[activate]

Sorry to be ambiguous JD., Yes the apple tv2 is what we are talking about. I am browsing its file structure on the mac using finder. I can browse almost everything but for some reason when I enter the folder where I would expect to see xbmc, the folder displays empty. It was working fine a few weeks ago. I needed to delete something which I accomplished through cyberduck.

In other words, Root>Var>mobile>library>preferences>(XBMC this is where I would see it)

Have fixed permissions on mac as well as xbmc. Not sure why.

[jd2157]

Sorry to be ambiguous JD., Yes the apple tv2 is what we are talking about. I am browsing its file structure on the mac using finder. I can browse almost everything but for some reason when I enter the folder where I would expect to see xbmc, the folder displays empty. It was working fine a few weeks ago. I needed to delete something which I accomplished through cyberduck.

In other words, Root>Var>mobile>library>preferences>(XBMC this is where I would see it)

Have fixed permissions on mac as well as xbmc. Not sure why.

Still confused how you're using Finder to browse the atv2's file structure. From a Mac, most people use cyberduck/filezilla via the sftp protocol or Terminal via ssh. Can you give some more detail here?

As for the path, there is no /root/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC path. The actual path to the XBMC preferences is /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/XBMC and to backup your XBMC configs you really only need to copy the userdata folder in there as per the FAQ: http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=XBM...ecific_FAQ

FWIW, the XBMC application itself is in /Applications/XBMC.frappliance

[activate]

Yeah see, when you install Openssh and nettalk from the nito software menu, you are able to access apple tv2 from finder. It will show up as any other shared device.

The file structure on the home screen will be two folders - Home and Root. Then you are right the path will be from there private/var/mobile/library/preferences/xbmc. It all works find till get to the preferences folder which shows blank. Its all a bit strange. Yes, through cyberduck it shows xbmc.

I wasn't trying to back up. I had a trouble with an add on which I needed to physically remove the folder of. I ended up doing this through cyberduck.

Just wondering what would cause it finder to behave that way. I guess as another thing to try I could uninstall openssh and netalk and reinstall it.

[jd2157]

Yeah see, when you install Openssh and nettalk from the nito software menu, you are able to access apple tv2 from finder. It will show up as any other shared device.

The file structure on the home screen will be two folders - Home and Root. Then you are right the path will be from there private/var/mobile/library/preferences/xbmc. It all works find till get to the preferences folder which shows blank. Its all a bit strange. Yes, through cyberduck it shows xbmc.

I wasn't trying to back up. I had a trouble with an add on which I needed to physically remove the folder of. I ended up doing this through cyberduck.

Just wondering what would cause it finder to behave that way. I guess as another thing to try I could uninstall openssh and netalk and reinstall it.

Ah, you mean you've installed "netatalk", ok so you're using Finder to talk to the atv2 via afp. Unusual but should work... as you've discovered though it's probably easier to use an FTP client (or ssh if you're comfortable with it).

Anyway, ya the atv2 presents two mountable volumes (home and root) via afp. The "root" volume (aka "/") in this case shouldn't be confused with the "root" user. Mount the root volume since it is less confusing than mounting root's home directory.

As for causes of the XBMC folder showing empty: network interruption (especially if you're on wireless), bug in netatalk, sync issues, etc... not worth the effort in trying to figure it out if there's nothing in syslog. AFP, for the most part, is an obsolete technology, it requires you add a network protocol stack and doesn't really buy you anything over FTP/SSH so it's best to avoid it. The fewer things you add to your atv2 the more reliable it'll be and it'll be hard to find afp experts around to help troubleshoot.

[activate]

Honestly, it makes it very easy to use finder instead of another client. I'm comfortable following instructions using terminal but I would prefer to understand it better than just copy and paste.

Thank you it is good advice.

[jd2157]

Honestly, it makes it very easy to use finder instead of another client. I'm comfortable following instructions using terminal but I would prefer to understand it better than just copy and paste.

Thank you it is good advice.

Ya there's no question being able to use Finder makes it a lot easier to navigate the atv2 files and to deal with plist files (no download/upload required). It's too bad Finder can't use sftp as a protocol so you'd get Finder's ease of use with the security of a current protocol like sftp... maybe in Lion.

There's other stuff out there like Transmit, Macfuse/sshfs, Expandrive, etc that can use ssh/sftp to integrate mounted volumes into Finder but again you're into 3rdparty software and $$ in some cases.

There could be issues with using Finder too. One thing that comes to mind is using native editors with atv2's config files. You'd need to be careful to keep the files in plain text only. I'd use something like MacVim to be safe but Textedit "should" be ok unless you accidentally change the format. Another thing I noticed is mounting/unmounting the atv2 using afp was hanging/failing a bit... so I removed netatalk... one less thing to go wrong.

[activate]

Yes I've been meticulous when using text edit so haven't had ant probs there. I'm also awaiting to see what lion brings. Yesterday I downgraded from snow leopard to leopard because of the well documented finder errors associated with external drives (dont recall the error code). I was hoping to wait it out but not sure when it'll eventually be released.

Also, I know there is another thread on this but having used atv2 for a few months and overall been pretty satisfied with XBMC/atv2 combination, I have been wondering if XBMC's performance may be better on atv1, considering it's a more comprehensive machine. It seems like a bargain now at the reduced price. I would need to research it more though since it's not iOS, as to see whether that would limit functionalities in other ways.

Yet another possibility is to use atv2 but as a passive installation of XBMC and install it on the Mac with mysql. I wonder if that would improve atv2 performance.