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Boxee for Mac on PowerPC (PPC) CPU and Mac OS X
Please port Boxee for Mac to PowerPC (PPC) CPU and Mac OS X for PowerPC (PPC)
PowerPC (PPC) version of Boxee for Mac is highly requested
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?...
think of all the people who have the 'old' PowerPC G4 based Mac Mini lying around just gathering dust somewhere in their home, or have them for sale cheap on Craigslist and eBay.
If Boxee for Mac OS X was available as a unified binary that worked on PPC Macs then all those people who have or can get their hands on a such PowerPC G4 based Mac Mini could easily recycle it into a great little media center for the living-room, (it will probably be able to playback 720p videos and upscale to 1080p).
So the first-generation Mac Minis would be the primary target, and late model PowerPC G4/G5 based PowerBooks and iBooks secondary targets
Universal Binary: one package for both Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard), Intel and PowerPC (PPC):
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?...
PowerPC (PPC) developers wanted to port XBMC/Boxee to PowerPC based Mac. Development to port XBMC for Linux (the framework Boxee is based upon) to PPC (PowerPC) have begun and source code patches for that is available, however these developers are only focusing on XBMC for Linux, not XBMC for Mac (and no one on Team-XBMC even own a PowerPC based Mac), thus outside developers are needed to port XBMC to PPC so that is can be compiled and run on all PowerPC based Mac's out there.
For more information please see these threads in the XBMC forum:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?...
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?...
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?...
Any C++ programmers our there who owns a PPC Mac yourselves and might be interested in this?
PS! Once XBMC for Mac has been ported to PowerPC by third-party developers then I am sure Boxee will soon follow.
Also, once Boxee (and XBMC) been ported to Mac OS X for PowerPC then it will be much simpler step to port to Linux for PowerPC, and after that it should in theory to make it run under Linux on PowerPC based game-consoles like PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the Wii (yes all those game-consoles are PowerPC based and the generation of game-consoles after that is also rumored to be PowerPC based), ...try to take it one baby step at a time.
PowerPC (PPC) version of Boxee for Mac is highly requested
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?...
think of all the people who have the 'old' PowerPC G4 based Mac Mini lying around just gathering dust somewhere in their home, or have them for sale cheap on Craigslist and eBay.
If Boxee for Mac OS X was available as a unified binary that worked on PPC Macs then all those people who have or can get their hands on a such PowerPC G4 based Mac Mini could easily recycle it into a great little media center for the living-room, (it will probably be able to playback 720p videos and upscale to 1080p).
So the first-generation Mac Minis would be the primary target, and late model PowerPC G4/G5 based PowerBooks and iBooks secondary targets
Universal Binary: one package for both Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard), Intel and PowerPC (PPC):
http://forum.boxee.tv/showthread.php?...
PowerPC (PPC) developers wanted to port XBMC/Boxee to PowerPC based Mac. Development to port XBMC for Linux (the framework Boxee is based upon) to PPC (PowerPC) have begun and source code patches for that is available, however these developers are only focusing on XBMC for Linux, not XBMC for Mac (and no one on Team-XBMC even own a PowerPC based Mac), thus outside developers are needed to port XBMC to PPC so that is can be compiled and run on all PowerPC based Mac's out there.
For more information please see these threads in the XBMC forum:
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?...
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?...
http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?...
Any C++ programmers our there who owns a PPC Mac yourselves and might be interested in this?
PS! Once XBMC for Mac has been ported to PowerPC by third-party developers then I am sure Boxee will soon follow.
Also, once Boxee (and XBMC) been ported to Mac OS X for PowerPC then it will be much simpler step to port to Linux for PowerPC, and after that it should in theory to make it run under Linux on PowerPC based game-consoles like PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the Wii (yes all those game-consoles are PowerPC based and the generation of game-consoles after that is also rumored to be PowerPC based), ...try to take it one baby step at a time.
I’m hopeful
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The company has not planned to implement this.
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we'd love to have this from the community. as avner mentioned above, we don't have the resources.
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FYI; XBMC Media Center 9.04 (Babylon) Beta 1 has now been released!
Hot on the heals of the XBMC 9.04 Alpha 1 release, and some 350 code fixes later, the first (and only?) Beta release of XBMC Media Center 9.04 (codename: Babylon) is now available.
New in this release is support for PPC (PowerPC) processors under Mac OS X, thanks to Team-XBMC’s new developer Beenje.
Full story found here: http://xbmc.org/blog/2009/04/23/xbmc-...
I’m excited
3 people think
this is one of the best points
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Not too sure about that reasoning. You're assuming that people want to deploy boxee on their main machine. Loads of us Mac users still have inexpensive but powerful G4 hardware lying around which would be perfect for use with Boxee.
