How I ported Windows XP to the Original Apple TV

Yes, this is real. No, this is not fake.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:21 Part 0: The Beginning
07:59 Part 0x3F8: The Descent
09:18 Part General Protection Fault: The Bootloader
15:56 Part 0xB4: The Video Driver
19:19 Part 0xA5: The HAL Problem(s)
24:52 Part 0x1D: The Video Driver 2: Electric Bootloop
28:02 Part 0xA: Revenge of the HAL
31:23 Part 777: Success, Failure, and Fame
35:12 Conclusion
36:43 Credits

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Music Used:
Cipher - LEMMiNO
Velkommen - Stan LePard
Killer (Yoshikage Kira's Theme)
Tiptoe Out the Back - Dan Lebowitz
Weekend in Tattoine - Unicorn Heads
Leveled Up! - Bad Snacks
Gates To Hell - BlueWolfProduction
Church of 8 Wheels - Otis McDonald
Dies Irae - Mozart
(uploaded to Wikimedia by user D. Benjamin Miller)
PASSPORT.MID - George Stone
(recorded from Roland SC-55 by YouTube user rerolledDK)
Windows XP Extended Startup Theme - Bas3008
We're Finally Landing - HOME
PASSPORT.MID - George Stone
(recorded from Roland SC-55 by YouTube user rerolledDK)

Videos Used:

Special Thanks To:
Edgar Hucek for first hack and Linux bootloader
James McKensie of Mythic Beasts for second Linux bootloader
Scott Davilla for the third Linux bootloader, the basis of my early experiments
Dmitri (loop333) for the port of Davilla's loader to modern Clang
ReactOS for FreeLoader
Justin Miller (The_DarkFire_) & Hermès Bélusca-Maïto (hbelusca) for work on EFI ReactOS and for being immensely helpful with this project
Gé van Geldorp & Dmitry Borisov for OG Xbox and IDE driver work
Stanislav Motylkov (binarymaster) for help with proofreading the write-up and installation guide
All of YOU for watching this video!

[kFY]

You ported freakin' Windows XP to unsupported hardware with NO PRIOR CODING EXPERIENCE? That's just madness, mad respect!

[JoyRender]

the fact that you learned to code all this just for this project is insane, I respect that so hard

[nonamespecified]

This is freaking insane! Going from having basically no coding knowledge STRAIGHT to coding such low level things in C AND succeeding is something truly incredible. This really is worthy of respect. I honestly can't imagine how much you've learned during this project and how hard it really was, but I can tell it was 100% worth it for you! I'm going to say it once again, but this is extremely worthy of respect. Congratulations on finally completing the project!

[codix__]

"I didn't know how to code" 10 minutes later "so the kernel needs the VGA output so I've edited the driver and compiled it myself" why do you want me to feel bad ?! 😆
Very cool project, now I won't be sad to spend 15 bucks on an Apple TV 1st Gen 🤓☝️

[timokreuzer]

I am a ReactOS developer and I heard that. And you're 100% correct! (At least as far as 64-bit version is concerned, which is the only legit version anyway.)

[xmine]

As a professional software engineer who started in his early teens, I commend you on this result! A lot of work had to be put into it - The actual coding pales in the knowledge needed to actually know what to code. If you're interested, you have a bright future in this crazy sphere of low level software engineering. Kudos!

[sean]

5:15 Apple actually continued to include undocumented ports on the exterior of Apple TVs. The 2nd and 3rd gen models had a Micro-USB port that was also listed as "(for service and support)", and the 4th gen upgraded it to USB-C. The ATV 4k takes it a step further and hides a Lightning connector *inside* the ethernet jack, which is absolutely wild and somehow went unnoticed for two years after it's release.

[notenoughmonkeys]

Incredible! From someone who writes bare metal C for a living, seeing you go from zero to hero for something as involved at this is just phenomenal. Kudos!

[ArsenioDev]

Dude the music mix in of the XP startup noise was a stroke of genius LMAOOOO.
HUGE UPS to you for getting this locked in, hell of a vid to get recommended and I'm SO here for it

[MSThalamus-gjoi]

I was a self-taught programmer too, but that was in the 80s where all I had access to was a single paper book. I am impressed not only by how you brought yourself from never having heard of pointers before to bridging the gap between XP and Apple's firmware, but also by your ability to leverage the resources available to you to piece together how to do so. When I make hiring decisions, the ability to solve problems is what I look for, infinitely more than what specific knowledge or even experience a person may have. I'm very impressed.

[thegamecorner]

This is an incredible project! It is worth noting that legacy video drivers on Windows XP *ARE* documented; they're the old-style Windows NT 4.0 drivers. They're not documented for Windows 2000/XP, but they are documented in the NT 4.0 DDK (support for them was retained for backwards compatibility in 2000/XP, but obviously you're not supposed to write them anymore).

[vintagewander]

damn justin bieber engineer is not on my bingo card in 2025

[trannusaran]

big respect for seeing that you'd have to learn not only coding, not only C, but systems code, and saying (correctly) "yeah, I could learn that". People are more capable than they think! Impressive work! :)

[anwarxv]

Let’s appreciate the comfy and soothing narration documenting his own work , unlike the bulk of tech reviewers who will exaggerate the hell out of their reactions like they effing care

[TheIrisCZ]

I have never been given a larger incentive to move on with my projects, than right now. I've often felt like there were many things, I wanted to do, but I always managed to get stuck on having insufficient knowledge of said thing. And meanwhile, this madlad, who doesn't know a single thing about programming, teaches himself a bare-metal C programming out of nowhere and accomplishes this crazy thing.

Hats off, sir! You're a legend.

[apatsa_basiteni]

Good work. Nice to know you are the dude that ported that XP OS Michel MJD used in his video.

[ludufre]

This is the guy with the problem with Windows pt-BR, haha. You made me rekindle my longing for my first PC. I went looking for it and managed to find one identical to the one I had as a child. Thanks again!

[luisdossantos]

I REALLY THOUGHT IT WAS A VIDEO WITH MILLIONS OF VIEWS, I WAS SURPRISED TO SEE THAT IT WAS NOT THE CASE, YOU DESERVE MUCH MORE BRO, YOU WILL GO FAR, DO NOT STOP, GREETINGS FROM ARGENTINA.

[tendstofortytwo]

holy shit my dude you're so beautiful for doing this with zero programming experience

[Sola_]

54 views is criminal for this masterpiece.