XBMC for Mac OS X on PowerPC (PPC) CPU systems ?

[SandmanCL]

Since all the porting effort has been for Leopard and Intel I know that right now I'd be out of luck getting XBMC to build on my aging Powerbook G4.

However, are there any logistical reasons XBMC wouldn't compile on non-intel macs ? The GPU in the Powerbook G4 does OpenGL 2.1 and the CPU should (?) be fast enough to decode relatively high x264 resolutions.

[monkeyman]

A lot of code is x86-dependent. Especially the DLL Loader. We're still having trouble getting 64-bit working.

If someone is willing to submit patches, go for it. Otherwise, I wouldn't hold my breath.

[d4rk]

Originally Posted by SandmanCL

Since all the porting effort has been for Leopard and Intel I know that right now I'd be out of luck getting XBMC to build on my aging Powerbook G4.

However, are there any logistical reasons XBMC wouldn't compile on non-intel macs ? The GPU in the Powerbook G4 does OpenGL 2.1 and the CPU should (?) be fast enough to decode relatively high x264 resolutions.

XBMC has been compiled partially successfully (not feature complete but runnable) on the a 64-bit PPC system (not a Mac). However, we never received a patch for it and this was a while back. So, it's not impossible, just not something any of the current devs have a motivation twoards doing.

[imickey503]

Everything has its place for development. Even XBMC. The Bigger problem lies in how to get the programing stable and usable. Power support is just allot of work for what is going to be a legacy platform. Great for the home user and office and server duties but just not where it is at for future development. ANYTHING IS possible. Hell I'm upgrading my xbox cpu to 1ghz and upgrading the ram by sending my board to Shen Zen China. With enough money, anything is possible. Well almost. Vista will never fit on a CDROM. But other then that, you get the idea.

[iordonez]

Originally Posted by imickey503

Vista will never fit on a CDROM.

Always google before you type

http://teamtutorials.com/windows-tut...on-a-single-cd

In other news imickey just volunteered to port XBMC to Motorola 6800 so my grandma can enjoy XBMC!

[Gamester17]

Porting XBMC for Mac OS X to PowerPC (PPC) could be a perfect Google Summer of Code (GSoC) , if you could just find a programming student who is interested in doing this project.

http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Google_S...for_discussion

* Fully port XBMC for Mac OS X to compile and run on PowerPC (PPC) architecture
** Maybe with the help of The Fink Project and/or The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure?
** Note! No mentor has yet volunteered to help with Mac OS X specific coding!

Originally Posted by imickey503

Power support is just allot of work for what is going to be a legacy platform.

I wouldn't say PowerPC CPU in general is a a legacy platform as both the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and the Xbox 360 game-consoles have PPC based processors. So when you think about it, porting XBMC for PowerPC (PPC) for Mac OS X would be the first step in getting XBMC to someday run on the PS3 or Xbox360, but that is an off-topic discussion for this Mac OS X forum.

[imickey503]

Holy $%&^% No way! feels like finals when that test bit me in the Arse! BTW, I will bake your grandma cookies. Clean her house. And mow the lawn. BUT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH MONEY IN THE WORLD TO GET ME TO WRITE ONE APPLE SCRIPT OF CODE FOR OS9! HELL EVEN OSX . I can't even get Jaguar to work correctly with updates on a beige G3. I always seem to find every dam Bug in the world with the old powerPC platform. From networking issues to just getting a mac to share drives with XBMC via samba.

Programing for Power is like going to the dentist. You know you should, But you just don't wana.

Originally Posted by iordonez

Always google before you type

http://teamtutorials.com/windows-tut...on-a-single-cd

In other news imickey just volunteered to port XBMC to Motorola 6800 so my grandma can enjoy XBMC!

[petejo]

As a XBMC/XBOX user for several years and an excited observer of OSXBMC and an owner of Intel and PPC macs I must admit I see no benefit to XBMC being ported to the PPC's ?

Personally, I was wondering what the heck I was going to do when the eventual move to a Hi-Def tv happened in my house with regard to XBMC.
XBMC on the Xbox is unbeatable for standard def tv watching. PPC would be unable to handle 1080i ( not sure about 720P) so what's the point there ?

Why would you want to replace an Xbox XBMC with a Mac XBMC that can't do any more ?

I'm looking forward to the mac Mini-in-a-time-capsule-enclosure that should be coming soon apparantly.....and I'd imagine it'll use the remote Blu-Ray feature which will soon follow RemoteDVD.

OSXBMC on Intel Minis is the future of High Definition Home Theatre.

[Gamester17]

Originally Posted by petejo

PPC would be unable to handle 1080i ( not sure about 720P) so what's the point there ?

The fact is that 1080i resolution videos takes more CPU processing-power to decode than 720p resolution videos, and on-top of that you need a relative modern GPU to deinterlace 1080i otherwise you have to run the deinterlace filter in software on the CPU which makes 1080i even more CPU hungry.

...and as for the point(s) to port XBMC for Mac OS X to the PPC-architecture, I see at least three:
1. It would be a challenge, and many skilled programmers like a challenge.
2. Many people might already own a PPC Mac and can't afford to upgrade.
- Also, those people same might not even need high-definition output but would be satisfied with standard-definition output.
3. Like I already mentioned, porting XBMC for Mac OS X to the PPC-architecture could be seen as the first step for XBMC on the PS3 and/or Xbox360.

So just because YOU do not see the point does not mean that others won't, thus IMHO you are better of keeping quiet.

[adrianc1982]

the truth is that porting xbmc to intel procesors and better yet to 3 different OSes, is at least great, xbmc was getting lost because xbox1 are starting to fade away either because they have stopped working or because simply they are big, no wifi and hdlimited. Thanks elan for your hard work i still cant believe Im using xbmc again