using s router makes the whole thing easier i use xbmc to accsess. i plug the mcahine into the router assighn
dhcp in xbmc netowrk setting retstart go to xbmc check system info and it gives me an ip which i use to access i did used to plug it direct into my pc before i got more aware of networking , i couldnt ftp for ages it would drive me mad i found loads of tutorials saying to change my ip on my computer but i thought "i dont need to change the ip on my pc " i cant remeber what the 2 ip adress were but i finally did it and it worked fine but it was annoying to change it all the time becuse when i changed it i couldnt get on the net but if you have router thats the easiest way to do it i hope that helps in any way , if you really need to get inside the machine then find the tutorial from the tutorail section and change your ip on your pc (sorry for bad spelling)