Linux on the Apple TV getting started

It's a good thing Apple isn't fighting back against Apple TV hacks, because while we haven't yet seen any hard evidence that Linux on the Apple TV is even as far as is claimed, apparently some industrious hackers have already made some real progress in shoehorning Tux into the minuscule media device. According to the Mactel-Linux wiki, users have managed to capture the ATV's boot loader and run a custom Linux kernel; right now that kernel and the primitive ATV build apparently seem to support WiFi, SpeedStep, and EFI, but there are issues with USB (you're telling us!), and the graphics aren't settled either. We'll know they're done once we can successfully play Doom in 1080p -- but not a moment sooner.

[AndrewNeo @ Apr 6th 2007 3:33PM]

But to use them, you'd need the full version of OS X on your Apple TV, anyway.. which you have to pay for.

[jakep_82 @ Apr 6th 2007 1:23PM]

Looks like they've posted source code already with some instructions in the README. If they can get hardware accelerated video playback, this could be very interesting.

[Nij @ Apr 6th 2007 1:47PM]

The Linux project always attempts to port Linux to every possible device-- sometimes the results are useful, most of the time, useless. It's one thing to port Linux to the PSP and use it for homebrew applications. But the Apple TV already runs Unix and has plenty of resources built-in that would-be Apple TV hackers could use, right? I admit, it's possible I'm completely misunderstanding the situation. Someone please help me clear up my own confusion.

[Leoedin @ Apr 6th 2007 2:09PM]

The OS X implementation on the aTV is poor - its crippled and unless you do some hacking, it won't run any apps other than those it's meant to.

Linux has far more applications available. A lot of stuff won't run on OS X but will run on linux. There is far more community support for linux than OS X.

In terms of functionality, linux is far better than OS X.

[Teg @ Apr 7th 2007 1:28AM]

Have Linux enthusiasts installed a version on a toaster yet?

[AndrewNeo @ Apr 6th 2007 2:41PM]

They installed NetBSD on a toaster, close enough.

In in response to other people complaining about linux on everything, sticking Linux on here would enable plenty of things, like attaching a USB TV tuner would now give you a DVR.

[J-Man @ Apr 7th 2007 8:49AM]

Toaster Running Linux:
http://pics.defcon.org/showphoto.php?photo=53&cat=512

[jakep_82 @ Apr 6th 2007 2:59PM]

Have you heard of MythTV? Yes, an OSX port exists, but from what I've read it's buggy and incomplete. The only reason I would buy one of these is if I could get a fully functional, hardware accelerated MythTV frontend installed. Linux is probably the easiest way to accomplish that. Let the hacking continue!!

[jakep_82 @ Apr 6th 2007 3:40PM]

What makes you think that? People run myth frontends on the original Xbox which has a slower CPU and less RAM.

[Raia @ Apr 6th 2007 3:21PM]

This could be very, very good. The Apple TV is a great piece of hardware, that is crippled by its software. Let me use another piece of hardware to illustrate. When (awesome) hackers installed linux on the OG xbox, it enabled it to run XBMC (xbox media center.) XBMC, is awesome. It can use the xboxs hardware to stream movies of ANY FORMAT (xvid, divx, mp2, kvcd, qt, even DVD ISOs) and play them on your TV. Now this is simply awesome. MS, Apple etc. has no vested interest in making a box that'll play all your movies, it only wants to make a box that'll play the movies you buy from THEM, rendering your other movies useless. Its situations like these which should make consumers glad there is such a thriving linux scene, and also thankful for hackers/coders that make software that meets our needs. XBMC has been around for years, and has been the perfect solution for many people. Not to mention the cheapest! $180 for a fully functional media center, that works better and is more capable than most/all other options , simple incredible. I didn't mean for this to be such a rant, but I think we should all sing the Budweiser 'Real men of genius" song right now, and toast the scene that gives consumers products/hacks the big businesses won't, often for free. Atv has the potential to be the HD, HDMI, updated version of XBMC.

[jakep_82 @ Apr 6th 2007 4:07PM]

AndrewNeo,

You're missing the point. They're installing Linux on the ATV specifically so OSX isn't required. Something like XBMC or MythTV could then be run and all of that is free.

[annie @ Apr 15th 2007 12:28PM]

My email address is [e-mail]