AppleTV hacking

[semthex]

For anyone intrested in AppleTV I just wanted to say that after passing serveral nasty tricks and some prayers, I was able to extract the kernel form the AppleTV. The baby is 12 MB in size (8 MB more than the usale OSX kernel!) and has a very stunning initirior. From the uname it looks like a 10.4.8 source was used. The kernel identifies as:

Darwin Kernel Version 8.8.2: Mon Jan 29 18:57:29 PST 2007; root:xnu-792.94.18~1/RELEASE_I386

So far I can say it looks like the AppleTV uses EFI as well, it really is a living room mac. That's it so far for today, stay tunned for more infos. If you are intrested in the kernel of AppleTV and what is going on feel free to join us on IRC in the usale place at irc.osx86.hu .

AppleTV, say hello to your new daddy now :-)

[themaxx32000]

Cool, nice1! Let's see what the 8MB+ is good for...

[semthex]

Because of many recent questions on AppleTV beeing sse2:

The kernel itself has nothing to do with SSE2/3. The reason a emulation is needed for OSX is because a lot of OSX frameworks use SSE3, not teh kernel. A SSE3 kernel can boot happily on a SSE2 machien to i.e. single user mode The kernel of AppleTV itself has no emualtor or such thing.

But something other intresting, beside the fact AppleTV boots with EFI... it also uses HPET :-)

[semthex]

Just a little update, I submited a guide to extract the kernel and the rest of the system which is hidden by AppleTV to AppleTVhacks.com. I hope it will be up there shortly :)

[semthex]

A new goddie:
For everyone who got SSH already installed, you migth want to check perl out which seems to be installed on the AppleTV. With the power of the camel a lot of nice things should be possible. Version told me it's v5.8.6. Perl enables the user to program and run partly complexe stuff on the AppleTV directly, makes the whole thing even more intresting, doesn't it? :D

Also somethign to clarify:
The OS is not absed upon 10.4.7 as stated in multiple palces. The kernel is a 10.4.8 version as you can see in the version string I posted above. This means it's a 10.4.8 mini-OSX.
UPDATE: Not only the kernel is, also a lot of accoring files on the system prooven to be 10.4.8 identical. So we can say the previous foudn version string labeling it 10.4.7 does not refer to the OS equivalent to OSX or is simply ... wrong and forgotten to edit by Apple.

I hope the submited article will be up shortly, requests on kernel extractiosn are killing me x-)

[RednekBob]

A FYI if you haven't noticed already:

kernel prelink files can be created by the kextcache process:
-c kernel_cache_filename: Create an kernel prelink cache

Doesn't help for extracting (you already figured it out), but could be very useful for creating a new mach_kernel.prelink :)

[semthex]

A short status update on the AppleTV progress:

I managed to patch the new "Finder" to work with it's frameworks and files on a retail OSX of a retail mac. The only problem is currently that I am testing on a macbook which shows no picture. It is possible the output gets somehow send to the DVI out but .. my mini DVI is broken :-o

Well we went into testing on other machines now, stay tunned. Thanks goes to bikedude880 for his great support with this :-)

[shayanoh]

How did you manage to run it on normal OSX? I placed frameworks were they should be, and after running nothing happens... the file remains used and I can't delete it, and I'm sure it's not open (ps -A | grep "Finder" shows only my Finder, and grep)
Can you tell how you patched it, or maybe upload (or e-mail) the patched "Finder" ?
I can test it on my MBP :P

[semthex]

Details will be given later. So far we can confirm the AppleTVOs runs on a macpro :-)

But now we need to enter something into it, the itunes passkey, quite difficult without a remote :confused:

UPDATE: also bikedude got my patch running with his system... only macbook refuses :-(

[bikedude880]

We can also confirm that it is almost running on a HackPro :P

Only problem is it's still looping, which the video does not show. Still looking to get a workaround for that blasted remote...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FAGymW34KY

[shayanoh]

I'm really eager to try it on! Can't you just point us in the right direction while you're finding out exact details?
Anyways, good job. I'm gonna get an tv myself soon :P

[skr3dii]

The patched Finder just works, congrats semthex!

More on macgeek blog: http://macgeek.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/03/27/apple-tv-running-on-a-macbook.html

[aberracus]

Way to go Semthex!

[shayanoh]

I know you've probably already tried this, but I though it'll be good to mention it here, and maybe we'll get to some point about it.
I restored the appletv's hdd to some spare hard drive in my home and tried booting my MBP from it... it first say's looking for mach_kernel.prelink and after a few secs starts booting up in a screen looking like when you hold cmd+s. but the it complains about all the usb devices (ir receiver, isight, keyboard, ...) not being what they should be, and stalls saying "Waiting for boot device"...
Not sure about anything, but I don't think it should be that hard making it to boot completely, i'm saying this from the top of my head, but it should be possible by changing a few kexts, or puting some legit ones from my mbp for example...
anyone going to try it too?

