[mythtv-users] AppleTV with Linux

[Scott D. Davilla]

>Alright, I read some of the forum posts over there and I'm game - even
>though it still doesn't look like it's for the faint of heart.  Well,
>when you get that penstick Mythbuntu distro for AppleTV working, I'm
>definitely in.  That's would be plenty close enough, even if I have to
>open up the box and grab the efi firmware off the harddrive.  Off to
>E-bay I go now...You'll be done with that in 5-7 days, right? ;)
>

for prep, grab the AppleTV 1.1 update from 
http://mesu.apple.com/data/OS/061-2988.20070620.bHy75/2Z694-5248-45.dmg 
and extract boot.efi (see 
http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Boot.efi_Information#Availability) . 
That's the one file we cannot distribute.

With that file and my new bootloader, you will not need to open the AppleTV.

It's recommended to backup the original contents (see 
http://wiki.awkwardtv.org/wiki/Backup_your_original_Hard_Drive). You 
don't need an existing OSX box. All this can be done under Linux. If 
you see references to parted, remember that you will need the patched 
version to create the proper GUID partitions (see 
http://forum.awkwardtv.org/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=301).

The next decision is a) replace entire contents with a Linux or b) 
reduce the size of the existing media partiton and create new 
partitons for Linux. I found b) more complicated.

Since I have lots of 2.5 hard drive, I opened mine and replaced it 
with different one for linux work. That way I can bounce back and 
forth in tracking issues.

A powered USB 2.0 hub and external USB hard drive is also recommended 
(backup to where?). You will need the hub as the AppleTV only has one 
USB port.