Not to mention that in Xcode, building a Universal Binary is relatively easy these days, making a deployment as one UB easy.
I do realize though that the big problem here is that XBMC is not a UB so we should actually be complaining there.
7 people think
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Inappropriate?I agree. I have a Mac Mini G4 that would be a perfect Boxee media center.
I’m looking forward
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Inappropriate?I think porting Boxee to PPC will be... not a waste... but a misuse of your resources.
Your team need to look at the market. How much of it is PPC; and how many (I bet the vast majority) of other users will be annoyed because you didn't implement x feature to support this platform...
Just my 2 cents.. I'm sure if i had a PPC i'd want it lol
1 person thinks
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Inappropriate?Not too sure about that reasoning. You're assuming that people want to deploy boxee on their main machine. Loads of us Mac users still have inexpensive but powerful G4 hardware lying around which would be perfect for use with Boxee.
Not to mention that in Xcode, building a Universal Binary is relatively easy these days, making a deployment as one UB easy.
I do realize though that the big problem here is that XBMC is not a UB so we should actually be complaining there.
7 people think
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?This is my issue too.. If a Boxee machine is going to be hooked up to my TV it's not going to be my main machine. It's going to be the somewhat older one that's in the corner not doing anything.
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Inappropriate?I'm not assuming people will be running it on their main machine. I'm assuming they will get inexpensive, but modern, hardware. I would imagine lots of people will jump at the chance to get HD content on their HDTV... Don't forget that it's a bad decision to spend a great deal of time on a feature for the minority of consumers... Boxee is a company after all.2 Comments Add a comment
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I agree, spending resources on depreciated hardware seems a waste. -
Dumb assumption "buy modern hardware"... old hardware is not useless if not broken. Redeploying "depreciated hardware seems a waste", but trashing perfectly capable PPC hardware _IS_ a waste. I have 2 PowerBook G4s, 1 used as an iTunes server which I'd prefer to use w/ Boxee.
Growing it's user-base would enhance NOT detract from Boxee's business prospects and future profitability. August 2009, Boxee attracted another $6M of VC ($10M total). Can't be THAT expensive to support PPCs... potential user-base would expand by millions, as would Boxee's leverage for licensing, ad revenue or whatever.
Hope to see such a progressive, game-changing enterprise demonstrate environmental awareness as others have done and profited, as a result. -
Inappropriate?I have a PowerMac G4, which is incredibly powerful and puts many current windows computers to shame. I simply cannot afford the high prices Apple or aftermarket retailers charge for the current technology. Isn't the whole idea of Boxee to save money (tell those cable and satellite companies where to stick it)?
I’m frustrated
2 people think
this is one of the best points
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Inappropriate?I was sure excited about boxer until I realized I can use it on my PowerBook g4. that's sad!
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Please make boxee available as a universal binary so I can run it on PPC HW. To address the other commenters that think developers should focus on the new HW... I understand that point, but i don't think HDTV has saturated the market, so driving HD content (forcing the use of new hw) is not a primary driver. For me, I just want to be able to drive the hugely diverse content available to any TV so the family can get exposed to it when they want. HD is very much a secondary interest; PPC would be fine to push standard def content and some HD content.
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Inappropriate?YEs, I have a dual core G5 that would make an excellent media center! -
Inappropriate?well I have a circa 1986 timex digital wristwatch, why dont we port boxee to that? really, thats how ridiculous this thread is, ppc is dead people, give it up and move in the 21st century.1 Comment Add a comment
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That last comment is dumb. There are more people than there is money in your damn account (EVER) that still own power pc machines that get great use out of them everything that would be the perfect types of machines to have in a living room or kitchen playing video content from our previous computers. I alone have more friends that are in this situation than I have toes or fingers. So unless you can truley backup your statement, I suggest you keep it out of this section cause there are tons more comments suggesting it than there are acting an ass like you are about technology that still runs perfectly well! Sorry to be rude, but guess sometimes you gotta stoop!
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How 'bout w/ new (8/2009) $6M VC? Use $1k to seed devt. supporting PPC and commit to the significant, albeit smaller PPC base.
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Inappropriate?I was just looking for this, too bad. I just retired my faithful iMac G5 and wanted to media center it. Too bad it's too far to reach.
I’m dissapointed
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Inappropriate?As I commented in another thread on the same subject, all my programming tools will build for Intel and PPC with no extra effort on my part. A lot of folks just went ahead and assumed that the power PC is now dead after 3 years - I have several G5 machines, a couple G4's, even a G3.
I understand avener ronen's point - it was his company's decision, not much else to be said. Case closed, etc.
But the source code is available to anyone who want to work on it - including me, who does have the time...
