Now you can connect to your Raspberry Pi with just a network cable!
No router or hub required, just a computer or laptop with a network port.
You can even configure it directly on your laptop using a SD-Card Reader, so it is great for those times when there isn’t a nearby screen available to use, but you simply have to get your “Pi On”.
Connect and use your Raspberry Pi with just a Network Cable, a standard Imaged SD Card and Power!
This creates a direct network link between your Computer and the Raspberry Pi, so you can use SSH and X11 (to run graphical programs on your laptop), VNC and use shared network folders.
See the Guide To…Direct Network Connection for more details.
Or see the cut-down version of the instructions:
In A Nut Shell…Direct Network Connection for more advanced users who won’t need all the details.
Please let me know if the Meltwater Mod doesn’t work for you, or if you have additional questions (I am keen to make this as clear and simple as possible).
UPDATE 16April13: I’ve also added a fix for using Tkinter and PyGame based python scripts with X11-Forwarding!
Meltwater's Raspberry Pi Hardware 