fixed : where can I get OS version 8.4.4 for AppleTV 3 ?

Posted on 17-03-2021 by MacManus.nl

Question :

I was having a problem on my WiFi network so I had to reconfigure my AppleTV 3 from 2012. While doing so, I also wanted to do an update for the AppleTV-version of iOS. When I tried to do so, the AppleTV said I had version 7.6.2 installed and there were no automatic updates available. To be completely sure, I looked up my AppleTV 3 in the MacTracker.app and found that the Maximum OS listed there is version 8.4.4, so I searched online to see what info I could find on a 8.4.4 update.

I found that the 8.4.3 update was released around April 2020, and that it could be installed over USB using a Mac with iTunes on it… but on the Apple website Software update 7.6.2 is still listed as the latest release… https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202157

What is going on ?

Answer :

There is no problem… at least, there is no problem regarding the updates, the only problem is in the naming…

It’s just that the AppleTVs initially ran on iOS, just like the iPhones and iPads… (correction : the original AppleTV ran MacOSX) …but as the products drifted apart, the versions of iOS needed for various iDevices did too …so Apple finally split the old iOS up in iOS for iPhone, iPadOS for iPad and tvOS for AppleTV.

For the iPads this wasn’t really confusing as iOS 12 was succeeded by iPadOS 13. But for AppleTV the naming became extremely confusing : tvOS 9.0 was introduced almost simultaneously with and only for the 4th generation AppleTV (now called AppleTV HD) in autumn 2015, but the previous versions of AppleTV kept running versions of iOS, just anonymously :

