View allAll Photos Tagged macmini
Here is how I can move the monitors apart (thanks to the desktop supports by DMP) when working with my netbook or in any other situation where I need more room. the monitors can also be rotated to form a 90°angle with the wall, so that the desk is completely free.
-----
2012 Update: I've since ditched my MacMini/EyeTV setup for the Boxee Box / Live TV tuner setup. Read more
----
I'll write up a much larger blog post on this after I see how broadcast works @ Superbowl Party, but real quick:
I have a Mac MIni (w/ Boxee & Plex) hooked up to an Eye TV (USB tuner, $130) that is hooked up to the Time Warner cable that runs thru my apt and reading the unencrypted QAM stream. (read: watching cable w/out a cable box)
The QAM feed has about 120 channels - most of them are bullshit (infomercials, pay-per-view ads) and a lot of Spanish channels. These are the 12 that are interesting (and work great)
I'll cover this in the post, but configuring the EyeTV (separating good channels from crap) can be a bit of a pain, so I'm hoping this screenshot will let some people skip corners. (note: I am using the TV Guide listings from "Northern Manhattan" even tho I am downtown. Take note of the "1008" channels - there's a ton of them, but only 2-3 worth keeping. Tell the difference using the freq/MHz)
Links:
EyeTV: www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/EyeTV-Hybrid-1...
QAM: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadrature_amplitude_modulation
Search terms for Google (cause I couldn't find this info when searching)
+ QAM channels in NYC
+ Time Warner Cable QAM
+ TWC QAM
+ eyeTV in NYC
+ eyeTV Manhattan
ps: Using Boxee and Plex for everything else (movies, Netflix, Hulu, CNN, ESPN3, etc)
And yes, I get the irony of trying to #QuitCable tho still being dependent on their physical cable line to get this QAM stream. The #QuitCable thing is more "stop paying $161/mo for something I barely use but sometimes need" and less "sever all ties w/ Time Warner" (i'll still be paying for internet thru them). Slightly still up in the air is "does TIme Warner change their QAM policies if a critical mass of people quit cable? My understanding is that they're required to broadcast the "major networks" over QAM, tho not required to do it in HD. I could also ditch QAM / Time Warner for TV entirely but I'm hearing that over-the-air antennas (that pick up broadcast HD signals) don't do so well in the "urban canyon" that is NYC.
My stack with Mac mini G4, *new* 500 GByte Iomega MiniMax Firewire/USB HDD, Belkin Firewire/USB-Hub and iPod 30GB
Close-up of the mac mini and other devices on the first shelf.
on the back you can see all the cables kindly organized with cable managers.
iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 6, iPod Nano, iPad 2, iPad Air, Mac Mini, Magic Mouse, Apple Keyboard.
Photo by Canon EOS 700D
My G4 Mac Mini suddenly won't start up. Any ideas what's going on? Or is this the excuse I need to update?
Shall we see how long it takes for my desk to get cluttered again? ;-)
This was earlier today, before the Big Switch On... Pretty, ain't they?
Here's a screen shot of my Mac Mini, with a neat program called Clutter.
Clutter enables the user to view their cd collection as cover images on the desktop. To play an album simply double click the cd you wanna play and hey presto, iTunes plays the cd. sweet :)
BTW all cd's are originals which i've ripped from my collection for my playing convience, nor is it my entire collection.
Yes... My "office" is my bedroom. It makes sense as I don't have enough room downstairs. This is still a work in progress as some items are still missing (as noted on the hotspots on the Flickr photo page).
Here is a photo of my desk showing my Macintosh set-up.
My main system is an Intel Core Duo MacMini. The 12" powerbook on my desk normally sits on the Griffin iCurve stand above my MacMini. (I put it on my desk so you could see the Mini.)
The Mini is sitting on top of a LaCie Mini hard drive / firewire & usb hub.
___
Not the best setup, ergonomics-wise.
Compare with my next setup: flickr.com/photos/hober/1185805308/
I designed my desk setup using a few ideas from lifehacker.
I recently got a Mac Mini to replace my Dell XPS 600. What a difference! The Mac is so much smaller, its like having a whole new desk with all this free space. It also runs a lot better. I used the idea of a keep clear zone from a lifehacker featured desktop.
The blue walls are the result of a bed sheet tacked on the wall, to add some color to the area around my desk. I really like the way it looks. I have a lamp clamped to the desk behind to shine behind the monitor to provide bias lighting and reduce eye strain.
To the side (unpictured) is a whiteboard I made from a bit of shower board from a bathroom project. In the cabinet under the desk is a Western Digital 1 TB My Book Studio Edition. I use it for Time Machine backups, as well as music, videos, photos, and my home folder!
I'm keeping a birthday card (my birthday was June 11th, I got the Mac Mini) on my desk for a while. I also received the selenite orb, which is very pretty, for my birthday.
I mainly use the iPod touch, but I keep the shuffle around for when I want to go out unencumbered.
(inspiration for keep clear zone: lifehacker.com/5247820/the-keep-clear-desk )
I've been struggling to clear up my office ready for the arrival of my eagerly awaited new iMac...
Believe it or not, this was AFTER I'd spent all afternoon filing and shredding paperwork! Utter chaos! The carpet looks like there's been a blizzard, the shredder's gone on strike, and I'm STILL not able to see the desktop!
Mi actual despacho, 3 macs.. un macmini G4 (servidor), un macbook Core Duo (para moverme) y un iMac Alu (trabajo duro).
