(Contraband in that it is obsolete 68k tech. )

I just spotted this eBay auction.

There are two Apple Set Top Box prototypes up for auction. They are definitely very early versions, and the LC 475 heritage of the boxes is quite aparent in the pictures. But $300 buy-it-now is a bit rich for my blood.

Neat, eh?

Peace,
Drew

Wow, they're not like any Apple Set Top Box I've seen before! It looks strange inside, as if it's little more than an LC board inside a different box - it looks like all the normal ports are on one side of the board but don't have holes for them in the casing doesn't it? From what I can see, the things that make it a Set Top Box eg the Scart connections come from that huge card in the expansion slot. Would be very interesting to see one of these and have a play around with it, but of course those ones are way way too expensive. Anyone here tempted?
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Main system: custom C2D 2.66GHz tower/4GB RAM/2600XT 512 MB/500GB HD/XP Pro x86+Vista Business x64
Main Mac: Beige G3 minitower (Sonnet G4 500MHz/640 MB DVD/USB/Radeon 32 MB/OS 9.2.2+10.4.11)

And now it looks like the auction was pulled. I wonder if someone bought it outside of eBay...

Peace,
Drew

Dang, It would be enat to get one of those, tear it down, and investigate it.

Maybe try to install Mac OS on it like people are doing with the Apple TV now
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PPC Macs:

• Power Macintosh G4
  
• B&W Power Macintosh G4
  
• Power Macintosh 6500/225

Yes! VNC!!VNC!!VNC!!

I love VNC. It's so handy. It's what I use to communicate with my server.
_________________
PPC Macs:

• Power Macintosh G4
  
• B&W Power Macintosh G4
  
• Power Macintosh 6500/225

Remember, though, that we're basically talking a 25 MHz 68LC040 with a 230.4kbps throughput. VNC on that would be astoundingly slow. That's one big reason why I haven't done it yet. Plus, VNC requires IP, and the only IP solution that works over LocalTalk is MacIP. And _that_ requires me to have a bridge between MacIP and TCP/IP around somewhere...

So it's not a trivial matter.

SSH sounds good, but there are not Mac OS (prior to OS X) SSH _servers_ primarily because the Mac does not have a CLI! So SSH is probably out. Good old file sharing is good enough to know if the STB will boot (if it shows up on the network, it's booted), but that won't tell you anything else about the STB.

Peace,
Drew

True, I guess filesharing would be about the only option to see if it's truly booted the Mac OS.
_________________
PPC Macs:

• Power Macintosh G4
  
• B&W Power Macintosh G4
  
• Power Macintosh 6500/225

Is there no way of getting whatever it is from the original STB OS that drives the Scart output and putting it into a normal Mac OS? I'm assuming it runs some sort of cut-down version of System 7?
_________________
Main system: custom C2D 2.66GHz tower/4GB RAM/2600XT 512 MB/500GB HD/XP Pro x86+Vista Business x64
Main Mac: Beige G3 minitower (Sonnet G4 500MHz/640 MB DVD/USB/Radeon 32 MB/OS 9.2.2+10.4.11)

Not that I'm aware of. It runs System 7.5.something with a set of special extensions to enable the MPEG decoder and analog video output. The current thinking is that these things won't put out a video signal without a presence on the ISDN or cable lines. I've tried using standard old RF (cable TV) connections to see if I can see anything on my TV, but that went nowhere. I haven't got ISDN, but even if I did, I'd have no idea of knowing what kind of data it is expecting over the line.

I've also tried using the SCART port (okay, I remember doing this, but I don't actually remember buying an SCART adapter, so something is faulty in my memory...), but that also went nowhere.

There's a fellow either on the 68kMLA or AF that claims his outputs a video signal. Of course, he's never produced any screencaps or other demonstrable evidence that he's not blowing smoke...

Peace,
Drew