AppleTV using a version of Tiger or Leopard

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
The AppleTV is using some lite version of MacOS X and next gen FrontRow. But is it based on Leapard or Tiger?



Does anyone have an idea or have found the version of the kernel it is running?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    slewisslewis Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FrenchMac View Post


    The AppleTV is using some lite version of MacOS X and next gen FrontRow. But is it based on Leapard or Tiger?



    Does anyone have an idea or have found the version of the kernel it is running?



    Most likely Tiger. There's nothing in Leopard that I can think of that would make Apple use that instead of their current OS X version.



    Sebastian
  • Reply 2 of 18
    Don't know if this is posted somwhere else, but according to a guy on swedish forum 99.se/mac who claims have been checking out AppleTV's system:



    The name of AppleTV's GUI is BackRow.



    The project name is Riptide and is version 2.0



    BackRow has clear connections with iTunes Store which could indicate future possibilities of buying media directly from AppleTV.



    He has also found DVD-drivers.



    Original post, in swedish: http://www.99.se/apple-tv/214113-inn...-i-helgen.html
  • Reply 3 of 18
    slewisslewis Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Patrik_L View Post


    Don't know if this is posted somwhere else, but according to a guy on swedish forum 99.se/mac who claims have been checking out AppleTV's system:



    The name of AppleTV's GUI is BackRow.



    The project name is Riptide and is version 2.0



    BackRow has clear connections with iTunes Store which could indicate future possibilities of buying media directly from AppleTV.



    He has also found DVD-drivers.



    Original post, in swedish: http://www.99.se/apple-tv/214113-inn...-i-helgen.html



    Interesting.... the DVD drivers anyways. The part about direct buys.... I won't rule it out entirely in the future, but definitely not AppleTV 1.0 because of the way iTunes is currently built. Apple TV and iPod are just dumb devices that iTunes loads Data onto with instructions and DRM keys to go with it. Going by that model it would be impossible because the Apple TV would have to do one thing: It would have to learn how to manage your Library and currently it can't even hold the average library (Photos, Video, and Music included) so I don't see it.



    As for the DVD drivers, well no one's discovered what the USB port does yet and I thought it was just an alternative way to get onto the Network.



    Sebastian
  • Reply 4 of 18
    The USB port is also an interesting part of the AppleTV. A plausible use could be the connection of an iSight for a "theater" iChat web conf. They have invest a lot in the development of iChat for Tiger and Leopard. I wonder what strategy they are planning: a joint effort with Google (GTalk, VoIP, H264 video conf, ...). Could it also be in conjonction with some futrure features of the iPhone?



    We don't know anything know,... but it's a essential part of the computer experience by now...
  • Reply 5 of 18
    sport73sport73 Posts: 438member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Slewis View Post


    Interesting.... the DVD drivers anyways. The part about direct buys.... I won't rule it out entirely in the future, but definitely not AppleTV 1.0 because of the way iTunes is currently built. Apple TV and iPod are just dumb devices that iTunes loads Data onto with instructions and DRM keys to go with it. Going by that model it would be impossible because the Apple TV would have to do one thing: It would have to learn how to manage your Library and currently it can't even hold the average library (Photos, Video, and Music included) so I don't see it.



    As for the DVD drivers, well no one's discovered what the USB port does yet and I thought it was just an alternative way to get onto the Network.



    Sebastian





    I disagree. I think direct-from-AppleTV downloads are definitely coming. Notice I said FROM AppleTV. Your Mac, and iTunes, will still be the download location, but Apple TV will be able to 'instruct' your Mac's iTunes client to download a specified file. The AppleTV won't have to do anything more than it is today, other than send a simple script back to your Mac saying "Purchase and Download <movie>". That way, the Apple TV isn't responsible for housing any of the files you purchase, all that you've done is 'relocate' the BUY NOW button from iTunes onto AppleTV.
  • Reply 6 of 18
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Sport73 View Post


    The AppleTV won't have to do anything more than it is today, other than send a simple script back to your Mac saying "Purchase and Download <movie>". That way, the Apple TV isn't responsible for housing any of the files you purchase, all that you've done is 'relocate' the BUY NOW button from iTunes onto AppleTV.



    I agree in principle, but one thing they could do is download the movie directly to AppleTV, then back-sync it to your Mac. This shortens the time between downloading your movie and viewing it as it doesn't need to download to your Mac, then sync to AppleTV.
  • Reply 7 of 18
    @homenow@homenow Posts: 998member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nevenmrgan View Post


    I agree in principle, but one thing they could do is download the movie directly to AppleTV, then back-sync it to your Mac. This shortens the time between downloading your movie and viewing it as it doesn't need to download to your Mac, then sync to AppleTV.



