So apparently this is an exercise left to the user...?

If I figure something out, I'll post up!

Except he already has the Chumby in that location, so that doesn't factor into the cost.  Now it's down to the cost of USB-ethernet adapter vs USB-wifi adapter.  Even if they are about even, there's still a learning experience to be had turning the Chumby into a network-sharing device that will not be found by just getting a USB-wifi dongle.

Not to mention, I'm sure he's already placed his Chumby somewhere where it's getting a good signal.  If he gets a wifi dongle, he may have to get extension cables and play "find the signal" for an hour or two before he gets any sort of acceptable connection.

Given that the chumby's antenna is inside the unit it's pretty unlikely an external USB dongle, usually supplied with an extension, is going to have any greater problems getting a signal.  Then you run into the issues of networking issues like routing, NAT or protocols that aren't passed (bonjour, UDP, etc).

But hey, feel free to squander your time 'learning' as you see fit.

Yeah, well, sometimes when you learn enough you understand that while some things CAN be done, they're not usually worth the hassle.  So pardon me for not having more patience with the newbies.  30+ years of all this tends to leave you a bit jaded when encountering naive 'enthusiasm'.

Configuring the network routing is the hassle.  Getting and keeping it properly configured and dealing with how the packets for all the necessary protocols are handled is tedious, at best.   Versus just plugging in a wifi dongle that will 'just work' and stay that way. 

I too have used a WRT54 with DD-WRT as a client bridge for extending wifi to a local network... on my boat.  The idea being to pickup an on-shore signal and route that to an on-boat network.  Besides network addressing and protocol hassles, there was the performance hit.  It was a lot slower than just making a direct connection.  But what won out was just using a cellular data modem and a router instead.

So, in keeping with the curmudgeonly tack.. 'you kids, get off my lawn!'

Speaking for myself, I love doing stupid and pointless things with my Chumby devices - I invariably learn something I didn't know, and that's worth it in itself.  Sometimes, what I did ends up being useful purely by chance.

For instance, I ported node.js to Chumby for no particular reason except that I though it was kinda neat and wanted to play with it - but ended up using it to solve some problems I ended up having months later.