[elch]

What about
sudo sh -c 'echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/forwarding'. This should create a shell and execute the "echo 1 > /proc/..." command within it.

The speed also interests me: Is this firewire connection faster than a Gbit ethernet connection?

If you're going to retry it some day and then run into problems again, "dmesg" will most likely contain the culprit.

Good luck.