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Apple TV - What we know so far.

Swad

By Swad,
in Apple TV

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Lumi
Lumi
Posted
Posted

Has anyone thought about trying to boot from the USB port? With and without the internal drive connected? What if the USB port is for re-imaging purposes? Is there a version of linux / darwin / a.n.other OS for pen drives or removable HD's that supports EFI instead of standard BIOS?

 

The ideal situation would be to plug a pen drive in to the USB port that you could boot from, the pen drive could then boot some OS and mount the internal disk, using a script make any mods to the equipment and replace any modules, all without voiding the warranty on the hardware.

 

Apple have included an image of the boot disk inside of the 400MB recovery partition. What if apple / apple service centres have a USB key they can boot from, that has an imaging utility, plug in, boot and re-image the unit from the copy on disk or from the key itself?

 

Then what if apple later wants to sell updates to AppleTVOS? It could package USB Pen drives in boxes, media cost for these is very low now, boot from the pen drive, it updates the files on the disk, switch off, unplug, reboot and voila! Updated AppleTV.

vava
vava
Posted
Posted

Hi

 

Is Frontrow.app running as the UI on Apple-TV?

 

Has somebody already checked the AppleTV Frontrow.app/ Folder for Icons which are not shown in the Apple-Tv OnScreen Menu?(Maybe a DVD Icon?)

 

Somebody might try to run this Apple-TV Frontrow on a Mac maybe more features pop up if there is more Hardware present(eq DVD-Drive)

Jabba_
Jabba_
Posted
Posted
For information gathering, we set up a wiki. You can find it at http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/

 

Also, there is a major collaboration effort going on on IRC. See the wiki for more details.

 

Looking through the file list posted there, there's some major stuff put in it.

iChat,BlueTooth stuff, iSightAudio stuff, Mail, Remote desktop,etc. The list is too long.

 

 

Also, it seems like this OS is prepared for different hardware too.

I wonder if it can handle USB mouse and keyboard.

 

Cheers!

dzinerman
dzinerman
Posted
Posted

don't have an apple tv, but i would definately get one if i could set it up as micro mac. Don't know if this will help, but my guess is the USB is for diagnostic/repair like apple says. the trick is geting it into service mode. maybe someone with an ATV could try holding different button combos on the ir remote at boot to trigger it. sorta like reset on an ipod, or booting the ipod to firmware/stat mode. The ir remote is the only input this sucker has, apple's not going to tear it down just to fix something. Watch your local Genius Bar closely for ATV problems and fixes.

 

if so, you will probably need a special usb cable, and then you can target disk the HD on the ATV.

 

Another thought: Anyone tried installing webmin? that would open up a lot of system cababilities/file transfer. it would open up process vieweing and termination. just another thought. Man, i want to get one of these things now, just to fool with it.

Cleverboy
Cleverboy
Posted
Posted

Ok. I just have one request. Could someone mount a network drive, rename the AppleTV media folder, and create a symbolic link in its place... that points to the network drive? I'd like to confirm the possibility of putting in a startup script that switches the Apple TV's media folder between the network drive and its local drive, depending on availability (or even if it can't "auto-detect/switch"). I can see going a step further, and perhaps making TV Shows & Podcasts go to one network share, and Movies and Music to another just using symbolic links.

 

I know iTunes doesn't know the difference between a symbolic link and a "real" folder, so Apple TV shouldn't either. Doing that, and guaging performance over the network would be very informative. I don't have an Apple TV yet, so I can't test this myself. Everyone's spending time getting web browsers running, but I'd really just like to see network drive access from INSIDE of the Apple TV Frontrow application. I wouldn't really be concerned about upgrading the internal HD, if this isn't a problem. Thanks. :(

joneSi
joneSi
Posted
Posted

Ok, so as a mac nerd, I'll be buying one to work with my hackintosh. However, at this point this thing is (to me) a waste of space because of a lack of 5.1 sound. Everything else about it is rockin'. But with that part of the box disabled, it seems to me that it is crippled.

 

Regardless, I will buy one and hope and pray that they enable it (it seems as if the hardware supports it...) or that somebody can make it work. I'd love to replace my DVD player.

 

joneSi

Paranoid Marvin
Paranoid Marvin
Posted
Posted

Just flicking through the application support, I found one or two interesting files...

 

There is a file for Mozilla. Why would there be Mozilla app support files on it?

There is also an app for diagnostics, can't open it however, as it is Intel only.

 

Also, there is a Developer folder, much like the one made when you install Xcode etc on a normal Mac.

 

And, of course, there is the "Don't Steal Mac OS X.kext"

T u r b o
T u r b o
Posted
Posted

OK so I picked up an AppleTV today and started messing around with it.

 

I've gotten some stuff accomplished that I haven't seen documented anywhere so I stuck them on a web page here

 

I have the ARD VNC server working fine, but the replacement Finder.app application doesn't accept any keyboard or mouse input.

I can run other applications, but my primary goal is using it for playing back DVDs and HD MPEG2, so I'll be working towards that.

 

I was about to document getting the ARD VNC server working, but it looks like someone over at the awkwardtv.org wiki has just done that.

 

Next up is USB keyboard/mouse.

 

- Turbo

DiaboliK
DiaboliK
Posted
Posted
Just flicking through the application support, I found one or two interesting files...

 

There is a file for Mozilla. Why would there be Mozilla app support files on it?

There is also an app for diagnostics, can't open it however, as it is Intel only.

 

Also, there is a Developer folder, much like the one made when you install Xcode etc on a normal Mac.

 

And, of course, there is the "Don't Steal Mac OS X.kext"

 

the only thing in the developer's folder is the QTKit.pallete :(

Mr. Bond
Mr. Bond
Posted
Posted

It's not a finder in the normal sense though. That's essentially just the aTV GUI. And it acts different than a normal finder, especially with regards to required frameworks. That's speaking from experience...it won't load on my osx86 box without loading the backrow frameworks/libraries first. Which I'm not entirely sure how to do anyways.

munky
munky
Posted
Posted

can anyone confirm there is no mach_kernel on the appletv? that *is* bizarre.

 

random thoughts:

 

- portions of the apple tv os might be useful to sse2 owners

 

- if i could run appletv os on a hackintosh htpc, that would be killer-sweet

 

- if i could turn an appletv into a dual-purpose appletv / airport extreme, that too would be killer-sweet

 

more as i think of em ;)

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