To all who have been contributing and following this thread I am now 100% ATV on Linux believer!
It did take me a few hours to follow the instructions and repartition and get the Linux kernel loaded on the apple tv, but so far in my hour of testing I would recommend it highly and never run OSX on iTV again. (Unless there is some major improvements in the future…. Never know)
Before the entire UI was 500-750ms behind the IR remote and when I tried playing any 720\1080 content with or without the crystal chip enabled the result was not watchable.
Now the UI is snappy again (like Xbox) and when you press play it does stutter for a few seconds, then it’s smoothes out. Every few minutes there is a bit of a stutter (like 100ms drop) , but I’m assuming that will only get better as the code and threading matures. (Keep in mind the documented process currently loads the older frozen March SVN build). The difference for the same exact hardware under two different OS's is quantum.
I wish the process could be easier if somehow automated, but looking at the steps, they are all necessary and not exactly for the armature. But, let’s be real – the first time I hacked a keyboard and thumb drive into the xbox’s USB port with a game disk and a modboot; It was bit like today – I’m sure by my 3rd iTV I be doing it with a cocktail in my hand.
I now see this as a potential “Cost effective” replacement for the Xbox moving forward, we can hope for more platforms, but right now XBOX is great but limited and dying, aTV (OSX) is same as XBOX for normal def, aTV(Linux) with Crystal is full HD replacement (with a few rough edges to iron out) and of course the Mac \Windows\Linux - full i386 multi cored replacement which might not be cost effective in every room, but is truly amazing.
My last two hurdles are getting the unit to boot without having to keep the USB stick inserted (documented but vague) and getting the audio from the skin to play for button clicks (HDMI\Analog alsa mixer stuff) . I'm bit worried about mp3’s, but haven’t tried them yet, I have two Xbox’s dedicated to audio so I’m not concerned.
Thanks again for everybody suggestions and comments, Feel free to comment or ask questions regarding the process or experience.
Regards,
Mike Pisano