I’m sad, but understanding
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Inappropriate?@tom: As I said before: I doubt if the Boxee project has been developed for a build in Xcode, which is why it's probably only compiled for Intel. The hard part will probably be to get it to compile in Xcode for any platform at all.
But on that note: I would be very happy if someone would at least try! I mean, I would even donate money if someone would succeed!
I’m inspired
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Actually, I looked the source and there's a BOXEE.xcodeproj and XBMC.xcodeproj included. So someone's been doing some Xcode work at least. I tried to compile it in Xcode 3.1.2 on PowerPC but it ran up with like 300 errors. I haven't had a chance to poke around with it at all, so I don't know how complete it is.
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Inappropriate?@tom: I too would donate to see this happen. I have a PPC G5 that would make an excellent media center. If boxee's scope is so narrow as to dismiss dev for PPC then I say let's focus on getting XBMC for the PPC platform. I've always preferred XBMC to Boxee anyway (by far).
I’m hopeful
2 people think
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Inappropriate?we'd love to have this from the community. as avner mentioned above, we don't have the resources.
The company thinks
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Inappropriate?You guys should now be aware that Scott Davilla of Team-XBMC together with a few independent developers who are submitting patches is currently working on porting XBMC for Mac to PPC (PowerPC), it is already compiling fine but accelerated graphics is not working as of yet. You can follow this progress in the XBMC SVN changelog:
http://xbmc.org/trac/search?q=ppc
Hopefully, once XBMC for Mac is fully working on PPC (PowerPC) then also Boxee will see fit to incorporate those changes if the code by that time will not require too much time and resources on your part to maintain.
In the meantime I hope that Team-Boxee as well as Boxee end-users wanting this will at least support and continue to encourage Team-XBMC to make progress towards this effort the best they can, ...for example, I sure that donations of (1.42 or 1.5 GHz G4) Mac Mini boxes with keyboard, mouse, and Apple Remote, bought used from eBay/Craigslist, would interested any Team-XBMC developer of the XBMC for Mac/Linux versions and be of great benefit to this cause, making a lot of existing G4/G5 Mac owners very happy ;)
I’m hopefull
1 person thinks
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Inappropriate?Awesome! I wouldn't mind donating some money to some fund that will go to a PPC box for either the XBMC or Boxee devs.1 Comment Add a comment
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That could perhaps be a good idea for XBMC, (Boxee is a commercial company so I doubt they have any problems in buying their own Mac Mini's, no what they need is for someone else to do the time consuming groundwork for them in XBMC so that they do not need to dedicate a full-time programmer on that task).
...maybe Team-Boxee or an independent PowerPC Mac user could setup and administrate a such 'fund' via the Bounty Source site or similar service, or several, separate 'funds' for each (1.42 or 1.5 GHz G4) Mac Mini if that will make administration easier, and I guess that they will go for around $300 to $500 each including shipping and possible operating-system upgrade that the developers may need, (and I guesstimate that you will be able to find at least five developers on Team-XBMC who are interested in a such Mac Mini in order to contribute towards a such port of XBMC).
https://www.bountysource.com
I do not think it would be a good idea for us at Team-XBMC to be responsible and administrate a such fund for PowerPC Mac Mini's, ...no I think that should be done by either an independent party or Team-Boxee :)
Again, a 1.42 or 1.5 GHz G4 Mac Mini with at least 1GB RAM, keyboard, mouse, and Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) or Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5), ...the 1.5 GHz G4 Mac Mini model would of course be preferable for a developer. -
Inappropriate?I am writing this message on an intel Hackintosh I built myself. I own several G3 & G4 powerpc-based macs. As much as I'd like to put these to use as Boxee systems, there are two huge obstacles that no one is commenting on here.
1. Most powerPC machines did not feature s-video out. Many of the laptops did, but hardly any of the tower systems do. Few people would be able to connect these computers to a TV set without investing in a difficult-to-find third-party video card.
2. The AVI codec isn't readily available for PowerPC in a free form. To view AVI files within Quicktime, the user has to buy Quicktime Pro to get those proprietary codecs. The folks at videolan (VLC) came up with a workaround, but I'm not sure if that's incorporated into XBMC, If not, then the PowerPC port of Boxee would require a significant code change in order to play AVI files on a hard drive.
A good use for these computers is as backend media storage devices and print servers.
Emotional Friend
I’m unconcerned
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Please at least do some basic research before you posts statements like that!
1. You are wrong; Boxee for Mac on PowerPC (PPC) would mostly be targed against the Mac Mini G4 PowerPC which all have VGA output port which supports more and higher resolutions than S-Video, and practically all plasma and LCD televisions/displays available have VGA input port support, (so there is not need for using old the S-Video standard).
