Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Possibility of iOS on Current ATV?

C

Corruptitudes

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 24, 2009
100
0
Whats everyones thoughts on getting the iOS on the current ATV? Im thinking about getting a second ATV for the bedroom, and would like to see what materializes with the current rumors. However, I have a 160gb ATV currently and was wandering if iOS would work on it?

Thoughts?
 
miles01110 said:
iOS is a touch-based OS. Most TVs do not have touch screens.
Click to expand...

Doesnt really matter. Its fairly simple to add coding to allow for a keyboard, or mouse input. Have you read the rumors about the ATV having iOS?


celticpride678 said:
On the current Apple TV, no.
Click to expand...
Why not? The iOS platform has been geared as a "mobile" platform. Mobile typically means less cpu intensive. The Current ATV can handle 720p video just fine. Running a simple "mobile" os wouldnt be that difficult. I mean your not going to be multitasking due to probably lack of ram, but Id be happy just being able to update to the new iOS on my current ATV.
 
Corruptitudes said:
Why not? The iOS platform has been geared as a "mobile" platform. Mobile typically means less cpu intensive. The Current ATV can handle 720p video just fine. Running a simple "mobile" os wouldnt be that difficult. I mean your not going to be multitasking due to probably lack of ram, but Id be happy just being able to update to the new iOS on my current ATV.
Click to expand...

iOS is compiled for the A4 and ARM cpu's of the iPhone and iPad. Is it really worth Apple the time and expense trying to get it to run on the Intel processor of the ATV when the current ATV is basically at the end of it's life cycle.
 
roidy said:
iOS is compiled for the A4 and ARM cpu's of the iPhone and iPad. Is it really worth Apple the time and expense trying to get it to run on the Intel processor of the ATV when the current ATV is basically at the end of it's life cycle.
Click to expand...

The Apple TV's hardware is 4 years old. It is outdated and cannot run iOS due to this reason.
 
The OS has nothing to do with touchscreens and other interfaces. All that is handled by a UI. Apple always claimed iPhoneOS was based on MacOSX - I guess it's just stripped back and now compiled for ARM architecture. I suspect the new AppleTV will push the old model off the table completely, but there will probably be an update for the current model to allow some of the features of any iTunes store updates (subcriptions etc).
 
kiranmk2 said:
The OS has nothing to do with touchscreens and other interfaces. All that is handled by a UI.
Click to expand...

Correct. Too many people think iOS is incapable of running on other devices. CocoaTouch is an abstraction layer, but iOS could theoretically run on anything it can be compiled on. Just add a different UI and you're set.
 
santaliqueur said:
Correct. Too many people think iOS is incapable of running on other devices. CocoaTouch is an abstraction layer, but iOS could theoretically run on anything it can be compiled on. Just add a different UI and you're set.
Click to expand...

The non-UI section of iOS is OSX. The touch interface is what turns it into iOS. Apple TV already runs OSX (not Mac OSX mind) with a custom UI.
 
roidy said:
iOS is compiled for the A4 and ARM cpu's of the iPhone and iPad. Is it really worth Apple the time and expense trying to get it to run on the Intel processor of the ATV when the current ATV is basically at the end of it's life cycle.
Click to expand...

My bet is Apple has iOS running on x86 -- and has for quite some time. Just as they had OS X running on x86 long before the switch to Intel processors.

I would not be at all surprised if iOS ran just fine on current AppleTV hardware. The processor and RAM are superior to what iOS is already running on with the 3G and 3GS devices.
 
zedsdead said:
The Apple TV's hardware is 4 years old. It is outdated and cannot run iOS due to this reason.
Click to expand...

Last time I checked, as anemic as the Apple TV's processor is, a 1 Ghz Pentium M beats the pants off of the ARM Cortex A8. The only major limitation would possibly be the RAM but, even then only the iPhone 4 has more than 256MB of RAM so that can't really be much of a roadblock.
 
Guiyon said:
Last time I checked, as anemic as the Apple TV's processor is, a 1 Ghz Pentium M beats the pants off of the ARM Cortex A8. The only major limitation would possibly be the RAM but, even then only the iPhone 4 has more than 256MB of RAM so that can't really be much of a roadblock.
Click to expand...

This is my understanding as well and thus the reasoning why I think it is absolutely plausible that iOS might venture to the current ATV as well...
 
An interesting thread. With rumours of a new Apple TV based on the iOS I had simply assumed that it would require the new hardware.

If it would require writing different software for the old hardware vs the new hardware then I really doubt Apple will bother. They didn't even add minor software features to old versions of the original hard drive based iPods. I fully expect that the old Apple TV will be left in the dust if Apple launches a completely new hardware and new software Apple TV. The speculated name change gives a clue - the old Apple TV will presumably just be discontinued.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back