6 ms·

NTATV: Bringing Windows NT (Windows XP, Windows 2003) to the Original Apple TV

jeroenhd 2y ago
Sounds like excellent hardware to run an old copy of Windows XP Media Player Edition! Edit: okay so realistically that's probably not going to be of use to anyone until someone writes an audio driver for the HDMI out but maybe one of those USB sound cards will work at least?
- rootsudo 2y ago
  It has been a while since I heard that and remember they were popular on Sony vaios with cable capture cards. Wow.
  - xattt 2y ago
    HP sold an MCE PC line in the mid-2000s that fit perfectly into a home setup. Pair this with a Linksys media extender on other TVs, and you could have had a pretty modern media setup 20 years ago. https://www.cnet.com/reviews/hp-digital-entertainment-center-z560-pentium-d-925-3-ghz-review/ https://www.cnet.com/reviews/hp-digital-entertainment-center...
- pjmlp 2y ago
  That was my first thought as well. :)
stevefan1999 2y ago
I never knew the first generation of Apple TV was running on x86...
- Moto7451 2y ago
  Some people even got OS X running on these as a discounted albeit limited Mac. More practically you could do this in order to run “XBox Media Center” (aka Kodi) as it was named back then. The reverse was also true when Apple released what was more or less the Apple TV interface as the Front Row app and some Macs even shipped with an IR remote. The same IR remote worked with several Macs of the time. Eventually everything went to streaming and the software to support locally networked libraries became a side feature and eventually discontinued.
varun_ch 2y ago
What's more impressive is the creator of this started with zero programming knowledge, and learnt C in three days to start this project, and seemingly months learning the systems-level stuff to make this work. Insane. https://youtu.be/YkjrEXtZoWM?t=465 https://youtu.be/YkjrEXtZoWM?t=465
- theragra 2y ago
  How, just how people do this. For more mortals it takes few years of university to get to some decent level.
- atVelocet 2y ago
  Maybe the .cursor folder in the GitHub gives a hint on how he did it in such a short time span…
DeathArrow 2y ago
Before ARM took over the world long time ago, in 2030, people used other CPU architectures like x86.
- throwaway48476 2y ago
  ARM is going to spend the next decade suing their customers. The tide is going out before the tsunami of Chinese risc v chips hits.
tiahura 2y ago
Cool. Bringing Windows 11 to M1 would be bodacious.
- monocasa 2y ago
  Way larger uplift. NT functionally got rid of the hal<->krnl distinction, and baked a lot of Qualcomm-isms into the shipping arm kernels. Probably the easiest way would be a light weight hypervisor that translates Qualcomm specific hardware to Apple's.
  - my123 2y ago
    > and baked a lot of Qualcomm-isms into the shipping arm kernels. not that many and only when needed. > that translates Qualcomm specific hardware to Apple's. More like generic arm64 hardware tbh. Windows doesn't rely on Qualcomm-isms

Sounds like excellent hardware to run an old copy of Windows XP Media Player Edition! Edit: okay so realistically that's probably not going to be of use to anyone until someone writes an audio driver for the HDMI out but maybe one of those USB sound cards will work at least?

rootsudo 2y ago
It has been a while since I heard that and remember they were popular on Sony vaios with cable capture cards. Wow.
- xattt 2y ago
  HP sold an MCE PC line in the mid-2000s that fit perfectly into a home setup. Pair this with a Linksys media extender on other TVs, and you could have had a pretty modern media setup 20 years ago. https://www.cnet.com/reviews/hp-digital-entertainment-center-z560-pentium-d-925-3-ghz-review/ https://www.cnet.com/reviews/hp-digital-entertainment-center...
pjmlp 2y ago
That was my first thought as well. :)

stevefan1999 2y ago

I never knew the first generation of Apple TV was running on x86...

Moto7451 2y ago
Some people even got OS X running on these as a discounted albeit limited Mac. More practically you could do this in order to run “XBox Media Center” (aka Kodi) as it was named back then. The reverse was also true when Apple released what was more or less the Apple TV interface as the Front Row app and some Macs even shipped with an IR remote. The same IR remote worked with several Macs of the time. Eventually everything went to streaming and the software to support locally networked libraries became a side feature and eventually discontinued.

varun_ch 2y ago

What's more impressive is the creator of this started with zero programming knowledge, and learnt C in three days to start this project, and seemingly months learning the systems-level stuff to make this work. Insane. https://youtu.be/YkjrEXtZoWM?t=465 https://youtu.be/YkjrEXtZoWM?t=465

theragra 2y ago
How, just how people do this. For more mortals it takes few years of university to get to some decent level.
atVelocet 2y ago
Maybe the .cursor folder in the GitHub gives a hint on how he did it in such a short time span…

DeathArrow 2y ago

Before ARM took over the world long time ago, in 2030, people used other CPU architectures like x86.

throwaway48476 2y ago
ARM is going to spend the next decade suing their customers. The tide is going out before the tsunami of Chinese risc v chips hits.

tiahura 2y ago

Cool. Bringing Windows 11 to M1 would be bodacious.

monocasa 2y ago
Way larger uplift. NT functionally got rid of the hal<->krnl distinction, and baked a lot of Qualcomm-isms into the shipping arm kernels. Probably the easiest way would be a light weight hypervisor that translates Qualcomm specific hardware to Apple's.
- my123 2y ago
  > and baked a lot of Qualcomm-isms into the shipping arm kernels. not that many and only when needed. > that translates Qualcomm specific hardware to Apple's. More like generic arm64 hardware tbh. Windows doesn't rely on Qualcomm-isms