[semthex]

As said earlier the system contains checks for the aTV hardware and it will simply die, in case you want to boot it on none aTV hardware.

[JaS]

I have the appletv os booting on my mac pro but no ir means no contol ... on a side note my hack has no issues seeing the mac as an Apple TV when booting into that install.

[The Creator]

good work semthex :)

[JaS]

Alright, here is my set of pics. These were taken from my hack, The apple TV you see in iTunes and in VNC is the mac pro with aTV os installed.( Still need keyboard or mouse support ... might cave in and get an apple remote )

http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/11537/2000220656246920193_th.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000220656246920193)
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/12120/2000247727591640862_th.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000247727591640862)
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/14224/2000270059081502850_th.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000270059081502850)

[Former Bender]

@Jas

I'm in the same situation on my Mac mini Core duo but i'm using the Finder from a 10.4.8 install.

I've activated Core Image and Quartz Extreme, and Infrared is working (tried with Sofa control).

But i've got Keyboard, mouse, USB, Sound support.

[chelhydra]

JaS your desktop looks amazing. Could you give us some info?
icons, skin etc ??

thx

[joe75]

JaS, can we expect something to be released for install :)

[erhnam]

Very nice progress... Let's see how far to go before we can equip this thing with Aqua and all the other stuff :)

[DsurioN]

Awesome! Can anyone tell me where i can find this modified image? I'd love to test it on my iMac...

[frijole]

here's a thought:

you can use the com.apple.loginwindow.plist file to specify the path to the Finder that is to be launched when a user logs in like by running this as the target user:

defaults write com.apple.loginwindow Finder /Path/to/Finder.app

in which case the path would point to the aTV'd Finder.

This way, you might be able to have a standard OS X user, and an aTV user, and switch back and forth.

I'd love to give this a shot...

[vipersolied]

Is there a chance to get the patched finder or the app that can patch the finder.app?
I would like to test it on my mac mini

[djh816]

can you please direct me to this modified finder? or tell me of a torrent?

[Virtualball]

Do you know when a release date might be expected?

[Jefferson987]

I've searched all of the torrent sites I know and I still cant find this modifyed finder! Anyone know where it is? Also, can the image be burned and run from a DVD?

[semthex]

I provided details on the patch way only to a few people so far, appletvhacks.net got it to working as it seems they put a story up on it. For myself I will only provide infos on the hack, but I won't privide any files which are not conform to copyrigth laws.

Here is the patch way in summary:

- The finder needs to be decrypthed from Apple's AES256 file protection build in OSX
(infos on the process are not available, please don't ask for infos on it!)
General Infos can be found here (http://osxbook.com/book/bonus/chapter7/binaryprotection/)
- After this two hardware checks have to be disabled.

Later on I will post a short summerize on the "AppleTV OS" stay tunned.

[bob_nugget]

I've got nearly as far as semthex (just got here and realised he had done it already) in patching Apple TV Finder.app to run on my Mac.

Luckily I'm trying on a real Mac Book Pro, so no decryption to worry about yet.

I've found if you copy over the Finder.app and have a look at the contents there are a few odd things.

In the .plist, Finder.app version is 2.0 and is identified as com.apple.frontrow - It's Front Row

also, the PkgInfo file says it is of type APPLfnrw - finder is of type FNDRMACS

I tried renaming it to Front\ Row.app instead of Finder.app and renaming Contents/MacOS/Finder to Contents/MacOS/Front\ Row - now finder runs it instead of Front Row, but it fails the hardware check (I can see it doing it in the system log)...

So - replace Front Row not Finder and it will co-exist! Looks like a leopard feature!

[bmz]

Semthex:

Do you think running Backrow/Apple TV will ever be possible on a ppc g4?
..Is there any universality to the binaries/dependencies?

Going one step further- would a retargetable decompiler (http://boomerang.sourceforge.net) for Mach-O permit proper re-deployment, on ppc?

[semthex]

It'S a INTeL binary only, no chance for PPC.

[bholland]

I did manage to get it to work, it displays the apple-tv intro video but then it bails with this console message:

Could not locate media location! Using /dev/disk0s4
/SourceCache/Riptide/Riptide-175/BackRow/Utilities/BRXHardwareUtility.m:145: failed assertion `NO'

Do I need to have a partition as disk0s4 for media or is there a way around this?

