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cosmichobo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 4, 2006
961
585
G'day,

I've just acquired a G4 Mac Mini (1.5GHz, 512MB RAM, 64MB Video Card), and am trying to set it up to replace my original generation Apple TV, which required a restart every time I'd want to use it to re-acquire its SMB connections and improve playback quality.

The problem I am facing is finding a simple easy any idiot can use it interface to replace the Apple TV's interface - ie my wife and 5yo son have to be able to use it.

I've installed Rowmote and Hippo lite on my iPhone, though intend to solely use Rowmote, due to its simplicity. I've also set up screen sharing so the Mini can be controlled via my wife's MacBook Pro, but again, simplicity means that is more for me than for my wife/son.

Problems so far... Rowmote was working on FrontRow, but now doesn't. After installing Plex (for PPC), it was randomly opening itself, which would be fine if it was useful, but I couldn't work out how to use it to play a single file, so that's now been deleted... The latest xmbc has a high crash rate...

So I was thinking... Is there any way to instal the AppleTV operating system on the Mini? Preferably with the option to return to normal OS X when desired (by me).

Failing that - can NitoTV be installed as a stand alone Mac app? This was the interface we were using on the AppleTV...

Thanks


cosmic
 

Intell

macrumors P6
Jan 24, 2010
18,955
509
Inside
The Apple TV OS is Intell only. It won't work on a G4. The closest thing to Apple TV OS is Leopard's Front Row. You could also try things like XBMC or Plex.
 

lunaoso

macrumors 65816
Sep 22, 2012
1,332
54
Boston, MA
Front Row as Intell said is pretty similar if you just want to use your iTunes data. XMBC woul be good too.
 

cosmichobo

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 4, 2006
961
585
The Apple TV OS is Intell only. It won't work on a G4. The closest thing to Apple TV OS is Leopard's Front Row. You could also try things like XBMC or Plex.

Oh - hadn't realised the original AppleTV was using an Intel chip - always associated Mac OS 10.4 with PPC architecture.

As noted, I couldn't get Plex to do jack... And the latest xbmc tends to crash before/after playing a file. Might have to try earlier versions...?


Front Row as Intell said is pretty similar if you just want to use your iTunes data. XMBC woul be good too.

I've aliased my 2TB external HDD into the "Movies" folder, so Front Row (with Perian) can now play my AVI library... It was just that the Rowmote app wasn't controlling Front Row for some reason.

It's working again now... so may just steer clear of xbmc, as I think that might have been causing the problem with Front Row "hearing" the iPhone/Rowmote...
 
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