Totalmente un desastre.
MacBook 5,1.
2.0GHz Core2Duo
8GB RAM
64GB SSD
Thunderbolt Display, connected to the MacMini (See nerve centre for more)
iPad 3, LTE
Magic TrackPad, Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard.
Our first Intel-based Mac minis have arrived, straight from the Apple Store, and what was the first thing the cold, cruel alien intellects at Macworld did with one of these innocents? That’s right. We got out our putty knife, popped it open, and spilled its guts out faster than you could say “CSI!”
From this vantage point, the Mac mini hasn’t changed much from its previous version. However, there’s one gigantic change that may not be apparent from this angle: the easily-accessible RAM slot on the left side is gone. Or to be more accurate, they’ve been turned on their side and hidden from view. (More on this in a moment.)
On the far side of the case you can see the new infrared receiver right at the end of the optical-drive slot.
The Mac mini’s Bluetooth and AirPort antennae are still in place, although these versions seem a bit more robust than the we-just-taped-it-together feel of the previous model. There’s one other change that’s a bit hard to see from this photo, but it’s just beneath and behind the AirPort antenna: the Mac mini’s Bluetooth card, relocated to the top of the drive cage.
5.8 kilograms of computing equipment and that doesn't even cover all the cables.
I feel quite spoiled, or perhaps I just habitually spend too much money on computers. But I'm glad to cover the majority of platforms in use today, and I feel vaguely justified due to my profession.
Some envision a future where you have just one or two devices to cover all the use cases here, but I do like the flexibility of having a range of devices.
An Ikea table with some cable access holes cut in the back. On the left, a power strip and the cable modem; on the right, a Linksys router and an Airport wireless base station. And the associated power cables, network cables, etc. Above the table on the left, a Mac Mini I'm using as a development server. The point I'm most proud of with this setup: there are only two cables leading up into the table, the power cable and the coax for the cable modem. Everything else is self-contained.
Finally deployed the RAST bedside table from IKEA to organised all my modems, mio set top box, Mac Mini, switches etc. No more iMac 24", streamline to use just the Dell U2410 monitor with my MacBook Pro Core i7 2.66Ghz 8GB RAM
MacBook 5,1.
2.0GHz Core2Duo
8GB RAM
64GB SSD
Thunderbolt Display, connected to the MacMini (See nerve centre for more)
iPad 3, LTE
Magic TrackPad, Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard.
Got myself a MacBook Pro today so the Mac Mini has been moved to the livingroom and integrated in the Audio setup. Still working on details as the WiFi connection isn't the best for music playback, but all in all I'm happy :)
Brand new dual screen wallpaper with my new activity logo, browse for older pictures in the album for further info about my workspace!
MacBook 5,1.
2.0GHz Core2Duo
8GB RAM
64GB SSD
Thunderbolt Display, connected to the MacMini (See nerve centre for more)
iPad 3, LTE
Magic TrackPad, Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard.
I've made a couple changes to the TV setup. The HD cable box is out as is the Tivo. After a little difficulty with a CableCard (hint, that technology is not ready yet as the cable companies, cable card makers, and tv makers don't talk to each other) I ended up getting a DVR from my cable company. It records in HD and outputs 5.1 sound, which are big plusses (Tivo can't do those things) and in technical terms it's superior to Tivo, but the interface is ass. Really, from a usability standpoint it's terrible. I'm going to live with it until something better comes along though.
The Bubby always sleeps in front of whichever was the last computer I was using ... he is always demanding attention :-)
The full-sized image is available for download at my website.
License:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Another view for our main workspace. This is were we spend most of the day. His and hers Macbooks for work-related stuff, blogging, rss-feeding and so on. A Humax LCD 32'' is connected via DVI to a Mac Mini Intel Core Duo and acts as our main and only "Media Center" experience. It is connected to two roomy external HDD that houses all our movies and TV Shows. With the help of Frontrow and the excellent Sofa Control, I can do most of the stuff from my Sofa without keyboards and mouses.
From the top:
* Edirol UA-25 (USB Audio Interface)
* Mac mini (1.42GHz, Airport Extreme, Bluetooth, 1Gb RAM)
* MacPower USB/Firewire hub & HDD enclosure
Useless but cool...same movie on 3 different screens (IRON MAN 2 BDRip, playing from my mac mini)
you also find descriptions of my tv hardware and some other stuff
My workspace furniture and accessories are mainly by IKEA.
For improved readability, I have limited the notes in this picture to furniture and accessories.
For infos about computers and gadgets, see next pictures.
* Top: Apple Mac mini
* Middle: Newer Technology miniStack storage device featuring USB 3.0, eSATA, and FireWire 800
* Bottom: Newer Technology miniStack Max storage device featuring USB 3.0, eSATA, FireWire 800, as well as (not pictured, on the front) an SD (SDXC) card slot and optical drive slot (SuperDrive; Blu-ray coming soon); expected availability in early 2013. Thunderbolt is not available yet and isn't expected to be until OWC can aquire the controllers in volume, according to OWC's Grant Dahlke via Ars Technica.
This photo is part of my coverage of 2013 CES for MacTech Magazine. Look for my article in the February 2013 issue of MacTech (available in print and on iPad). Visit www.mactech.com to get the magazine, and for video coverage subscribe to the MacTech Live podcast in iTunes (macte.ch/itms) or RSS (macte.ch/rss)