Hackers turn Apple TV into computer

Apple TV sells for $300, which is fairly expensive for what the gear does. Particularly as it is so limited and produces poor quality video content.

However a couple of hackers have voided their warranties and managed to get the beast to run OS X.

A site has been started as the various hacks are reported.

The process is pretty laborious and there is no video acceleration, audio or ethernet support, yet although the hackers are working on that. Hacks so far have included adding the Xvid video codecs and installing a larger hard drive.

Others have enabled SSH to permit secure command-line access to the box, and attached USB keyboards and mice.

However the biggest hack, getting OS X on board, means that anything might soon be running on Apple TV, even the Media Centre edition of Microsoft Windows. The main reason for the ease of the hacks is that the Apple TV is fitted with more computer parts than many consoles. It seems that many people want the Apple TV to do a bit more than Steve Jobs says it should and they also seem to want cheaper Apple hardware.

The site has been getting 500,000 hits a day from people interested. µ