As skeptical as I’ve been about AppleTV, Boxee makes it look pretty damn nice. If you’re one of those who tried out this mod but have been left out in the rain by the 2.3 firmware update, this is your chance to get your unrestricted media center on again. They’re working on making the old method of installation work on the new firmware, but until then you can install Boxee manually by following the instructions in this forum post.
I’ve also copied the instructions to the “inside” of the post so click on if you have a fear of forums or something (I don’t blame you).
Credit for instructions goes of course to Tsella at the forum.
first, get latest and greatest atvusb-creator from http://code.google.com/p/atvusb-creator/downloads/list
after making a usb stick, and booting the ATV with it, you should be able to ssh into the ATV:
1. figure out the IP address of the ATV via Settings > General > Network, for this example, i will use 10.0.0.8.
2. ssh to ATV
– mac/linux: use terminal and type
Code:
ssh frontrow@10.0.0.8
the password is frontrow
– windows: get putty, and connect to 10.0.0.8
3. at the prompt, run the following commands, when asked for password, its frontrow:
Code:
wget http://atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/files/XBMCLauncher-0.6-debug.run
wget http://atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/svn/tags/xbmc-info/scripts/launcher-update-0.6.sh
sh launcher-update-0.6.sh XBMCLauncher-0.6-debug.run
wget http://dl.boxee.tv/boxee-0.9.4277.dmg
wget http://atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/svn/tags/boxee-info/scripts/alpha-0.9.4277_update.sh
sh alpha-0.9.4277_update.sh boxee-0.9.4277.dmg
sudo reboot
and presto, boxee is up and running.
new remote behavior:
1. long “select” switches between now playing and ui
2. long “menu” takes you home
3. back on login screen takes you out
known caveats:
1. with the update to 2.3, Apple broke a few things, one being the ability of the app to consistently appear in foreground. till this is figured out, if you run boxee, and get a black screen, you need to back out of boxee by clicking menu on the remote, and try launching boxee again.
2. under some circumstances, if upgrading an older boxee install, the remote may not work under boxee. please reboot, ssh into the ATV, and do:
Code:
rm -rf /Users/frontrow/Library/Application\ Support/BOXEE/UserData
Boom. There it is!
As a boxee.tv fan and user, i’ll keep my apple tv at its current version and not upgrade. the instructions listed on the forum page hurt my head. as a non command line junkie, it makes an upgrade that isn’t huge a major headache. go boxee!!
I’m with you there, dude. I’d just wait it out, personally.
I just ran through these steps and verified that it did indeed get Boxee on my ATV running properly again.
You really dont need to be scared of the manual repair process…all you need to do is open a connection and then copy/paste the commands into the window. It takes about 3-4 minutes and then you have your good old Boxee running again!
Thanks for verifying that.
I don’t see a reason to upgrade. Maybe the ‘remote’ stuff might be handy but . . …
Is there a reason to upgrade?
Put this script into a file in frontrow’s home directory.
#!/bin/sh
wget http://atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/files/XBMCLauncher-0.6-debug.run
wget http://atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/svn/tags/xbmc-info/scripts/launcher-update-0.6.sh
sh launcher-update-0.6.sh XBMCLauncher-0.6-debug.run
wget http://dl.boxee.tv/boxee-0.9.4277.dmg
wget http://atv-xbmc-launcher.googlecode.com/svn/tags/boxee-info/scripts/alpha-0.9.4277_update.sh
sh alpha-0.9.4277_update.sh boxee-0.9.4277.dmg
You can copy the above and then do.
nano install_boxee.sh
Hit Control+x to save the file.
Back at the command prompt do this to make the file executable:
chmod u+x install_boxee.sh
Execute it by doing:
./install_boxee.sh
It will run for a while depending upon your bandwidth. Once its done do:
sudo reboot
If asked for a password its just ‘frontrow’ just like you used to ssh into your Apple TV.
Once the Apple TV reboots you should see Boxee in the main menu.
Enjoy!