Apple TV 1.0 = “Front Row” release = MacOSX “Tiger” 10.4.7tv (for Intel) = build 8N5722 = 20070321 iTV release
Apple TV 1.1 = “YouTube” release = 20070720 iTV release
Apple TV 2.0 = “Take Two” release = 20080115 iTV release
Apple TV 2.0.1 = “Genre” release = 20080328 iTV release
Apple TV 2.0.2 = “Network” release = 20080414 iTV release
Apple TV 2.1 = “MobileMe” release = 20080709 iTV release
Apple TV 2.2 = “HD” release = 20081002 iTV release
Apple TV 2.3 = “AirTunes” release = 20081119 iTV release
Apple TV 2.3.1 = “No Hax” release = 20090225 iTV release
Apple TV 2.4 = “Gesture” release = 20090624 iTV release
Apple TV 3.0 = “Genius” release = 20091029 iTV release
Apple TV 3.0.1 = “Reprise” release = 20091107 iTV release
Apple TV 3.0.2 = “Finale” release = 20100211 iTV release
TV release 4.0 = Apple TV 4.0 = iOS 4.1tv = build 8M89 = 20100901 aTV release
TV update 4.1 = Apple TV 4.1 = iOS 4.2tv = build 8C150 = 20101122 aTV release
TV update 4.1.1 = Apple TV 4.1.1 = iOS 4.2.1tv = build 8C154 = 20101214 aTV release
TV update 4.2 = Apple TV 4.2 = iOS 4.3tv = build 8F191m = 20110309 aTV release
TV update 4.2.1 = Apple TV 4.2.1 = iOS 4.3tv2 = build 8F202 = 20110322 aTV release
TV update 4.2.2 = Apple TV 4.2.2 = iOS 4.3tv3 = build 8F305 = 20110511 aTV release
TV update 4.3 = Apple TV 4.3 = iOS 4.3tv4 = build 8F455 = 20110801 aTV release
TV update 4.4 = Apple TV 4.4 = iOS 5.0tv = build 9A334v = 20111012 aTV release
TV update 4.4.1 = Apple TV 4.4.1 = iOS 5.0tv2 = build 9A335a = 20111017 aTV release
TV update 4.4.2 = Apple TV 4.4.2 = iOS 5.0tv3 = build 9A336a = 20111024 aTV release
TV update 4.4.3 = Apple TV 4.4.3 = iOS 5.0.1tv = build 9A405l = 20111117 aTV release
TV update 4.4.4 = Apple TV 4.4.4 = iOS 5.0.1tv2 = build 9A406a = 20111215 aTV release
TV update 5.0 = Apple TV 5.0 = iOS 5.1tv = build 9B179b = 20120307 aTV release
TV update 5.0.1 = Apple TV 5.0.1 = iOS 5.1.1tv = build 9B206f = 20120510 aTV release
TV update 5.0.2 = Apple TV 5.0.2 = iOS 5.1.1tv2 = build 9B830 = 20120605 aTV release
TV update 5.1 = Apple TV 5.1 = iOS 6.0tv = build 10A406E = 20120924 aTV release
TV update 5.1.1 = Apple TV 5.1.1 = iOS 6.0.1tv = build 10B831 = 20121129 aTV release
TV update 5.2 = Apple TV 5.2 = iOS 6.1tv = build 10B143 = 20130128 aTV release
TV update 5.2.1 = Apple TV 5.2.1 = iOS 6.1.3tv = build 10B329a = 20130319 aTV release
TV update 5.3 = Apple TV 5.3 = iOS 6.1.4tv = build 10B809 = 20130713 aTV release
TV update 6.0 = Apple TV 6.0 = iOS 7.0.2tv = build 11A502 = 20130723 aTV release
TV update 6.0.1 = Apple TV 6.0.1 = iOS 7.0.39tv = build 11B511d = 20131024 aTV release
TV update 6.0.2a = Apple TV 6.0.2 = iOS 7.0.4tv = build 11B554a = 20131114 aTV release
TV update 6.0.2b = Apple TV 6.0.2 = iOS 7.0.5tv = build 11B601 = 20140130 aTV release
TV update 6.0.2c = Apple TV 6.0.2 = iOS 7.0.6tv = build 11B651 = 20140221 aTV release
TV update 6.1 = Apple TV 6.1 = iOS 7.1tv = build 11D169b = 20140310 aTV release
TV update 6.1.1 = Apple TV 6.1.1 = iOS 7.1.1tv = build 11D201c = 20140422 aTV release
TV update 6.2 = Apple TV 6.2 = iOS 7.1.2tv = build 11D257c = 20140630 aTV release
TV update 6.2.1 = Apple TV 6.2.1 = iOS 7.1.2tv2 = build 11D258 = 20140717a aTV release
TV update 7.0 = Apple TV 7.0 = iOS 8.0tv = build 12A365c = 20140717b aTV release
TV update 7.0.1 = Apple TV 7.0.1 = iOS 8.1tv = build 12B4410a = 20141020 aTV release
TV update 7.0.2 = Apple TV 7.0.2 = iOS 8.1.1tv = build 12B435 = 20141117 aTV release
TV update 7.0.3 = Apple TV 7.0.3 = iOS 8.1.3tv = build 12B466 = 20150127 aTV release
TV update 7.1 = Apple TV 7.1 = iOS 8.2tv = build 12D508 = 20150309 aTV release
TV update 7.2 = Apple TV 7.2 = iOS 8.3tv = build 12F69 = 2015048 aTV release
tvOS 9.0 = build 13T396 = 20151029 ATV4 release
- tvOS 9.0.1 = build 13T402 = 20151109 ATV4 release
- tvOS 9.1 = build 13U85 = 20151208 ATV4 release
tvOS 9.1.1 = build 13U717 = 20160125 ATV4 release
TV update 7.2.1 = Apple TV 7.2.1 = iOS 8.4.1tv = build 12H523 = 20160125 aTV release
tvOS 9.2 = build 13Y234 = 20160321 ATV4 release
- tvOS 9.2.1 = build 13Y772 = 20160516 ATV4 release
- tvOS 9.2.2 = build 13Y825 = 20160718 ATV4 release
tvOS 10.0 = build 14T330 = 20160813 ATV4 release
- tvOS 10.0.1 = build 14U71 = 20161024 ATV4 release
tvOS 10.1 = build 14U593 = 20161212 ATV4 release
TV update 7.2.2 = Apple TV 7.2.2 = iOS 8.4.2tv = build 12H606 = 20161212 aTV release
tvOS 10.2 = build 14W265 = 20170327 ATV4 release
- tvOS 10.2.1 = build 14W585a = 20170515 ATV4 release
- tvOS 10.2.2 = build 14W756 = 20170719 ATV4 release
tvOS 11.0 = build 15J381 = 20170919 ATV4 release
- tvOS 11.1
- tvOS 11.2
- tvOS 11.2.1
- tvOS 11.2.5
- tvOS 11.2.6
- tvOS 11.3
- tvOS 11.4
- tvOS 11.4.1
tvOS 12.0 = build 16J364 = 20180917 ATV4 release
- tvOS 12.0.1
- tvOS 12.1
- tvOS 12.1.1
- tvOS 12.1.2
- tvOS 12.2
- tvOS 12.2.1
tvOS 12.3 = build 16M153 = 20190513 ATV4 release
TV update 7.3 = Apple TV 7.3 = iOS 8.4.2tv = build 12H847 = 20190513 aTV release
tvOS 12.4 = build 16M568 = 20190722 ATV4 release
TV update 7.3.1 = Apple TV 7.3.1 = iOS 8.4.2tv2 = build 12H864 = 20190722 aTV release
- tvOS 12.4.1
tvOS 13.0 = build 17J586 = 20190924 ATV4 release
TV update 7.4 = Apple TV 7.4 = iOS 8.4.3tv = build 12H876 = 20190924 aTV release
- tvOS 13.2
- tvOS 13.3
tvOS 13.4 = build 17L256 = 20200324 ATV4 release
TV update 7.5 = Apple TV 7.5 = iOS 8.4.4tv = build 12H885 = 20200324 aTV release
- tvOS 13.4.5
- tvOS 13.4.6
- tvOS 13.4.8
tvOS 14.0 = build 18J386 = 20200916 ATV4 release
TV update 7.6 = Apple TV 7.6 (8130) = iOS 8.4.5tv = build 12H903 = 20200916 aTV release
- tvOS 14.0.1
- tvOS 14.0.2
- tvOS 14.2 = build 18K57 = 20201105 ATV4 release
tvOS 14.3 = build 18K561 = 20201214 ATV4 release
TV update 7.6.2 = Apple TV 7.6.2 (8144) = iOS 8.4.6tv = build 12H914 = 20201214 aTV release
- tvOS 14.4 = build 18K802 = 20210126 ATV4 release
- tvOS 14.5

