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AppleTV Becomes OSX Workstation

Posted by Hemos on from the reconstruction dept.

An anonymous reader writes "AppleTVhacks published a full howto install guide with 12 easy steps to turn your AppleTV into a full blown OSX workstation. With a processor emulation, hacker Semthex of hackint0sh.org, managed to get full blown OSX working on a AppleTV. The kernel for this hack is freely available under APSL and opens the legal way to a really cheap Mac Nano. With 300$ difference to the Mac Mini, this is becoming a fairly interesting deal." April Fool's, btw.

5 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I dont get it? by Constantine+XVI · · Score: 5, Informative

    The hack is legal because he just modified the kernel, like the ASPL lets you.
    However, note the little bit in the OSX license that says you may only run OSX on Apple hardware. The A.TV is still Apple hardware. Your Dell isin't.

    --
    "I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
  2. 1/2 the price, less than 1/2 the performance by PrescriptionWarning · · Score: 4, Informative

    the 600 dollar mac mini comes with a core duo 1.66 Ghz processor (maybe soon even a core 2 duo)... so how exactly is turning a 300 dollar machine with less than 1/3 the speed make sense economically? especially since you'll still have to somehow acquire OSX by some means.

    granted the apple tv is tiny and cool, but if you're looking for a super cheap PC, you might as well go ahead and grab a mini for a little extra for the total package. Besides I'm sure you can find them for 500 bucks or so since they've been around for so long...

  3. Re:I dont get it? by Jim+Hall · · Score: 3, Informative

    The problem with this (for me) is that you have to install the Intel version of OS X. As far as I know you can't get the Intel version without buying an Intel Mac (something I don't have). So basically you'll have to wait until Leopard before you can buy an Intel version of OS X.

    Apple's store sells MacOSX Tiger for $129.

    That said, the cost of Apple TV + MacOSX Tiger is only $170 less than buying a Mac Mini with MacOSX pre-installed. And Apple TV doesn't come with a DVD/CD drive, and it's hard drive is 20GB smaller than the Mac Mini. Hmmm.. I think I know which one I'd buy.

  4. Re:I dont get it? by catseye · · Score: 4, Informative

    The retail version of Tiger is 10.4.6, and is PPC only. Apple didn't combine OS X versions into a universal install until 10.4.8. Right now, the only way to install OS X on an Apple Intel machine is with the system disks that come with the computer.

    One presumes this would change with Leopard (10.5), which should be the first retail-available install of OS X that would work on Intel or PPC machines.

    --
    What did the walrus say to the penguin? "No soap, radio."
  5. Re:MythTV? -- working on it by mk500 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm working on getting MythFrontend running. That was actually the main driver behind me getting this working, as I'm a big MythTV user. My main backend has 500GB and 2 HDTV tuners. I'd love to get this box running in my bedroom with the 24" HD LCD I have on the wall (Dell). I'll post back when I have MythFrontend running....just need to configure my backend for remote frontend access and install the OS X MythFrontend which has already been compiled for Intel OS X. Oh yeah, I'm the guy in the video.