Minimalistic Duet setup

Hi!
I would like to setup my Logitech Duet at my cottage. There is no internet there and I would like to have as small and compact setup as possible, with as few boxes as possible. Everything is in one room and I will only have one Receiver/Player.

I have the following equipment:
1 Receiver/Player
1 Remote
1 server running on a Sheeva plug (I think it's an ARM processor with Linus OS). No WLAN or bluetooth inbuilt.

Can I connect the receiver/player directly with ethernet cable to the server? Crossover cable needed? DHCP? ??
Can I run the system without access to Internet? (I think there is a stage in the setup where I need to log into squeezebox.com or something similar)?

Or other suggestion to do a minimalistic setup... I want it to be as robust as possible...
(Since it is a compact system sitting next to the amplifier, is it beter to use a music player on the server and connect it with a USB audio interface directly to the amplifier??)

Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Jakob