Filed under: OS, Hacks, Apple TV
Found Footage: Mac OS X on Apple TV
Is that a Mac Mini over there running OS X complete with UI? Nope, it's an Apple TV, modded by semthex from Hackint0sh.org. According to this AppleTV Hacks post, Semthex wrote a processor emulation for the kernel that works around Apple TV's hardware restrictions. AppleTVHacks has a complete set of instructions in case you want to try this out yourself.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Leonard Nimrod said 12:30AM on 4-01-2007
I wish I wasn't so busy (read: lazy) or I'd put together a little installer that removes the unneeded files, installs the needed codecs & useful apps, configures programs to be the most useful, and sets Front Row to auto start.
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Dina said 12:36AM on 4-01-2007
Woah, that's a pretty good hack.
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Leonard Nimrod said 12:37AM on 4-01-2007
Oh Happy Day!!! It just occurred to me that now I can finally use Growl's network notification on an AppleTV. It will notify me with an unobtrusive Bezel overlay when I get new mail on my main machine.
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Juan Pablo Pincheira said 12:44AM on 4-01-2007
happy april fools' day dudes.
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scott said 1:10AM on 4-01-2007
Too bad it'd be easier to do this with a cheapo Dell than an Apple TV.
Thanks for the chuckle folks...
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Leonard Nimrod said 1:19AM on 4-01-2007
@ Scott,
Both the AppleTV and Macs use EFI so getting Mac OS X to run on a Dell--which I've done--is much more involved than getting Apple's OS to run on Apple's Hardware.
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artifex said 4:57AM on 4-01-2007
If it's an April Fool's joke, it's a pretty good one, taking the form of what looks to be just a minor edit of an install, and running a custom mach kernel. If it turns out to be true, I'll order one.
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Jim said 5:42AM on 4-01-2007
LAUGH OUT LOUD!
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I Want a cheap DVR said 7:38PM on 4-01-2007
I smell something very fishy, it is April Fools Day.
All I want is to be able to run EyeTV and Frontrow "2.0" on an appleTV as a dvr for my dad. If somebody gets the apple tv ui running in OSX get it on the web PLEASE!!!!
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Francis said 7:23AM on 4-01-2007
Takes a while to show up on the DeLL screen because someone is hooking it up to another macintosh?
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Ulf Dahlen said 10:53AM on 4-01-2007
Why would you want to do this?
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Jaosn K said 1:22PM on 4-01-2007
Has anyone noticed that the status light keeps blinking orange the entire time, rather than turning white? Could that be indicative of this being a joke, or maybe os x just doesn't know how to control that specific hardware feature?
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artifex said 1:32PM on 4-01-2007
Poll Sebastian: Remember that by UTC time, it was already April 1st for hours.
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Jack said 3:26PM on 4-01-2007
Also did anyone notice that right after he plugs the HDMI cable in the screen goes black - the screen wouldn't detect the AppleTV unless there was power to the ATV - which he plugs the power cable in last!
Good job with it all guys! It was good!
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jason said 5:00PM on 4-01-2007
sorry friends no joke your a day late it wasn't released on April 1. And also if you knew anything about Osx86 you would know that the same person Semthex who gives us the osx kernel to run on non mac hardware was responsible for this to work
try a little research first before you discredit
http://www.semthex.com/
http://www.awkwardtv.org/
if you need more let me know
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