The Hack Is Back! aTV Returns!

http://offbasis.tumblr.com offbasis

Any chance anyone on here is going to buy it and give a review?!? *fingers crossed* Could be the best/most useful ATV update ever released… sadly…

lloydsworld

I decided to take a chance & buy their ‘Make yer own Patchstick’ option. The process is easier than the early iPhone mods, but I’m waiting for them to tell me why the stick won’t partition correctly. Early Adoption is fun. I may be buggering up the process myself so I’ll post back when they get back to me. If anyone else is farther along……

davek

last night I downloaded it, put it on a memorex 2gb flashdrive successfully – but neither of my apple tv devices seam to read the drive when i install thru the USB port and reboot. I sent an email to their customer service – if anyone else has suggestions on what Im doing wrong Im all ears.

amani77

I am also having the same issue with the creation of the patch stick. Has anyone got an update?

ajay

Was just getting ready to purchase, but I think I’ll wait a bit now till the dust clears. I appreciate the comments guys, please keep us informed as to progress and whether or not success finally ensues. Sounds like a great project for an in depth review both technically and performance wise.

ajay

Has anyone yet used a 256mb or a 512mb flash drive? That may be the first problem with partitioning?

amani77

Ok. I made two mistakes. First mistake was that I put the folder in my Documents folder instead of the Desktop and when I looked inside the script I noticed that its hardcoded to copy the from the ~\Desktop\aTVflash3-0. So make sure that you put the folder on the Desktop.
Second, I got the error that OS X could not read the disk after the script runs in terminal and assumed that this was fatal – wrong. I still went and used the stick in my AppleTV and it worked! Well at least I think so. I am copying my media back so at the moment I cant ssh into the AppleTV at all but all the extra menu items are there.

davek

Im still waiting on them to get back to me — my flashdrive is DEF making succesful transition to patchstick – says completed and even changes name of drive — but just doesnt do anything when i load into my actual apple TV

amani77

Just to add to my earlier post, I can now access the AppleTV file system using Fugu with the “Force SSH connection to server” option set so it seems that its all gravy!
p/s I can’t ssh using terminal still.

ajay

davek: I assume you actually pulled the plug on the tv, inserted the usb patchstick then plugged the tv back into the ac power.

lloydsworld

@amani77-
Congrats on pushing it thru.
I had to pull the “aTVflash3-0″ folder out of the “aTVFlash” folder onto the Desktop after it unZipped.
Still waiting for the folks @ AppleCore to get back to me. About 4am TampaTime I pasted my failed Terminal Shell into an eMail to them.
They had gotten back last night around 11p & suggested I not use a 16gb stick, (size may mater). Got a 256mb from the corner drugstore (and beer). Still No Go.
It looks (to me) as if the Partitioning step may be a problem. Without that being correct it does a slew of failed file copy atttempts, assumes it worked & unmounts the (empty) stick. The aTV says ‘so what’ & boots from it’s HD. Looks like I got a $49.00 Computer Science Course. I’d really rather be fishing…….

davek

ajay — correct — i went thru the steps on the sheet — i plugged into back of apple TV after unplugging and then plugged back in… just has normal reboot screen without the atv core logo im supposed to see

ajay

davek: My guess is that at the moment, your problem may be the size (yes, size matters, unfortunately) of your usb stick.

davek

lol – yea i just spoke with guy – over 1 gigs has issues — so i just ran out and bought one thats not big enough now… at least I know what I need – 250-500mb memorex is what they recomend

lloydsworld

OK, so my 128Mb & 256Mb sticks are too small, my 16Gb is way too big, does that mean a 512Mb is ‘just right’ ? Wow, I’m gonna have a big pile of Sticks.

ajay

lloysworld: Interesting that you say a 256mb stick is too small. That is the recommended size although they go on to say a 512mb stick will also work. I’d say go with the 512mb stick and see what happens.

davek

now i just got a 1gig stick — the smallest that had at my staples – the dude at atv told me it should work with a 1 gig — no dice — will try a few more times and then get back in touch with then — fyi for those who dont know – the guys aol IM is listed on their site.

lloydsworld

Just got off a truncated call from the tech folk(s). He thinks the ‘createPatchstick’ script is trying to write to a Virtual (Patchstick-root) Disk.
Of course, it’s invisible in the Finder.
We were trying to find & kill it in Terminal when I was cut off.

The train seems to go off the tracks as Terminal tries to partition the stick :
“Partitioning /dev/disk1:
diskutil needs to have a valid number of partitions and you specified GPTFormat”

Could this be a function of FlashStick size & the partition(s) allocated space requirements ?

I got all excited when I ran it, again, & the Stick was (as it should be) unreadable to the Mac. Didn’t boot the aTV, though.
Intermittency Sucks.

ajay

Using Disk Utility, I was able to take a 1gig usb stick and format and partition it into a pair of 512mb drives. I named one of the partitionned drives “test1″. When I plug the usb stick in, both drives appear on the desktop and I eject one of them. This effectively leaves me with a single 512mb usb drive. You might consider trying this to see if it gets you around the oversize drive dilemma.

lloydsworld

Wheeee….
After rewriting the diskutil script in createPatchstick & other unmentionable Terminal Transgressions on both the PBG4 & the MacBook, I tried the “find & kill the Virtual Patchstick Volume trick”, again.

Hello,
It seems like it has created a virtual folder, and copied the files there instead of the flash drive.
Open terminal and type the following.
cd /Volumes
Sudo rm –R Patchstick-root
You will be prompted for your password after the 2nd command.
After you input both commands, try the install again.
Thank you for your business and time.
AppleCore, LLC

It buggered up the OS, so I restarted with a PRAM Reset, shoved in the 256mb SanDisk Stick, used DiskUtility to repartition it & gave it another try as per the “extensive” manual. The intermittent sob worked. I wish I could say I knew why it worked… maybe not.
Besides I just got to watch my aTV go thru it’s first crash.
More fun to come, I’m sure.
Good Luck, y’all…..

ajay

Anyone got this thing working yet?

Bawbee

I’m still stuck even after using SIX different USB sticks. Still awaiting reply to my emails from Apple Core LLC. What’s the position regarding a refund (non US) as the software is clearly ” not fit for purpose” at the moment?

ajay

Bawbee: I don’t see a formal return policy on their website with regard to a refund on a downloaded file. As far as awaiting email responses from them, IMHO that is way too slow. IF you have an AIM account (if not create one, it’s easy and free) you can enjoy almost real time conversation with them. Their ID is on the website and doing that might gain you some valuable time. Just a suggestion.

davek

this thing is officially a piece of crap — ive tried 4 different usb flashdrives and not a single one has worked – last one i did was the recommended 540mb stick.

NOBODY waste their time with this!

silver93

I have created the patchstick, using a 512MB cruzer. some minor mistakes along the way preventing – mainly trying to use /dev/atv where atv was the name of the flash. used /dev/disk7 and it worked as described. unmounted itself, etc..

plugged into ATV and the ATV logo came up, the words went down the screen,but now I’m at the point I haven’t received the “install confirmation” words. I went ahead and uplugged and restarted, but no new menu items. Tried it a second time, same thing…

silver93

Update – Everything is working properly now. I just used a different USB stick. Apparently, sanDisk is the worst one to use. I found a $7 512 MB stick at office depot that worked. So, Patchstick works, all the new menu items are up, and they all seem to be working nicely. Thanks to the help from the Applecore guys as well…

maltman

I gave a 2GB USB a go after going through 5 different brands that were less than a gig. none of them worked but the 2GB worked a treat. It was a Kingston DT Mini 2GB if that helps anyone.

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