[NeoPheus]

Yep!
Same problem for me...

Any advice?

cYa ~Neo

[semthex]

Please give me some details on your systems.

Currently I am aware of following possibel problems:

- permissions and ownerships broken on files cause of wrong copy way
- soem hackint0sh loop the video continously

[bholland]

I've installed the 2 frameworks, then I run Finder.app. The intro video starts play and when it finishes, it just quits. Here is my entire console message:

Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: Message Handler Installation Failed: bootstrap_check_in(): 0x44c: Bootstrap not privileged\n
Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: No matching IR micro server found.
Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: VERS: failed to get ImageVersion for display
Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: VERS: failed to get BootImageVersion for display
libosp.c:547:OSPGetState: kOSPBootCount: kRTCMethodReadBytes failed: 0xe00002c2
Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework/Resources/SettingsHelper: Failed to setuid
Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: Settings helper failed: status 100
Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework/Resources/SettingsHelper: Failed to setuid
Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: Settings helper failed: status 100
Mar 27 13:03:25 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: VERS: failed to get ImageValid for display
libosp.c:547:OSPGetState: kOSPBootCount: kRTCMethodReadBytes failed: 0xe00002c2
Mar 27 13:03:25 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: AP: failed to find any interfaces (null): -4
Mar 27 13:03:25 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: AP: failed to open connection to check for power: -4
Mar 27 13:03:25 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: Message Handler Installation Failed: service port is NULL\n
Mar 27 13:03:46 b-box-d FrontRow[8899]: Could not locate media location! Using /dev/disk0s4
/SourceCache/Riptide/Riptide-175/BackRow/Utilities/BRXHardwareUtility.m:145: failed assertion `NO'

I am running the osx finder as well. Is that a problem? Should I set it up to only use the apple tv one?

Thanks,

bholland

[semthex]

Mar 27 13:03:24 b-box-d /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework/Resources/SettingsHelper: Failed to setuid

sure you have permissions set correctly?

[bholland]

Here's what I did:

cp -pr ./BackRow.framework /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/
cp -pr ./iPhotoAccess.framework /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/

I copied the original Finder.app with the same way to my Desktop.
Overwrote the Finder bin file with the new one. Then set permissions:

sudo chown root:wheel Finder
sudo chmod 755 Finder

Then double clicked Finder.app. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks,

bholland

[anourkey]

I believe you are going to need to create an extra partition that is mounted to /Media which the BackRow app is looking for to find your media files.

[nEb]

hi hackint0sh.org !
I've a got french stupid accented question for you Semthex, as you said, the kernel as nothing to do with SSE2/3, ok, but i didn't understand why the Apple TV is (i hope for apple) a very stable computer whereas it's heart is a SSE2 processor ? I mean, why do we need to patch our SSE2 hackintosh if it's working ? isn't there anything that we may import from the mini OS X into the hacked Tiger to make it totally stable ?
sorry for my french accent.. and maybe for the stupid question i ask, but.. i'm so happy with my hackintosh.. i'd love to make it work normally (i mean, i can't make divx from dvd, i can't use dnetc without a kernel panic..)..

many thanks for the job you all makes !
(sorry for apple, but maybe they just abuse too much the mac community..)

[semthex]

The SSE3 emu is used for the frameworks and files not contained in the mini OSX which use SSE3 isntructions heavily.

[NeoPheus]

Ok,
here is the Finder console log....

[netkas]

K, i got itunes connection screen, on a ihack 10.4.9
what's next ?

[matthewrotherham]

sorry to be the biggest of anoyances but is there any way of using either an ipod or a DVD (you heard me!) as a boot device for appleTV on a mac mini (intel)

[semthex]

netkas: Fire up itunes on another computer in your lan and enter the passkey, than you are done. In case you got the frontrow mouse driver installed you can now navigate the pseudo ATV with your mouse.

matthewrotherham: sure you can, goes same way as installing OSX to a external drive and mod it.

[matthewrotherham]

ok sweet.

fogive the constant befuddlement that is me but i have another one...

we have all seen the macbook with ATV on it (BRAVO!) but the thing is why is no one doing it on other systems yet (MBP, macPro, Mini) is there a different bit of code needed for different machines or is there some other problem...

also is there any way of showing the apple TV video on boot like the device itself?

[Virtualball]

Hey, thanks for this, it's awsome! My one question is, is there a way to use the keyboard rather then the remote? I lost mine a while back and am stuck at the main screen. Please help.

Also, if I replace everything, hack watchdog kext, and burn, can I use the 200 MB OS or do I have to dl the 400 MB one?

