A mere minutes into the great PowerBook to TiVo ethernet sharing adventure the problem has been solved. I love it when things work the way they're supposed to.

Here's how it went down.

1) Connect PowerBook to wireless network. I'd already configured it before (and it was easier to get to connect than my ThinkPad) so that was easy enough.

2) Go to System Settings -> Sharing and under Internet Connections set it to share my AirPort connection to Ethernet.

3) Using a crossover cable, plug ethernet adapter on TiVo directly into ethernet port on the laptop.

4) Select the Download Program Information from TiVo and watch it go!

There are a couple remaining issues. Mainly that I think my PowerBook is acting as a firewall/DHCP server for the TiVo so I can't really directly to it at the moment to download shows off it. I think if I set up port forwarding on the appropriate ports on the PowerBook though, this would be possible. That will be another day though.

Also, I'm afraid the PowerBook power consumption is going to be a little ridiculous if I leave it on all the time. I may want to put it into suspend mode (perhaps letting it wake on LAN?) and then only turn it on when I want to download new programming. I think if the PowerBook uses a ton of power I may be better off just getting a dedicated wireless bridge that uses less power. Or I could do like my girlfriend suggested and run a really long ethernet cable.

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