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[edit] Welcome to the AwkwardTV Wiki

As you probably know, Apple TV is a set-top box manufactured by Apple. Out of the box, it is enabled to stream digital content from any computer running iTunes. As there is little information provided about what is going on "under the hood" of the Apple TV, this is a place to collect and share information.

This website is dedicated to finding additional uses for the Apple TV by (legitimately) enabling its Potential Capabilities, and is a place for the community to share ideas, discoveries and solutions. As such, when you add any comments or questions (not contributions to an informational page) please sign it using the signature button, , or four tildes (~~~~). It is for informational purposes only. AwkwardTV is not responsible if you void your warranty or damage your device.

[edit] Beginners Guides

If you're just getting started and trying to learn how to hack your Apple TV, then checking out the Beginners Guides section is probably the best place to start. This will help the novice get started with hacking the Apple TV, explaining steps in detail. Now in two flavours, we have

• A Guide for 2.x aka Take 2. This is for those who want to run the "new" menu system that Apple released in February 2008.

• A Guide for 1.x. This is for those who want to run the "old" menu system prior to Take 2 which was released February 2008.

• HackMeNot or The Alternative To Hacking. Tried hacking and messed it up? Just can't get stuff to work? Or think that it's just too complicated. You can get more from your Apple TV than you think with a few free apps and the correct settings in iTunes.

[edit] How To's

• How To Section covering Hard Drive Preparation and General Software Modifications.
• Take 2 Full Update - Walkthrough on getting your new AppleTV Take 2 modified with SSH, new codecs, USB support and more

[edit] Plugins

• How to automatically/manually install plugins
• AppleTV Take 2 Plugin Compatibility List

[edit] Development

• Plugin Tutorials For Developers
• FRAppliance 101 - Tutorial for creating new PlugIns
• FRScreenSaver 101 - Tutorial for creating screen savers. Please read FRAppliance_101 first.
• BackRow_2.3 - Instructions for linking against BackRow 2.3 headers in your PlugIn project.

[edit] Advanced BackRow Coding - An Ongoing Series

1. Introduction To Custom Controls
2. A Custom Layer Controller
   • Extra Credit 1: Animations
3. A Downloader Controller

• BackRow Developers' Kit - A Mac OS X application and utilities to aid in creating and debugging new plugins.
• Create Environment for stock ATV 1.1 Development with Leopard Setting up the development environment in Leopard
• Plug-in Developers Note Pad - Snippits of information that may help others.
• Alan Quatermain Video Tutorials
• Alan Quatermain's Site - for more info and tutorials.
• Recursive Menu Controller & Icons on Menus - A post by Alan Quatermain in the forum
• Leopard Plug-In Method - Under Construction?

[edit] Resources

IRC: You can find us on IRC: #awkwardtv on irc.moofspeak.net. Register your Nick Please feel free to contribute! We are all learners at this stage ;-)

Forum: AwkwardTV project forums

[edit] Prerequisites

• Hardware Modification Prerequisites

[edit] Latest News

• Jaman updated with AppleTV OS 2.4 support.
• ATVFiles 1.2.1 released with AppleTV OS 2.4 support.
• AtvPwn 2.0 AppleTV OS 2.4 Support.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.6: AppleTV OS 2.4 Support.
• AppleTV OS 2.4 New AppleTV OS release 2.4
• EmulatorsPlugIn 2.0: Implemented sub-folders, increased speed, fixed memory leaks
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.5: TVComposite installer bug fix (PAL installed properly now), File sorting (Date Modified Ascending/Descending, File Size Ascending/Descending), Settings organization, Major file browsing crash bugfix, rudimentary document viewing support (doc, rtf, txt, partial pdf support)
• Jaman - an online movie rental site specializing in independent and foreign film - has released an updated version of their AppleTV player that lets you synch Jaman and other movies to your AppleTV
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.4: kernel extension manager, up/down override, TVComposite installer, remote USB patch query for future OS updates.
• AtvPwn 1.8 Patches with authentication, bug fixes.
• Picture Memory, version 0.5 released. This is a proof of concept.
• SoftwareMenu 0.9.1 with a drastically improved Updater and install menu. New: Tweaks Menu, Rowmote support (virtual remote on iphone), Photo Browser, Custom screensaver and more. Photo Browser Fix
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.3 Individual package installer, major smart installer bug fix, custom pictures in installer section
• PatchStickBuilder 1.0 Beta3, Multi platform application to create the free base version of Patchstick 3.0 with only a few clicks. Works now for OS X and Windows environments.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.2 Services section, bug fixes, tbz installer added to smart installer + more
• DVDpedia FrontRow and AppleTV plug-in 2.0.4 released with AppleTV 2.3.1 support.
• Transmission on AppleTV A step-by-step guide on how to install the bit torrent client and its web interface on an Apple TV.
• How to install SlingPlayer on AppleTV A step-by-step guide on how to install SlingPlayer on an Apple TV.
• PatchStickBuilder 1.0 Beta, Application to create the free base version of Patchstick 3.0 with only a few clicks in a Windows environment.
• AtvPwn 1.5 Second release, now with plugins manager. Desktop program that will download and patch a chosen AppleTV OS and scp it to your AppleTV.
• SoftwareMenu 0.8 Works for 2.3.1. Can be used to upgrade and downgrade the OS (and patch it: no need to repatchstick). Can move from 2.0.2 to 2.3.1. Can move the order of the menu items, and still do all that it used to.
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.1 Compatibility bug fixes, 2.3.1 support, and more.
• AppleTV OS 2.3.1 has been RELEASED.
• EmulatorsPlugIn 1.4: Screen release in AppleTV 2.3, ROM artwork, more AppleScripts, file extension filtering
• NitoTV Take 2 0.7.0 Memory management improvements, Leopard Support, UI RSS feed editing, RSS feed images, time per slide edit + more
• LaunchMore 0.2 A new plugin that combines script engine, RSS reader, application launcher and other useful system tools

Archived News