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Apple TV Running Full Mac OS X

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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AppleTVHacks posts walk through to boot full Mac OS X on the Apple TV, along with keyboard and mouse support.

At this time, the 14 step hack requires opening the Apple TV, installing Mac OS X on the hard drive, and modifying some Operating System files.

It does, however, represent the ability to convert a $299 Apple TV into (what appears to be) a full Mac OS X machine. They also point to a Youtube video as proof of the hack.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2007/03/31/apple-tv-running-mac-os-x/
This is cool and all, but wouldn't it just be easier to buy a Mac mini? By the time you get up to a usable amount of storage and RAM, you've spent the same amount of money. Then there's the whole "no optical drive" thing which makes installing some software a bit of a hassle (but converting CDs into ISOs for mounting is one of the first things I do with purchased software anyway).

If you're using it to run, say, a MythTV frontend, though, this is a nice, Apple-branded option.
 
You're missing the point. Notice all the hacking attention to Appletv? This means that it could sell well to various consumers, not just the high-end hi-def tv owners.

The more Apple hardware the better because it will allow Apple to leverage it even more in time.

This is good in my opinion. Very good.
 
Would you need to upgrade anything? The hard drive is on 20 gb smaller. What are the ram specs on the ATV? I would not think you could upgrade that like you can on the mini. For a simple machine that could manage media and now be used to do other things in the place of a mini this is an interesting development.
 
I like this hack, I would do this for a very very small child learning to use a computer or a senior citizen. :mad: Cheaper than a mac mini for only ultra-simple purposes. Word processing, internet, e-mail, and chess and that's it. Very nice.
 
Peace said:
This is dumb..

What people would be doing is getting a low quality Mac in terms of CPU and RAM AND Hard Drive.

They do get OS 10.4.7 though :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
The tutorial recommends an update to at least 10.4.8. Assuming you have the ability to clone the drive and then install OS X onto it (and so don't need to buy another HD), you're looking at a $300 Mac with component and HDMI output. Yeah, it's not a powerhouse. But it'd be a decent family room entertainment center/email station/web browser, and, with a BT dongle on the back, it takes up virtually no room.
 
jsw said:
The tutorial recommends an update to at least 10.4.8. Assuming you have the ability to clone the drive and then install OS X onto it (and so don't need to buy another HD), you're looking at a $300 Mac with component and HDMI output. Yeah, it's not a powerhouse. But it'd be a decent family room entertainment center/email station/web browser, and, with a BT dongle on the back, it takes up virtually no room.
Click to expand...

And there, ladies in gents, is why it kicks butt!

Wonder how many ATVs will be sold tonight?
 
a machine with 1G CPU, 256MB RAM, no CD/DVD drive, really, a low end mini is well worth that extra $$$ than cheap APPLE TV MINI COMPUTER.
 
clevin said:
a machine with 1G CPU, 256MB RAM, no CD/DVD drive, really, a low end mini is well worth that extra $$$ than cheap APPLE TV MINI COMPUTER.
Click to expand...
Odd... my parents use my old 4.5-year-old iMac with lessor specs (except for RAM) and have no problems. This is a faster version of that, with the ability to download and watch movies and shows off of iTMS or other sources at 720p for $299. Doesn't seem all that bad to me.
 
unprecedented! Nay-sayers are simply wrong.

first of all, I would assume(correct me if I'm wrong) this is the cheapest mac EVER. in my opinion, apple should sell it with os10 on it.

this makes the macintosh viable for many "cheap linux box only" applications.

if you want to leave something in your basement that does dial-in voice mail or home automation. if you want to do a mac based kiosk. Point of sale, VOIP. The multimedia art applications are endless. For white trash to pimp out their cars with a slick nav system and runs disgusting neon! For $300, I'm sure super evil ripoff monster cable will sell a wireless HDMI adapter for that much. It could make for the cheapest render farm evar. I wonder if logic will distribute processing to it. For 300 bucks I'd load porn and run it 24/7/365 on an old monitor in my kitchen. (wait what?!)

plus the obvious. what if you want something OTHER than the altered front row!
 
Peace said:
This is dumb..
What people would be doing is getting a low quality Mac in terms of CPU and RAM AND Hard Drive.
Click to expand...

I can see a nice use for this as a file/print server on a network. Hey, turn on internet connection sharing and we have a wireless access point, too!

It's the all-in-one gateway that uses less power, generates less noise and heat, and is cheaper than getting a Mac Mini to do the job.
 
Now the question I have is how about BootCamp and XP Media Center Edition?

EDIT: Never mind. 256MB of RAM? Gags. I'd never run Windows on less then 512MB. Apple must have the thing seriously stripped down to run OS X on 256MB.
 
jsw said:
Odd... my parents use my old 4.5-year-old iMac with lessor specs (except for RAM) and have no problems. This is a faster version of that, with the ability to download and watch movies and shows off of iTMS or other sources at 720p for $299. Doesn't seem all that bad to me.
Click to expand...

well, the problem is:
1. once this TV MINI's OS crashed, users don't even have a way to insert OS disk to do any repair.
2. Tiger's minimum RAM requirement is 256, and we know how slow OSes are when they are run on minimum RAM.
 
I would love something like that.

Makes you wonder why Apple don't release a super budget Mac. Something to test the water with for reasons mentioned above. I would get one of these for word processing or web browsing alone!
 
kskill said:
how long before people end up doing the same to iphone?
Click to expand...

Never. Its simply not the same thing. First of all, its not an Intel x86 based device. Second, its not using OS X as the Apple TV is. Its using a cut down OS X that's been customized for the processor, screen, and applications that the iPhone runs. So first, you'd have to get the OS X source (not just the kernel - all of it) and compile it for the iPhone using a build of XCode that is not publicly available (since it compiles for that processor). Next, you'd have to find the drivers to run the specialized hardware the iPhone runs.

Now I'm sure it will be possible to run Linux or something on the iPhone at some point much like they did on the iPod. But I don't think you'll be able to do anything with it including use the screen :)
 
SiliconAddict said:
Now the question I have is how about BootCamp and XP Media Center Edition?
Click to expand...
MCE won't install; the remote wouldn't be supported and there'd be no TV capture options, and MCE's installer crashes on all sorts of unsupported hardware.

Regular XP probably would go right in, though. What the point would be, I don't know.
 
It's an interesting prospect of having a $300 Mac with a single core. If you got 1 GB in it, it would be a great starter machine. I'd get one just to have a spare machine around.

Mac thin client? :rolleyes:
 
A cheap, small, attractive mac would be PERFECT for me! I download lots of big files, but I have a laptop, so it's a drag. If I had an ATV Mac I could just set it up to download all my media files all day and all night, and it could also play those media files directly to my tv and stereo! That would be awesome!

If the ATV can be made into a functional mac then my answer to the poll "Are you buying an Apple TV?" just went from 'no' to a definite 'maybe.'

Edit: Though the lack of an optical drive is a minus, but maybe one could be added cheaply via usb. But that makes the package less cheap, small and attractive.
 
For How Long???

All well and good saying a basic OSX capable machine, but wait until an update/security update appears and breaks the hack!

If a slimmed down version can run on a 4GB phone, what's the big deal with a disk 10x the size and a processor that beats tech from 9 years ago, I'm still using my original bondi blue iMac on a day to day basis, just because you can doesn't make it revolutionary.

Next we'll be hearing about an iPhone that acts as an Apple TV!!!

Sure you can mess about with things, but this doesn't necessarily mean you should, it defeats the purpose/definition of everything apple!
 
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