[benradler]

Hey guys -- I was wondering if anyone had come up with a way to do this yet:

I'm running patched appleTV finder on a c2d macbookpro, with my usual osx install -- i just made a copy of the finder, and i launch that to run the appleTV os. However, i really want to sync the appleTV to my itunes running on the same macbook pro (several hundred gb of stuff in it) -- so my question is, how can i exit fullscreen appleTV finder and use iTunes on my macbook pro so that i can sync appleTV to my iTunes?

Someone on this thread had mentioned trying to do it with multiple user accounts -- haven't tried that.

Thanks in advance.
Benny

[kidjay]

Obviously new here, but I got it running on a seperate partition on the macbook. Runs beautifully. Synced some media with an old old old crappy PC in the house (no other macs) and my external drive.

Works fine, but I had the idea that “maybe i can just share media between the two drives” or at least be able to copy from my main os x installation to the atv. Not so.

AppleTV acts as an iPod, keeping a Media folder with F01, F02, F03 etc folders and randomly assigned names for your music, photos and movies.

No big surprise, the surprise is…it keeps that folder on my other partition, not the partition that the appletv finder is installed on.

If i had another mac or a PC worth its weight in anything other than shit, I’d just set my external up and use it as a media server for both my os x installation and my appletv install, but for now, that’s a no go.

The idea here would be to have an application like one of the hundreds for the ipod that’s able to decode that appletv craziness and enable you to add content to the appletv without being synced to an itunes library when you want to do it. same idea as “i dont want to use itunes to copy stuff to my ipod”, “i don’t want to have to fire up this crappy pc every time i want to throw something on appletv”

the idea of multiple users and front row is brilliant as well...i'd LOVE to see that develop.

Great job guys. This is coming along great.

[mac mini]

nice job semthex and everyone else that got it working :) the mac mini would probaly be a good machine to putit on because of the remote and it is small

[FierceDeityLink1]

Mine loops as previously mentioned. Is that because it's expecting the /Media mount? For the few seconds I can see the console log, its says something about failing to set a "uid". I think I can get a full log if you need it.

[Former Bender]

I've got it installed to replace the old frontrow.

Rename the AppleTV's Finder.app to Front Row.app
Get inside Contents/MacOS/
Rename Finder to Front Row
Get inside Contents/
Open Info.plist and change <string>Finder</string> to <string>Front Row</string>

Now go inside /System/Library/CoreServices/ and replace the old Front Row by this new moded.

Repair permissions and reboot.

You can now use the Apple Remote menu button to call the AppleTV's Front Row !

Got to find a way to quit it without ssh/killing the Front Row process from another computer.

[iMatt711]

it would be great if we could integrate an apple remote emulator into the OS. I'm sure one probably already exists.

[benradler]

xianli --

have you found a way to hide/minimize the appleTV finder?

I'm trying to get the appleTV to see my iTunes on the same computer as the appleTV finder is running on. I've been unable to switch users and do it -- appleTV finder blocks that sort of stuff (ie. /System/library/coreservices/menu extras/user.menu/contents/resrouces/CGSession -suspend)

Let me know.

[merlyn383]

@Xianli does Command+Option+Esc work to quit the ATV interface? It works for Front Row... I can't test it myself (stupid job frowning on hacking their systems)

[Former Bender]

I've tried all i can, the only way, for now, to quit AppleTV's Front Row is using ssh from another computer.

I was thinking about a brutal way of messing in the code to make a function/option to crash Front Row when selected. :D

Legal section can be the one that could be hacked to quit/crash the frontrow process.

[DsurioN]

I've done it sucessfully on an intel imac and my method is posted here:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=46680

(I simply created a new username and then set the default Finder to the modded one (on my desktop) and whenever I login to the appleTV username, it runs AppleTV.

I'd also like to find a way to quit it tho.... It feels horrible having to force shutdown my mac every time I wanna change users... The keyboard definitely works though, because command + shift + 3 produces a screenshot. However I can't log off / shutdown using any of the key combinations.

[benradler]

I've tried all i can, the only way, for now, to quit AppleTV's Front Row is using ssh from another computer.

I was thinking about a brutal way of messing in the code to make a function/option to crash Front Row when selected. :D

Are you just killall'ing the frontrow?

I need a way to hide it, not kill it.

[merlyn383]

I've tried all i can, the only way, for now, to quit AppleTV's Front Row is using ssh from another computer.

I was thinking about a brutal way of messing in the code to make a function/option to crash Front Row when selected. :D

Legal section can be the one that could be hacked to quit/crash the frontrow process.

