Probably debian didn't recognize your ethernet card because the default kernel didn't have it compiled in. Some of that might depend on what version of debian you had also, though some card won't be recognized and you then either have to get the module or recompile your kernel. However, it's probably not something you wanted to do right at the beginning of linux use. As for the "versabrailler" (I'm not sure if you are feferring to the vbII+ or something else) I haven't used it with linux, but I did use it connected to my computer in DOS to copy files, etc. I did get it up to 9600 baud; unfortunately I don't have it out and can't replicate what I did to accomplish this. I know it had something to do with the dc-in or out and the dts settings and I did have to play with it somewhat. If I get really ambitious I'll haul it out at some point and see if I can figure it out.