aTV Flash installer will communicates directly with the AppleTV (no wires or USB drives required) and allows aTV Flash (black) to be installed onto the AppleTV in just minutes. A windows version [...]]]> fire CORE, the companie behind aTV Flash for 1st gen Apple TV is about to release the 1st beta for the Apple TV2.

aTV Flash installer will communicates directly with the AppleTV (no wires or USB drives required) and allows aTV Flash (black) to be installed onto the AppleTV in just minutes. A windows version of the installer will be available at a later date.

Once installed additional apps (and updates) can be installed from the newly added ‘Maintenance’ item.

A web browser called “Couch Surfer” is also planned for the 1st beta release as can be seen in the live demo below (sorry about the youtube copy… for some reasons vimeo embeds won’t stick in wordpress):

The last component part of the 1st beta will be Last.fm client.  A short demo can be seen below.

Video playback is not something that will be part in the 1st beta.  fire Core is hoping to add video playback in subsequent beta release.

You can register for the beta right here.

I can’t wait to give the beta a try.  The two demo look awesome, slick and polished!  Great work fire Core!

Source: http://blog.firecore.com/3314

What is left to do before releasing [...]]]> Meklort and I worked on the project again last night and things are shaping up quite well.  The NetbookBootMaker is now reverting back to the DellEFI method of caching kext for the installation.  We ran into too many issues with the new method… like Kernel Panic and missing Quartz Extreme.

What is left to do before releasing an alpha version of the solution is to iron out some bugs from the GUI and to integrate it in the DVD menu items for easy recovery of broken Netbook OSX install.

This should make this so much easier for people.  But you will need access to a Mac and an 8GB+ USB key… small price to pay to get piece of mind installation.

It is about time Microsoft (and I hope Apple) realise that the world is evolving and that DVD are getting useless!  Why don’t [...]]]>

Realizing that the world of Netbook and ultraportable has gone missing a DVD reader Microsoft is thinkering with the idea of selling Windows 7 installation on USB Thumb Drive media.

It is about time Microsoft (and I hope Apple) realise that the world is evolving and that DVD are getting useless!  Why don’t they simply allow you to buy the right to download and install a new copy of the OS Installation on your own USB key!

This is what Meklort and I have been doing for OSX Installation on Netbook for close to a year.  Forget the DVD, think USB key!

This would save the planet from all those DVD media that we keep scratching, loosing.  You loose the USB key… fine, simply go online and use you purchased right to download a new copy and install that on your new 64GB USB key!

We don’t need dedicated key per OS.  Simply download the OS Installer you need to “a” USB key, install with it and then format that key for something else.

Maybe BestBuy and other retailers could offer their clients to install various OS version on USB Key for a minimal charge (or even for free).  This would prevent folks from downloading them via the internet and storing them on their HD. Simply walk to BestBuy, go at the OS imaging station and put the OS on your Thumb Drive.

Simple, practical, every one win.

Netbook owners using Apple MAc hardware will be able to “Netbookify” a restored copy of OSX DVD on a USB stick. What this mean is that you will simply restore the legal OSX [...]]]> Just to give you folks interested to OSX on Netbook update as to where Meklort and I are at with the next gen installer.

Netbook owners using Apple MAc hardware will be able to “Netbookify” a restored copy of OSX DVD on a USB stick. What this mean is that you will simply restore the legal OSX DVD installation to an 8GB+ USB Key then run a Mac application (windows should be available one day) called NetbookBootMaker.

Once the application has done a few things to the USB Key (like installing a boot loader (Chameleon), creating a custom extension cache including custom kext, etc you will be able to boot the netbook with it to perform the OSX install.

Once you boot from the netbookified USB key the installation will proceed just like on a real Mac… except that at the end the all to familiar Fail error message will show up… but the magic already happened behind the scene. At this point you simply click restart, take the USB key out of the netbook and boot straight to OSX.

At that point you may elect to apply a Combo patch or upgrade to 10.5.7. Obviously going from a 10.5.0 install to 10.5.7 need a special -x flag at boot to make thing display right until you can run “NetbookInstaller” which will replace the trusty DellEFI application that I used to write.

NetbookInstaller will do similar things to your netbook as DellEFI and will allow you to boot to a fully functional 10.5.7 system.  The big difference is that it will detect your netbook hardware and will install appropriate custom kext to make things right.

Currently supported devices by the installer are:

• Dell Mini 9
• Dell Mini 10v
• Dell Vostro A90
• Lenovo S10

We are probably a week away (or less) from releasing an alpha version to the community.  We just need to figure out some bugs with the new GUI Installer that replaces DellEFI.

Sugar Labs has announced that the rather splendidly monikered Sugar on a Stick v1 Strawberry is immediately available, and can be used to reboot any PC or netbook directly [...]]]> The popular open-source Sugar Learning Platform, a Linux based OS that was developed for the OLPC project, is now available to run from a 1GB USB flash drive.

Sugar Labs has announced that the rather splendidly monikered Sugar on a Stick v1 Strawberry is immediately available, and can be used to reboot any PC or netbook directly into Sugar.

“One year after its founding, Sugar Labs is delivering on its education promise for its second million learners,” commented Walter Bender, founder and executive director.

How to run OLPC software from a £5 USB stick | News | TechRadar UK.

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