What about Quicksilver and a Trigger? You can write a trigger to issue the killall and have it set to a hotkey activated by Quicksilver. Could work since you said that the keyboard seems to be working.

[Tucpasquic]

I've read the version of DsurioN. Everything (enven the devil :p) is ok. But, you tried on a MacBook, so how can you have a 1680x1050 on it?
Currently, the green devil is in maintenance!

[Former Bender]

What about Quicksilver and a Trigger? You can write a trigger to issue the killall and have it set to a hotkey activated by Quicksilver. Could work since you said that the keyboard seems to be working.

Just tried and it doesn't work.

I've made an Applescript App (Tell Application "Front Row" to quit).

I've checked with "top" in a ssh and the Quicksilver hotkey (Apple Shift 2) "quitFR.app" to quit AppleTV's Front Row is not starting when Front Row is started.

Gonna try to takeover the Apple Shift 3 (screen capture) as Front Row let it go. ;)

[bikedude880]

At 7:45PM PST, the AppleTV OS successfully booted on a PC. There are still a couple setbacks (controlling it, ethernet, etc.) but it does in fact boot.

Stripped down 10.4.8 install (Intel optimized)
Boot time after BIOS: 15 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mt9B0GsSak

[Former Bender]

@bikedude880

Don't forget to run Quartz Debug (found in Dev Tools) one time to enable Core Image and Quartz Extreme support.
(Don't know why, it is disabled by default on AppleTV OS)

[Former Bender]

Call me crazy but i have an idea.

how about creating a boolean app that remains resident and check, let's say, every 10 sec, if Front Row is resident in memory and if a picture 1.png does exist on the desktop folder.

That would means we have used the Apple Shift 3 shortkey to quit Front Row.

If yes, then start the quitFR.app and then delete the picture 1.png

Don't blame me, i haven't slept for hours. :D

EDIT : I can 100% confirm that Apple Shift 3 is running in the background when Front Row is resident, i can see (in ssh) the picture 1.png to appear in the desktop folder.

[semthex]

No more looping video :)

For anyone befire you run into AppleTV control problems... use the frontrow mousedriver which is available!

[CycloneFr]

what can we expect of Apple TV on PC? any use?

[aberracus]

Semthex, hi man, err is the modded frontrow in the green devil?, and mousedriver is avalible? where? what means that? mouse in front row 2.0?

[matthewrotherham]

I've got it installed to replace the old frontrow.

Rename the AppleTV's Finder.app to Front Row.app
Get inside Contents/MacOS/
Rename Finder to Front Row
Get inside Contents/
Open Info.plist and change <string>Finder</string> to <string>Front Row</string>

Now go inside /System/Library/CoreServices/ and replace the old Front Row by this new moded.

Repair permissions and reboot.

You can now use the Apple Remote menu button to call the AppleTV's Front Row !

Got to find a way to quit it without ssh/killing the Front Row process from another computer.

o,k. could this be more step by step for us lesser mortals! what contents folder do you need to nav to (as there are about 40) and if this has been done why can this not be turned into a stand alone app. (click icon and it loads)

by the way when it comes to quitting try this ou (i would but i cannot get it working on my mac mini at the mo)

2 user accounts
normal and AppTV
app tv has ATVOS on as finder
to quit use the key command for log out or switch users

will this work?

[gizzymo]

Install "Home Zone" for OSX, This software supports triggers whcih can be activated via bluetooth or wifi events. I use an old cell phone, and when it detects it it runs an apple script whcih quits apple tv. hope this helps

p
p.s this may work for the apple tv os, but you might need to manually copy over Home Zone prefs etc

[benradler]

Install "Home Zone" for OSX, This software supports triggers whcih can be activated via bluetooth or wifi events. I use an old cell phone, and when it detects it it runs an apple script whcih quits apple tv. hope this helps

p
p.s this may work for the apple tv os, but you might need to manually copy over Home Zone prefs etc

Something tells me that if SSH isn't doing the trick, a bluetooth cellphone sure as shit ain't gonna do anything.

[gizzymo]

i used this as a basis for the applescript and it worked fine....


on idle
do shell script "shutdown -h now" with administrator privileges
return 0
end idle

[semthex]

Ok the very good news first. Netkas has foudn the problem with none Apple computer and fixed the issue.

The good news, we cleaning up the forum a bit to make you all feel more welcome, this delays writing my article on AppleTV OS a bit but will come up today, promised :-)

[matthewrotherham]

how long before some one puts up a torrent that is just a working disk image for all other macs (either with the ATVOS on boot or as a replacment for finder)

if i could get the damn thing working i would!

