Here's a half-decent solution to the prohibition problem:

When the appletv start up, keep the SHIFT key pressed on the keyboard. It will now boot properly into Safe Mode!

This works for me *every time*, even though it won't boot without pressing shift (the same prohibition problem).

In safe mode, you can still alter the internal drive, as well as mess around with osx itself. I'm writing this on the appletv booted this way

BIG thx DxQ
everything work !!!! :p

Originally Posted by Magik

Absolutely... It was the first file I read...

Mount the drive on your mac, delete the Extensions.mkext and Extentions.kextcache, replace the AppleFileSystemDriver.kext with the one I provide, change the partition type back into one your aTV can read, then boot. Should work. Then run the script.

Well, whaddya know - I got Xvid working!!

Didn't realise it was as simple as Cmnd+K, then going to the ATV without the Terminal! Took me a minute to think of trying frontrow as the username as well as the password, but once that was done, the whole thing opened up!

Thanks again, everyone - no way I'd got to this point without this thread! :-)

Cheers,

S_B

when osx is booted
i get a warning that 1 disk (partition is not mouted)
so i have OSBoot, Media and my usb disk

but disk0s2 is not mouted ! so i cant get to the user ans backrow app ....

am i missing something ?

Finally it works with the DxQ instructions. Thanks!!

Glad I could help.

Thanks to a kind member of this forum for a file forward, I was able to get my aTV running OS X via external disk without cracking the case. I can only boot to safe mode, so something is still up with my build on my external HD, but it does work in safe mode.

Some other important details:

1) The output resolution is inherited from the previous aTV boot. If you set your
screen resolution in the normal aTV software to be 640x480, that is the only option
you get under Display settings once booted to OS X. Similarly, if you set things to
1920x1080, that is what you get as the only option in the Display settings.

2) I have my external HD hooked up through a Microsoft Xbox 360 HD DVD drive.
The drive has two USB ports on the back, and both are usable. When I insert
a normal DVD, the DVD mounts but does not play (DVD Player throws an error).
VLC is not working to play the disc, either. I can re-author the content to HD using
MediaFork (new HandBrake), and Quicktime will play it, but slowly (again, might
be a problem with Safe Mode on).

3) I'm using an external wireless keyboard with separate USB dongle. The
presentation mouse (gyroscopic control) works great.

4) My tv is an older RPTV analog set with component ins that support 1080i,
but the image is blurry at that resolution. Also, the tv has a bit of overscan,
so I lose tops and bottoms of windows.

So, at least for my setup, aTV is preferable to OS X currently due to better resolution.
I'm thinking I will use the OS X boot to load content onto the HD of the aTV and
watch it under the aTV interface. Will try to figure that out on some future
weekend.

Does any know if you need to use an powered external drive?
I guess it depends on how much power the external hdd need to pull through the usb port ?

Just looking at whether I need to get a usb HDD or use a 80gig 3.5 HDD I have lying around and then find a suitable powered enclosure.

Might be worth creating a list of theHDD'sthat people are using?

Thanks in advance.

I did not have to use the power cord on my harddrive, but I think it depends on the harddrive, yes.