VGA connector as it is commonly known (other names include RGB connector, D-sub 15, mini sub D15 and mini D15) is a three-row 15 pin DE-15:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VGA_conn...
2. You wrong again; AVI is not a codec, AVI is a container, a container which can contain almost any type of encoded video and encoded audio streams. XBMC and Boxee uses the FFmpeg open source codec and demuxer suit which support all popular codecs and formats (and supports, x86, PowerPC, ARM, SPARC, Alpha, ect. processors and more), XBMC and Boxee has a FFmpeg based player built-in meaning it will play all videos and audio files out-of-the-box. XBMC and Boxee does not use QuickTime in anyway, so there is not dependence on QuickTime in anyway:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FFmpeg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxee#Vi...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XBMC#Vid...
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=DVDPlayer
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Codec_and...
Mac mini makes a kick arse HTPC (Home Theater PC) for the living-room just as it is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_mini
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTPC
Google is you friend, and so is Wikipedia :P -
my PowerPC G5 has dual DVI, so no problem there. And even if there were any codec problems, you don't HAVE to run OSX on these boxes. I've successfully run Ubuntu and Yellow Dog linux on my PowerPC.
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Inappropriate?@cptvitamin: yes, but we want to run Boxee, and even on linux it won't work on a G4 (afaik)4 Comments Add a comment
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That is correct, ...Boxee for Linux on PPC (PowerPC) is an entirely different issue and should therefor be a separate feature request "idea ticket", ...though once XBMC for Mac has been fully ported to PPC it should be much easier to port XBMC for Linux to PPC than it would be porting it from scratch from x86, most of the PPC specific code can be reused for Linux, and vice versa if XBMC for Linux would have been ported to PPC first.
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@Cristiano, sorry, I thought it was implied that we were talking about Boxee on the PPC platform. What do you mean by no Boxee on G4? I thought that is what this thread was proposing? Are there physical limitations on a G4 that prevent Boxee from running on it? I don't think so. The purpose of this thread is to encourage developers to port Boxee to PPC platform.
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@Cristiano, sorry, I thought it was implied that we were talking about Boxee on the PPC platform. What do you mean by no Boxee on G4? I thought that is what this thread was proposing? Are there physical limitations on a G4 that prevent Boxee from running on it? I don't think so. The purpose of this thread is to encourage developers to port Boxee to PPC platform.
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@cptvitamin G4 == PPC. What I am saying is that YOU started talking about running linux on your PPC and using that to probably run something else than Boxee. What I then said was that I didn't care if you got some nice setup with some different media center software + Linux. This thread is about PPC users wanting to run Boxee on their Mac OS X.
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Inappropriate?@Cristiano G5== PPC too ;) And I am patiently waiting for XBMC or Boxee on PPC for that reason. I don't think I ever implied that I had any "nice setup." Personally, I think XBMC/Boxee is the best media center out there and that is why I would like to see it ported to PPC... The post you originally replied to was of my trying to discourage @emotional friend from saying it can't be done...2 Comments Add a comment
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Ok, so we just had a misunderstanding. i thought you were trying to promote a Linux setup with the standard "everything can be done under linux" bullshit.
Also: I know G5 is PPC. What I meant with no Boxee on a G4 was that even if you can run Boxee on Linux, you still can't run it on a PPC unless it's compiled for PPC.
But, to be frank: big misunderstanding. Let's stop this discussion. -
exactly! Quite honestly, I don't care what OS it runs on, I just want to be able to run Boxee on my PPC. I know progress is being made on both the OSX and Linux fronts. I think there is a lot more demand for bringing the best media center software out there to this platform than people think.
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Inappropriate?FYI; XBMC Media Center 9.04 (Babylon) Beta 1 has now been released!
Hot on the heals of the XBMC 9.04 Alpha 1 release, and some 350 code fixes later, the first (and only?) Beta release of XBMC Media Center 9.04 (codename: Babylon) is now available.
New in this release is support for PPC (PowerPC) processors under Mac OS X, thanks to Team-XBMC’s new developer Beenje.
Full story found here: http://xbmc.org/blog/2009/04/23/xbmc-...
I’m excited
3 people think
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Yeah, i already noticed it and downloaded it, will give it a run tonight!
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Inappropriate?So, does this mean someone on the Boxee community is now going to get a G4Mac Mini, and make us all happy? ;)
Or should I just run XBMC and call it a day?
I’m Hopeful
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Inappropriate?I'd love to see a PPC port of boxee. I signed up for an account only to find out afterward that I can't run it on any of my Macs! It would really be nice if they mentioned up front that they are only supporting PC-in-Mac-clothing hardware. I sure hope somebody follows thru on this!
I’m sad
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Inappropriate?Any chance of hearing about an update? My old powerbook is getting rusty...
I’m worried it's not gonna happen.
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