[Tucpasquic]

MacBook CD, it doesn't work.
Clean install of OSX, replacing the finder.app, and the Finder.app/MacOS/Finder
adding the two new frameworks.
Nothing appends, I see only the old finder, realy buggy.
I've got, in the console, a findercrash.log

Any ideas? (I follow the HowTo Step provided by appletvhacks.net)
I found my finder on the green devil ;)

[semthex]

can you post system.log from /var/logs here?

This I had with either files with broken perms (needed to copy them of my ATV again) or after borkerizing my video driver for INTeL GMA950 as system ran in vesa mode.

[Tucpasquic]

Ok, here is my system.log.
It repeat this all the time ;)

Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer crashdump[223]: Finder crashed
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer crashdump[223]: crash report written to: /Users/tv/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Finder.crash.log
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: Message Handler Installation Failed: bootstrap_check_in(): 0x44e: Bootstrap unknown service\n
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: ******** Application Startup ********
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: No matching IR micro server found.
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: VERS: failed to get ImageVersion for display
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: VERS: failed to get BootImageVersion for display
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: *** OS 8I2025, IR F.F.F, EFI 0061.B03, SI F.F.F/F.F.F, Software 175 ***
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework/Resources/SettingsHelper: Failed to setuid
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: Settings helper failed: status 100
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/BackRow.framework/Resources/SettingsHelper: Failed to setuid
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: Settings helper failed: status 100
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: UPD: clearing update files in /Users/frontrow/Updates
Mar 28 11:13:57 tvs-computer FrontRow[224]: *** NSEXCEPTION RAISED ***\n NSInvalidArgumentException: *** +[QCPatch loadPlugInsInFolder:]: selector not recognized\n 0x90b4c03f: +[NSObject doesNotRecognizeSelector:] (in Foundation)\n 0x90a70207: -[NSObject(NSForwardInvocation) forward::] (in Foundation)\n 0x908dbba1: _objc_msgForward (in libobjc.A.dylib)\n 0x000076ed (in Finder)\n 0x000062e9 (in Finder)\n 0x00006233 (in Finder)\n 0x000059f4 (in Finder)\n 0x00172356 (in Finder)\n 0x0017227d (in Finder)\n

Does it helps you?

[lessew]

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=46680&st=0

Pretty good guide.

[kerio]

I have the same problem of Tucpasquic...I'm using a MBP C2D. :)

Here's my system.log:

Mac OS X Versione 10.4.9 (Build 8P2137)
2007-03-28 20:38:32 +0200
Mar 28 20:38:33 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1782]: Message Handler Installation Failed: bootstrap_check_in(): 0x44c: Bootstrap not privileged\n
Mar 28 20:38:33 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1782]: No matching IR micro server found.
Mar 28 20:38:33 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1782]: VERS: failed to get ImageVersion for display
Mar 28 20:38:33 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1782]: VERS: failed to get BootImageVersion for display
Mar 28 20:38:33 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1782]: Cannot execute SettingsHelper at (null)
Mar 28 20:38:33 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1782]: Cannot execute SettingsHelper at (null)
Mar 28 20:38:34 computer-di-luca crashdump[1780]: crash report written to: /Users/appletv/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Finder.crash.log
Mar 28 20:38:34 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1782]: VERS: failed to get ImageValid for display
Mar 28 20:38:36 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1782]: Message Handler Installation Failed: service port is NULL\n
Mar 28 20:38:40 computer-di-luca crashdump[1786]: Finder crashed
Mar 28 20:38:40 computer-di-luca crashdump[1786]: crash report written to: /Users/appletv/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Finder.crash.log
Mar 28 20:38:42 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1788]: Message Handler Installation Failed: bootstrap_check_in(): 0x44c: Bootstrap not privileged\n
Mar 28 20:38:42 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1788]: No matching IR micro server found.
Mar 28 20:38:42 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1788]: VERS: failed to get ImageVersion for display
Mar 28 20:38:42 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1788]: VERS: failed to get BootImageVersion for display
Mar 28 20:38:42 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1788]: Cannot execute SettingsHelper at (null)
Mar 28 20:38:42 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1788]: Cannot execute SettingsHelper at (null)
iTeaHAL: Entering...
iTeaHAL: Not iTunes, exiting.
Mar 28 20:38:42 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1788]: VERS: failed to get ImageValid for display
2007-03-28 20:38:44.154 SystemUIServer[1776] lang is:it
Mar 28 20:38:44 computer-di-luca FrontRow[1788]: Message Handler Installation Failed: service port is NULL\n

[Former Bender]

OK guys ! 100% success !