    I'm not sure since I don't have one, but I think that you can set it up so that Apple TV automatically syncs the latest download from the computer. I don't know if it waits until the download is complete but it could probably start copying the file over shortly after the download starts so that it is on the Apple TV shortly after it is finished downloading to the computer. Maybe that is a good question for someone who has one and has purchased from iTMS since setting it up instead of spending the past few days hacking it which appears to be the thing to do this week.
  • Reply 8 of 18
    I have one and I've purchased TV shows from iTS since - they downloaded, then synced to AppleTV.
  • Reply 9 of 18
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    AppleTV is running a condensed version of Leopard for sure.



    AppleTV as Apple has previously said, uses CoreAnimation. Therefore Leopard.
  • Reply 10 of 18
    You may be right, but I've watched both keynotes, and I never heard Steve (or anyone) say that AppleTV used Core Animation. The actual animation in the UI is perfectly doable without Core Animation.



    Not saying you're wrong, but I haven't seen anything from Apple saying officially that AppleTV runs Leopard or uses Core Animation.
  • Reply 11 of 18
    @homenow@homenow Posts: 998member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nevenmrgan View Post


    I have one and I've purchased TV shows from iTS since - they downloaded, then synced to AppleTV.



    Well that is annoying, you would think that they would find a way to start pushing it over to Apple TV as soon as they had enough in iTunes so that the sync was not held up by the download, It would make for a better user experience.
  • Reply 12 of 18
    Yup. That's what I was saying. And I think it might be coming with the (possible) update to allow iTunes Store purchases from AppleTV. The biggest problem I see with this is finding movies - how would you do it? Scroll through lists of thousands of movies (in the future)? Use an on-screen keyboard?



    By the way, you can play a movie shortly after it starts syncing from your computer. It will play and get the rest as you go.
  • Reply 13 of 18
    xoolxool Posts: 2,460member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by icfireball View Post


    AppleTV is running a condensed version of Leopard for sure.



    AppleTV as Apple has previously said, uses CoreAnimation. Therefore Leopard.



    I would wager that iTunes and BackRow are both using a portion of CoreAnimation that is bundled in to the apps. Leopard will feature it OS-wide, but since they're Apple technologies they can bundle them with apps ahead of time as needed.
  • Reply 14 of 18
    hobbeshobbes Posts: 1,252member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Xool View Post


    I would wager that iTunes and BackRow are both using a portion of CoreAnimation that is bundled in to the apps. Leopard will feature it OS-wide, but since they're Apple technologies they can bundle them with apps ahead of time as needed.



    That's my guess too -- that they've shimmed CA into a slimmed-down version of 10.4 just for this device. It certainly looks like the Apple TV UI uses CA, anyway. I mean, it could be done with just CI, but why bother when you have the CA toolset?



    Technically -- if you SSH in and run System Profiler -- the OS is called "Apple TV OS 10.4.7".



    Lots more here and here.
  • Reply 15 of 18
    gee4orcegee4orce Posts: 165member
    Wrong. The Apple TV's interface uses Quartz Composer - the compositions themselves are being circulated on the interweb, but they are non-functional without some tweaking because they rely on custom inputs from the AppleTV's (presumably) BackRow software.



    The OS is, apparently, 10.4.7 or some variant thereof.



    (sorry - that sounded harsh. It was directed at the comment above that suspected the GUI was using Core Animation).
  • Reply 16 of 18
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gee4orce View Post


    Wrong. The Apple TV's interface uses Quartz Composer - the compositions themselves are being circulated on the interweb, but they are non-functional without some tweaking because they rely on custom inputs from the AppleTV's (presumably) BackRow software.



    The OS is, apparently, 10.4.7 or some variant thereof.



    (sorry - that sounded harsh. It was directed at the comment above that suspected the GUI was using Core Animation).



    Apple has said directly that some of the Apple TV is core animation. I guess it could be 10.4 with core animation much like H.264 was ported to 10.3.
  • Reply 17 of 18
    hobbeshobbes Posts: 1,252member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Gee4orce View Post


    Wrong. The Apple TV's interface uses Quartz Composer - the compositions themselves are being circulated on the interweb, but they are non-functional without some tweaking because they rely on custom inputs from the AppleTV's (presumably) BackRow software.



    Ah... interesting.



    I suppose it was easier (or perhaps safer?) than splicing off CA into some kind of bastardized build of 10.4.7. Or perhaps it's just completely buried (after all, Quartz Composer lies underneath CA as well).





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by icfireball


    Apple has said directly that some of the Apple TV is core animation. I guess it could be 10.4 with core animation much like H.264 was ported to 10.3.



    Are you sure about that? If so, please link. I think you might be confusing it with the iPhone.
  • Reply 18 of 18
    icfireballicfireball Posts: 2,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hobbes View Post


    Ah... interesting.



    I suppose it was easier (or perhaps safer?) than splicing off CA into some kind of bastardized build of 10.4.7. Or perhaps it's just completely buried (after all, Quartz Composer lies underneath CA as well).









    Are you sure about that? If so, please link. I think you might be confusing it with the iPhone.



    I don't remember exactly... and I don't have time to confirm now...but I THINK it was in the keynote... something like, "Apple TV, look at this beautiful animation... that's core animation by the way."
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