As you can see from the list above, there is no TV update 8.x yet… the version you’ve been reading about online is the “based on iOS 8.4.4”-version, which actually is TV update 7.5

So, if your 3rd generation AppleTV lists it’s OS version as 7.6.2 you already have the latest OS-version available (…at the time of writing this post : mid March 2021)

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

FYI : it’s good to know that there’s a slight hardware difference between the 2012 version and the 2013 version of the 3rd generation AppleTV :

A1427 = AppleTV3,1 = 3rd generation AppleTV (2012)
A1469 = AppleTV3,2 = 3rd generation AppleTV (2013)

NOTE : the procedure you are mentioning of upgrading or altering the version of the AppleTV OS by connecting the AppleTV to your Mac by USB-cable is a “jailbrake”, which Apple considers “illegal”…

fixed : quickly wipe old Mac before passing on to family member

Posted on 16-10-2019 by MacManus.nl

Question :

I’ve just got myself a new Mac and transfered all data to it. Now I want to donate the old Mac (a MacBook Pro) to my children, but I would prefer to take my own documents off before I do so…

Isn’t there an easier way to do this than reinstalling macOS ?

Answer :

If you would sell the old Mac or give it to someone you do not trust completely, wiping the harddrive (or SSD) completely and reinstalling macOS would be the best way to go.