I can start Front Row with the Apple remote and i can even Quit it without any additional App.

I still can use my standard os x finder.

Will write a full howto. :D

[semthex]

I put some infos in external threads to make them easier to browse for other people, feel fre to use these or make new threads on this topic. All stuffed to gether makes it really hard to read up for newcomer :)

Thank you!

[archaos]

OK guys ! 100% success !

I can start Front Row with the Apple remote and i can even Quit it without any additional App.

I still can use my standard os x finder.

Will write a full howto. :D

I can't wait to know how you manage to quit back row ! (by the way, when you call it front row it confuses me ... i guess it is officially called back row)

Thx anyway by advance for your research !

[Former Bender]

@archaos

Well, the Front Row i'm talking about is in fact the AppleTV's patched Finder.

I've just modified its .app name, its info.plist inside Contents and its Finder binary inside MacOS.

Now the system believes that it is the standard Front Row.app it uses when i press the apple remote menu button.

So i can still use my original OS X Finder when i quit "Front Row"
(you better have to stop any media playing before quitting to avoid file corruption).

[kerio]

I fixed my problem with an auto-installer.

I don't know exatcly what problem i had... but it works now :)

[DsurioN]

Well, the Front Row i'm talking about is in fact the AppleTV's patched Finder.

I've just modified its .app name, its info.plist inside Contents and its Finder binary inside MacOS.

Now the system believes that it is the standard Front Row.app it uses when i press the apple remote menu button.

So i can still use my original OS X Finder when i quit "Front Row"
(you better have to stop any media playing before quitting to avoid file corruption).

awesome! do you know of a way to use your media on the current computer?

also, for all those needing an installer, I found one here:

[removed for legal reasons - sorry]

enjoy

[archaos]

@archaos

Well, the Front Row i'm talking about is in fact the AppleTV's patched Finder.

I've just modified its .app name, its info.plist inside Contents and its Finder binary inside MacOS.

Now the system believes that it is the standard Front Row.app it uses when i press the apple remote menu button.

So i can still use my original OS X Finder when i quit "Front Row"
(you better have to stop any media playing before quitting to avoid file corruption).

I guess we agree on what we are talking about :) I was just saying that the front row from the apple tv has been called back row on many other web site.

The thing that i m really looking forward is how do you quit back row (the apple tv frontrow) on your macbook ? It is the last step we all need to be able to use it without killing the finder from another computer !

Thx

[fheusel]

I would like to kill "frontrow 2.0" with a menu-entry you could create by cloning a *.frappliance in the Plugin-folder. I'd like to launch a bash-script like this:
kill $(ps -A | grep [A]ppleTV | awk '{ print $1}') (in this case the Finder.app was renamed to AppleTV.app).
But if I replace the default binary with my own the plugin is not longer displayed in the menu :-/

EDIT: Here is a plugin mentioned - http://www.awkwardtv.org/?p=12 anyone some technical details?
ps: pls ignore my broken english :)

[Former Bender]

The complete Install procedure with ability to quit Back Row and Preserve your original finder is here

http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?p=3654#post3654

;)

[semthex]

XianLi: can you open a thread and post your howto there again? It woudl be great, thsi thread is getting insane big and I don't want valued information to get lost in the masses. :) thx!

[Former Bender]

ok sorry :D

[Former Bender]

Back Row is running Java Hotspot.

This is what i've got after messing with appliances and crashed one.

FrontRow[267]Java VM: JAva HotSpot(TM) Client VM (1.5.0_07-87 mixed mode, sharing)

JavaNativeCrash_pid402.crash.log :

OS:Mac OS X
CPU:total 2 family 6, cmov, cx8, fxsr, mmx, sse, sse2, ht
Memory: 4k page, physical 1048576k
vm_info: JAva HotSpot(TM) Client VM (1.5.0_07-87) for macosx-86

If you want to know what is Hotspot >

http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/HotSpotFAQ.html

[iMatt711]

No more looping video :)

For anyone befire you run into AppleTV control problems... use the frontrow mousedriver which is available!

can we add this to one of the how to's?

[ssbands04]

XianLi: Any way to do this:
1. Without creating another whole install
2. Without fully replacing the regular FrontRow--like just making an add'l one- BackRow or something?

and what about packaging the whole BackRow thing as an Application already pre patched and everything that only needs to be put into the applications folder or something of the like

[Former Bender]

XianLi: Any way to do this:
1. Without creating another whole install
2. Without fully replacing the regular FrontRow--like just making an add'l one- BackRow or something?

and what about packaging the whole BackRow thing as an Application already pre patched and everything that only needs to be put into the applications folder or something of the like

Because as i have said in the howto, if you run Back Row when the original OS X Front Row is resident (launched in the background, waiting for the apple remote menu button to be pressed) you will hang exposé, dashboard, system preferences, system profiler... and more.

