I followed this tutorial and a number of others to get my Pi Zero to run in gadget mode. That particular article mentioned in passing that the Pi might be misidentified by Windows as a COM device. After some digging, I found an Acer RNDIS driver and now the Pi works with Windows.
However, I can't get the Pi to work with my Linux machine (my daily machine with all my files) and I can't find any information about why. Avahi is installed and known to be working because I use it to access my file server quite regularly.
The XFCE network manager shows a new USB network when the Pi is connected (Netchip Linux-USB Gadget) but fails to connect to it - getting hung up on 'Acquiring IP address' until it eventually aborts.
Setting up manual addressing is not an option in this context, I need my Pi to be relatively plug-and-play, able to move between PCs with a minimum of hassle or setup.
Any advice or insight you could offer would be massively appreciated.