If you are giving the old Mac to someone you completely trust (like your partner, parent or child) you can wipe your old data and documents far quicker. Do this :

open System Preferences (to do so, goto Apple-icon top-left onscreen, and choose System Preferences from the pulldown menu)
in the window that opens, select “Users & Groups”
in the next window, click on the padlock (bottom left)
typ your computer-password when asked
now the padlock will open and the +sign (plus-icon) just above it will turn black (it was greyed out, just below “Login Options”)
in the drop-down panel that appears, choose “Administrator” at “New Account:”
then fill out the Full Name, the Account Name, a Password and a Password hint for the person that is going to be the next ‘owner’ of that Mac
then, click the “Create User”-button
then, check in the Users-list on the left if the user you’ve just created is listed at “Other Users”
if you’re sure the new user is properly created, log out the current user (to do so, goto Apple-icon top-left onscreen, and choose “Log Out [username]” from the pulldown menu
in the window that appears, click the “Log Out”-botton
wait for your Mac to return to the login-screen, then login as the new user you have previously created
wait for the macOS-desktop to appear, then open System Preferences (to do so, goto Apple-icon top-left onscreen, and choose System Preferences form the pulldown menu)
in the window that opens, select “Users & Groups”
in the next window, click on the padlock (bottom left)
typ the new user’s computer-password when asked
now the padlock will open and the +sign (plus-icon) just above it will turn black (it was greyed out, just below “Login Options”)
then select your (old) username from the list on the left (listed under “Other Users”)
then click the -sign (minus-icon)
in the window that appears, choose “Delete the Home folder” and click the OK-button
Then wait for the deletion to complete

That’s it – you now have deleted all your personal files from your old Mac.

Note : all applications that you had installed when the Mac was yours, will still be available in the Applications folder, if you want to delete any of them, just move them to the trash and empty the trash (to also delete supporting files, you should use an app like AppCleaner). If you had any applications that had personal licences, make sure these are still working from this new user account by trying to start them up and typing the appication’s licence key when asked 😉

enjoy !

fixed : animated GIFs not playing in Preview.app

Posted on 23-01-2016 by MacManus.nl

Question :

For my work I regularly get animated-GIF for online advertising campaigns send to me offline. As it turns out I can only view them in the Finder’s preview, but when I double-click on them, they open in Preview.app as a static picture…

What can I do ?

Answer :

As any .gif-file is considered as a picture by OSX, both static and animated GIFs will be opened in Preview.app by default. Too bad, but Preview.app can only display static pictures, no movies, nor dynamic pictures…

The solution is simple ; just make OSX by default open all .gif-files in an application that can handle animations, like your web browser.

to do so :

locate and select any of your animated .gif-files in the Finder
then press the [cmd]+[i] key-combo on your keyboard (a.k.a. “get info”)
in the info-window that opens, scroll down to “Open with:”
make sure the triangular arrow in front of “Open with:” is pointing down
if the triangular arrow is pointing to the right, click on it
just below “Open with:” you will see “Preview (default)”
click on that, and change it to “Safari” (or any other application that can handle animated GIFs, if you don’t see the application you’re looking for listed, select “Other…” and select the one you prefer from you Applications folder)
then, don’t forget to click on the “Change All…”-button also

…that’s it, from now on, any .gif-file on your Mac will be opened in Safari (or your chosen alternative) by default, and you will see all animated-GIFs opened as animations when you lick on them.

enjoy !

😉

fixed : PowerPoint presentation too large for eMail

Posted on 15-09-2014 by MacManus.nl

Question :

I just made a beautiful PowerPoint presentation which I want to eMail to my friend. When I tried to eMail it, that seemed to work okay at first, but a few moments later I got an error message saying that the eMail could not be sent.

How can I fix this ?

Answer :

eMail providers have set a limit to the attachments’ file size per eMail to prevent cluttering the eMail traffic and flooding the recipient’s eMail inbox. For most providers this limit is set to about 5MB of attached files per eMail message. Some providers have expanded this limit to 10MB, and providers like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! even allow you to attach up to 25MB of files to each eMail.

