I was reading a "hack" on another site for adding SATA support, which
was really just attaching an IDE => SATA adapter to the IDE connector
of the ATV. Of course, this got me thinking.
It *might* to be possible to hack into the four (or eight) wires on
the ICH7 (southbridge) to provide one or two SATA port(s) in the ATV.
Not the most needed thing in the world with the external USB already
working, but fun, and good for larger capacity internal drives.
The ICH7 southbridge chip on the Apple TV supports two SATA ports --
or does it? Anyone know which version of the ICH7 is used in the
Apple TV? I think it must be the "Mobile" ICH7 (82801GBM, ICH7M) as
that's the only one I see listed for use with the "Calistoga"
Northbridge. But if Apple used the "Ultra Mobile" ICH7-U PC82801GU
then there's no SATA support on the chip.
There are some interesting unpopulated pads in various places, the
most interesting is the multi-pad group next to the existing IDE HD
connector.
But the big question: Is there SATA support in the ATV's firmware/
BIOS? If the ATV wouldn't recognize it even if it had it, there's
not much point in pursuing the hack.
I'll let you know if I ever get around to trying my mini pcie esata
card in the AppleTV.
Is there a more topical forum to which to post this kind of question?
Or are folks happy with it here? I couldn't think of one with folks
who actually understand the low level gutsy bits of the ATV. I did
post a couple of ICH7 SATA implementation questions to Ars Technica
because I figure those guys will know motherboard chipset hardware
stuff...
Here is the best place, most interested in low level AppleTV things
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