Yes you *should* be able to get the empeg to talk to your ethernet card.
I assume you've read this FAQ

1. the card must support 10BaseT. it can be 10/100 autosensing.
2. you must use a crossover cable for direct connection
3. you should set an IP address through emplode using serial or USB before you can communicate.
4. you'll need you computer on the same IP network. Choose something easy like 192.168.0.1 for your PC and 192.168.0.2 for the empeg.

Once you've gone through this and read the FAQ you should be fine. If you still have problems let us know.