I’ll soon be writing my first program (in C#, VS.NET) to do this - Windows PC talking to a remote single-board data-gathering computer. I’m seeking suggestions on tutorials that discuss the ins and outs of doing this.
It will probably depend on what protocol your single-board computer will support. I would suggest something a bit higher on the networking hierarchy than Ethernet. Ethernet will work fine as your lower level protocol, but if you want make the communications channel much easier to deal with I would suggest an IP connection, or something at a much higher lever than Ethernet.
Depending on how and where this system has to work, you may develop your own protocol. You would need to program the single-board system to support your protocol too though.