The original OS X Front Row must be disabled when installing Back Row to make sure it's not gonna mess your system.

[hackand]

Actually, it crashes loginwindow, which causes all the consequent crashes (yeah, that means the only way to shut down your Mac will be forcing it). But yeah, I can say that is true, it happened to me some minutes ago.

But thanks a lot XianLi for the quit procedure. Very ingenious and much simpler than probably most of us thought it would be. I was surprised to see that the Applescript app was a PPC binary, as if it was saved on a PPC Mac, but I just re-saved it and made it native. Works much faster.

[Former Bender]

I was surprised to see that the Applescript app was a PPC binary, as if it was saved on a PPC Mac, but I just re-saved it and made it native. Works much faster.

:eek: nice catch, i really don't know why it has been saved as PowerPC as i've made it on my Mac mini Core Duo.

EDIT :: Ok, i get it, i've saved it as Application, not Application Bundle.

I'm gonna correct the link in the Howto.

Thanks for lifting this up 1 ;)

[DsurioN]

I've updated my tutorial over at InsanelyMac with 2 choices: standalone or replacing front row. I'm also using a closing app coded by someone at InsanelyMac which even switches your resolution back to your screen's default (appleTV lowers it)

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=46680

[Former Bender]

I've updated my tutorial over at InsanelyMac with 2 choices: standalone or replacing front row. I'm also using a closing app coded by someone at InsanelyMac which even switches your resolution back to your screen's default (appleTV lowers it)

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=46680

The cscreen command script in the Close AppleTV.app seems to be broken, as it responding by :

Unable to complete display configuration (1004)

It actually works only when Front Row is not launched.

from another machine (ssh) it does the same whatever the resolution is.
e.g ./cscreen -x 1280 -y 1024 -f

EDIT >> a delay of 1 or 2 seconds after the kill command in the code will solve the problem.
because the Front Row process is still resident (about to quit) when the cscreen command is launched.

[G9Niels]

Thanks a lot for all your work on the AppleTV software.
My MacBook CD works like a charm on a LCD TV.

Here it is :

http://niels.gate-nine.net/AppleTV.jpg

[xplizid]

I have a problem, right after the intro movie i crash back to the desktop. I have edited the backrow to read from the proper partition of my system and still no go. Anyone have a solution for this?

[semthex]

There is a thread on AppleTV Errors discribing this problem on this Forum, I just posted a Hackint0sh related update for you :)

http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?p=3725#post3725

[xplizid]

thanx for the reply semthex i had don that as well. I am going to look at it again when i get off.

[aberracus]

USB is hacked!
http://0xfeedbeef.com/appletv/
USB success! (2007-03-29 15:21)
Purpose: Use USB devices with your AppleTV
Notes: Apple's USB device whitelist has been bypassed, and I can confirm a working keyboard that doesn't appear to interfere with the IR remote
A USB storage device is now detected, but no device node is created. IOUSBMassStorageClass.kext is missing
Make the following changes to the uncompressed mach_kernel binary (offsets are file offsets with header removed):

Change bytes 75 34 (offsets 51f55e 52023e) to 75 30 (adjust jump target by 4 bytes)
51f550: 90 fc 04 00 00 89 c3 66 3b 35 60 5b 6a 00 75 34
520230: 90 fc 04 00 00 89 c3 66 3b 35 60 5b 6a 00 75 34

Change bytes 75 1c (offsets 51f576 520256) to 75 18 (adjust jump target by 4 bytes)
51f570: 6a 00 21 d0 39 c1 75 1c 0f b7 05 68 5b 6a 00 89
520250: 6a 00 21 d0 39 c1 75 1c 0f b7 05 68 5b 6a 00 89


Decompress, patch data, patch header, and reassemble mach_kernel.prelink as outlined below
Thanks go to oz_paulb for a proper disassembly.

[mathdude1284]

I'm so confuzzled...is it possible at all to install on a hacky or is a real mac needed?

[semthex]

Both works, a real mac as well a hackint0sh.

[tty7]

Is the patch for seeing the mouse already rolled out?

[diabolik]

Is the patch for seeing the mouse already rolled out?

here is the howto for the mouse pointer :
http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/How_To_%27Enable%27_Mouse_Cursor/Pointer_on_the_AppleTV

[kramer2k]

Both works, a real mac as well a hackint0sh.

Any how to's...specifically for hacs??