It’s possible we could build 32-bit binaries…
First I’d like to confirm if the software even works on Lion with 64-bit hardware. Hopefully @john can let us know if the new installer works on his Mini.
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I ended up purchasing a QNAP. I will try this out on the Mac Mini soon and report my results.
Followed the thread here, got a couple of resources for all of the Mac mini / older mac hardware folks out there that would like to get more out of their machines. General rule: If your mac is a 2010 model or newer, you’ll at least be able to run macos 10.11 El Capitan or the newest OS 10.12 Sierra. The limiting factor is the lack of full 64-bit support as others have noted.
Here’s a great resource for mac os hardware compatibility starting at 10.7 Lion - https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility
Sadly, here is Apple’s listing of “Vintage and Obsolete” products. If your mac ends up on this list, it is unlikely that it will run newer OS’s in the future - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624
All is not lost though if you have an older Intel mac that at least supports 10.7 Lion, dual-booting to test the latest Ubuntu version is possible from a simple USB stick. I’d recommend to get a sufficiently large enough USB stick (>32GB) to use as the primary boot drive for Ubuntu linux so that you don’t lose your Mac os install on your primary drive. You can also add an external USB or Firewire drive as your DVR storage in this setup. Follow this guide to created a bootable USB of Ubuntu Desktop - https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-macos
After that point, from what I understand, you can install Channels DVR on the USB Ubuntu and try it out to see if your hardware will be able to do what you want. You can always boot between the two to go back to the mac. Since all of this can be done with an existing USB stick you may have lying around, you don’t need to purchase anything until you know it works how you’d like.
Or as @maddox said, go for a newer Mac or something like the QNAP NAS unit.
I just tested with 64bit lion and it installs without erroors but wont run. Getting illegal instruction: 4
Incidentally, I was able to upgrade my 2006 Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro to an OS newer than Lion requiring a 64 bit kernel. The trick was MacPostFactor, which uses a custom boot loader that cleverly emulates a 64bit EFI on top of the existing 32bit EFI, enabling the 64bit kernel to function.
This apparently works for all obsolete Apple hardware with Core 2 Duo processors. You need MacPostFactor, and the installer of the OS version you want to install. It supports everything between Mountain Lion and El Capitan.
It was a little fiddly, the default config options working best. I used DiskUtil to shrink my main partition to make space for a new Maverick’s partition, and installed directly onto it. I couldn’t get El Capitan to boot properly. Yosemite installed, but required I boot into single user mode and set the nvram to disable kernel signatures before the graphics would work properly. I settled on Mavericks, which was new enough for Channels DVR, and worked out of the box. It actually seemed more stable than Lion, and the fan wasn’t constantly running. The only downside to the newer OSes on my machine was that the windowserver process would use a lot of CPU when I connect to it with VNC for remote screen sharing – although, I think it might be specific to the MBPs graphics drivers. Anyway, it doesn’t seem to affect Channels DVR at all.
So, old Mac hardware is still an option for those that don’t want to install linux.
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Why not take a USB stick of a suitable size and go out and download and imgage of Android_X86, Android_TV_OS_X86, or something like Linage OS? Once you have the image downloaded from FOSS (just Google Android x86 and you will be lead right to it.) You can then use a tool to create a BOOTABLE USB stick. There is Rufus, unetbooting, or...gosh..I can't believe I am blanking on the name of the one I actually prefer! Ugh! BalenaEtcher! Ha! That's it btw not some weird cackle Camilla Harris makes when she hides evidence in order to keep an innocent man in prison (not a cheap political shot. It's a fact. If you're mad hearing it maybe you ought question your choices/views.). Anyhoo. Yeah so Rufus is for those of you currently running windows, Unebootin and BalenaEtcher will run on Linux, Windows, and MacOS though BalenaEtcher works installing all Linux OSs. Unebootin for Arch Linux, CentOs, Fedora, Gentoo, Linux Mint, MEPIS, Mandriva, Opens use, Slackware, Ubuntu; FreeBSD, NetBSD;
For further info you can Google Create Live Usb system. Then as soon as you burn your OS you'll have to restart your system and make sure you tell your BIOS or whichever Uncle is there this week to boot to your USB and vois la! Run channels DVD o. An old crappy Apple using Android 9.0 or 8.0 or whatever tickles your fancy....it's amazing thank you good luck.