But if your PowerPoint presentation is even larger than 25MB (which might easily occur if you have done your best to make it a beautiful presentation), you will probably do the recipient a pleasure if you send a smaller file, especially if they are planning on viewing it on a mobile device. The easiest way to ‘shrink’ the size of a presentation is to convert it into a PDF-file. (a PDF-file is even more versatile than a PowerPoint-presentation, as it also can be viewed by people that don’t have PowerPoint software installed)

To convert your PowerPoint-presentation into a PDF-file, do this :

In MacOSX :

– open your presentation in PowerPoint

– then go to “File” in the upper menu bar and select “Print” from the pulldown menu that appears

– in the “Print” menu that appears, adjust everything as desired, then click on the “PDF” button (bottom left)

– in the pulldown menu that appears, choose “Mail PDF” and a new eMail message will be made for you including your Presentation as an attachment

…or you can choose “Save as PDF…” to first save the PDF-version of your presentation to your Mac so you can attach it to any eMail later on

Note : the above procedure also works in other OSX programs like Word, Excel, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, etc.

For Windows users, the general idea is similar but slightly different :

http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/powerpoint-help/save-as-pdf-HA010064992.aspx

If the standard conversion of your PowerPoint into a PDF still turns up with a PDF-file that is too large to eMail, you can adjust the conversion settings, as described here :

How to create even smaller PDFs in OSX

You might also want to try the “Reduce File Size” that is in the “File”-tab of each Office 2011 application (so in Word, PowerPoint and Excel). This option will only reduce the size of the pictures inside the document. The smallest this option can reduce to is 96ppi a.k.a. “Best for sending in e-mail”. This is an interesting option, but converting to PDF usually leads to even more file size reduction.

And if the recipient insists on getting the original PowerPoint-file, you could do as a lot of professionals do, and send your presentation trough the FREE WeTransfer service :

http://www.wetransfer.com

that’s it !

enjoy !

😉

fixed : changing the name of a Time Machine backup .sparsebundle-file

Posted on 08-09-2014 by MacManus.nl

Question :

I have transported my user account from my old Mac to my new Mac (using the Migration Assistant application) some weeks ago. Yesterday, I happend to click on the Data-drive from my TimeCapsule in the Finder, and I noticed that the TimeMachine backup-file (.sparsebundle-file) is still named after my old Mac… the name hasn’t changed to the new Mac’s name…

I find this utterly confusing. Is there something I can do to change the name of the .sparsebundle-file ?

Answer :

Yes there is, but it appears not all versions of the TimeMachine software are happy with changing the name of the .sparsebundle-file by the user.

So if you want to change the name of a TimeMachine backup-file (.sparsebundle-file) but wish to minimize the risk of corrupting your entire TimeMachine backup-file (one thus loosing all your data), follow this procedure :

1- make sure you are operating your Mac from a user account with administrator rights

2- go to Apple –> System Preferences –> Sharing

3- there, change the “Computer Name” to a name that identifies you new Mac (and the .sparsebundle-file)

4- then, go to the TimeMachine-icon in the Finder’s top menu bar and select “Back Up Now” from the pulldown menu

5- wait for the TimeMachine backup has finished (this might take longer than normal), and check to see if the .sparsebundle-file has been renamed (go to your TimeMachine backup drive using the Finder to do so)

The above will probably be sufficient if you are running MacOSX 10.7 “Lion”, OSX 10.8 “Mountain Lion” or OSX 10.9 “Mavericks”, and if it works, it’s the preferred way for changing the name of the .sparsebundle -file, as it minimises the risk on corrupting your backups. So, always try the above procedure first !

If you are running MacOSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard” or earlier (probably even Mac OSX 10.4 “Tiger” and even PowerPC Macs with G4 and G5 processors that can run the Time Machine software), and the above procedure didn’t change the name of the .sparsebundle-file, try this :

– duplicate your .sparsebundle-file to another harddisk, or select a new backup harddisk to make an entirely new TimeMachine backup to (to make sure you have a backup in case you accidentally mess up ; if your sparse bundle-file is your one-and-only and irreplaceable backup, make sure you do this !)

