 'down'. However, I get stuck here, because I simply do not yet
manage to edit the file "/etc/network/interfaces" - because of
different reasons.
Packages like 'emacs' and 'midnight commander' are not yet available,
because they need to be installed first, for which I need an internet
connection with the laptop.
I do manage to open the file "/etc/network/interfaces" via another
texteditor, Kate, as 'normal user'. However, I do not manage to so as
'superuser' which I would need to do in order to effectively add 'auto
eth0' to that file. So, I need to reformulate my question:
is there any way to EFFECTIVELY edit that file as 'superuser' in order
to change that file - either via Kate or via any other text editor
which has already been installed?

>....  sudo ifconfig eth0 up ....

I consulted the manual and carried out this command. But it did not
effectively activate 'eth0'.

>.... sudo dhclient .....
This command did mention useful info, like the IP address of my
ethernet modem....... However, it did not help me to activate eth0.

Thx. for replying. Respectfully yours,

Bas.

===============
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
===============