When using RaspberryPi the common way to connect to it is by using a router, but it’s not the only way… I use only an ethernet cable ( cross or straight don’t care ) and that’s it. I’m on a macbook air (running maverick), if you are under linux or windows use DHCP server service on your PC. Raspberrypi’s kernel must be > 3.1.x

Connect the thunderbolt/usb adapter to the Rpi ethernet ( direct connexion ).

System preferences > Network > Ethernet Thunderbolt ( or whatever ethernet ) > DHCP with manual @ : 192.168.1.22 (e.g.)

(french path ) :  Préférences Système > Réseau > Ethernet Thunderbolt > DHCP avec addresse manuel 192.168.1.22

$ ssh pi@raspberrypi.local

The pi is now available at raspberry.local or 192.168.1.21. If you want to let dhcp go to the bootargs file in boot folder of Rpi and add ip=dhcp (you can replace dhcp to an IP address like 192.168.1.21)

Under linux we can manage a bridge to give internet connexion to Rpi.

NFS share configuration on mac :

 $ nfsd enable
 $ sudo nano /etc/exports : /Users/folder -mapall=nobody -network 192.168.0.0 -mask 255.255.0.0
 $ sudo nfsd restart
 $ showmount -e

On the Rpi we need nfs-common

If service isn’t properly running :

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo service nfs-common status
● nfs-common.service - LSB: NFS support files common to client and server
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/nfs-common)
   Active: active (exited) since mar. 2016-01-26 09:25:20 UTC; 12s ago
  Process: 1093 ExecStop=/etc/init.d/nfs-common stop (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 1102 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/nfs-common start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

janv. 26 09:25:20 raspberrypi nfs-common[1102]: Starting NFS common utilities: statd
janv. 26 09:25:20 raspberrypi nfs-common[1102]: Not starting: portmapper is not running ... (warning).
janv. 26 09:25:20 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Started LSB: NFS support files common to client and server.

We do a little :

$ sudo update-rc.d rpcbind enable && sudo update-rc.d nfs-common enable
$ sudo service rpcbind restart

At least you must have something like :

● nfs-common.service - LSB: NFS support files common to client and server
   Loaded: loaded (/etc/init.d/nfs-common)
   Active: active (running) since mar. 2016-01-26 09:25:48 UTC; 1s ago
  Process: 1191 ExecStop=/etc/init.d/nfs-common stop (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 1200 ExecStart=/etc/init.d/nfs-common start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   CGroup: /system.slice/nfs-common.service
           ├─1206 /sbin/rpc.statd
           └─1221 /usr/sbin/rpc.idmapd

janv. 26 09:25:48 raspberrypi rpc.statd[1206]: Version 1.2.8 starting
janv. 26 09:25:48 raspberrypi sm-notify[1207]: Version 1.2.8 starting
janv. 26 09:25:48 raspberrypi nfs-common[1200]: Starting NFS common utilities: statd idmapd.
janv. 26 09:25:48 raspberrypi systemd[1]: Started LSB: NFS support files common to client and server.

Now share folders ( on Rpi we mount the shared folder )! enjoy

$ sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.22:/folder_server /folder_dest