– make sure the .sparsebundle-file is operating correctly by testing it using the “Enter TimeMachine”-option from the pulldown menu that appears when clicking on the TimeMachine-icon in the Finder’s menu bar

– make sure you are logged in as a user with Administrator rights

– click on the TimeMachine-icon in the Finder’s top menu bar and select “Back Up Now”

– after the backup has finished, go to your (primary) TimeMachine-drive in the Finder, click on the .sparsebundle-file and change it’s name

– then, go to the TimeMachine Preferences (either through the System Preferences or through the pulldown menu from the TimeMachine-icon in the top bar of the Finder)

– there, switch off TimeMachine and exit the System Preferences

– then, open the TimeMachine Preferences (within the System Preferences) again, and switch TimeMachine back on, then exit the System Peferences

– then, go to your (primary) TimeMachine-drive in the Finder again, and check if the name of the .sparsebundle-file has changed

– if the name has changed, check if the TimeMachine-backup works (try to access it by clicking “Enter Time Machine” from the pulldown menu that appears under the TimeMachine-icon in the Finder’s top menu bar), if that works, that’s it, you’re done !

– if somewhere along the procedure, something didn’t work as expected, restart your Mac and try again

– if it name change still won’t stick after several tries, make sure the “Computer Name” of your Mac is named exactly as you like in the Network Preferences (within the System Preferences) and then create an entirely new TimeMachine-backup : add a new drive for TimeMachine-backups (or remove the existing drive and then add the same one again) in the Time Machine Preferences (within the System Preferences), then click “Back Up Now” from the pulldown menu when you select the TimeMachine-icon in the Finder’s top menu bar… and wait…

That should be it.

Enjoy !

😉

Note : the .sparsebundle-file extension might not be visible ; you can turn it on (or off) in the file’s “Get Info”-window (accessible when right-clicking on the file’s icon in the Finder)

fixed : correct login-password not recognized at login

Posted on 07-06-2013 by MacManus.nl

Question :

I just started up my Mac, and in the in log fields I typed my login name and my password…

I’m 100% sure I typed the right password, but I get a message that the password is wrong… and even if I retype my password (which is 100% correct), I still get that same error-message…

Any idea what can be wrong and how I can fix this ?

Answer :

If you’re sure you’ve typed the right password, the problem is not the password, but the login-name… (even if OSX’s error message clearly says it’s the password that is wrong)

What probably went wrong, and is not obvious to the user’s eye, it that you have one (or more) space(s) typed in front of your login-name…

So you’ll just have to entirely erase the login name (hit the Backspace-button a few extra times, just to be sure) and the password, and then type them again.

That’s it !

😉

tip : using Evernote on an iBook G4 or iMac G5

Posted on 03-12-2012 by MacManus.nl

Question :

I have Evernote running on my iPhone, my iPad and my MacBook, but I would also like to use it on my old Mac which has a Power-PC (G4/G5) processor.

On the Evernote-website I can only download the latest version of Evernote, which is Intel-Mac only…

How can I use Evernote on my old iMac G5 and iBook G4 ?

Answer :

If you are running MacOSX 10.5 “Leopard” on your PPC-Mac (G4/G5), you can use the previous version of Evernote, which can be found here :

http://cl.ly/1I3a0Y3f26282k3p2a0E

If you are still running MacOSX 10.4 “Tiger” (or newer) your only option is to use the online version of Evernote, which can be accessed here :

https://www.evernote.com/Home.action

MacManus.nl

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Tag Archives: 10.4 Tiger

fixed : where can I get OS version 8.4.4 for AppleTV 3 ?

fixed : quickly wipe old Mac before passing on to family member

fixed : animated GIFs not playing in Preview.app

fixed : PowerPoint presentation too large for eMail

fixed : changing the name of a Time Machine backup .sparsebundle-file

tip : using Evernote on an iBook G4 or iMac G5

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