Apple Mac Mini – Wireless Internet
Mon 12 Feb 2007Filed Under: Apple Computers | Comments Off on Apple Mac Mini – Wireless Internet
Connecting a Mac Mini to the internet
Once I configured my set up it was time to connect to the internet.
I run the usual ADSL – broadband connection via a DLINK wireless router. I don’t have access to a regular ethernet ports scattered around the house so I rely on a wireless router to access the internet. The rest of the Windows PCs have wireless cards or Centrino technology (LOL).
My Mac Mini has built in Airport Extreme ! – alias a wireless network card. (And you though Centrino was weird) However connecting to the router was not as easy as the rest of the setup – so far. So here’s my experience. Hope it will help others !
As with Windows opening the web browser called Safari on the Mac will reveal the Internet connect wizard. The key settings are and I input all of them in as displayed. The Mac Mini has a funny option of having to gave a location name. I presume it is so that it can work as a router its self ? Hmmm… don’t know yet so I’ll have a play around with the settings later. Anyway after following the instructions to the letter nothing happened !!
The router and the Mac Mini discovered each other but they decided that they weren’t going to play together. So you can guess – I wasn’t happy that I had to waste even more time trying to get the thing going.
This was not going to be as easy as setting up the Palm TX which has got to be the benchmark for ease of connecting to a wireless network !
I played around with all the wizard settings and still no avail. Mind you I didn’t have network broadcasting on and a proper network password and DNS settings. Despite all the correct inputs still no connection.
I had a little rest by now as it was getting frustrating. I re-read the manual that came with the Mac but it didn’t reveal anything new or that I hadn’t already tried.
Undeterred I tried a few more things but nothing worked until off chance I tried the setup preferred network option. Volia ! it worked. 1 hour later I was on the Net and looking for updates !
My Mac Mini came default installed with OS X 10.4 and after pressing the update option was presented with at least 500Megs of downloads. Oh well – So after an hour or so downloaded and installed all the updates. Nothing went wrong !
I then installed the other bits of software that came in the box – iLife 06.
So I finally ended with OS X 10.4.4
Apple Mac Mini – Keyboard and Mouse
Mon 12 Feb 2007Filed Under: Apple Computers | Comments Off on Apple Mac Mini – Keyboard and Mouse
I didn’t get the Apple keyboard and mouse as I have plenty from regular PCs over the years. Besides at $99 AUST each I’m not convinced its value for money. So I’m using a Logitech Cordless Desktop LX700. Yes – just superseded series – December 05. By the way I don’t think the new Logitech S series keyboard and mice look as good as the LX700. (Includes the S530 Mac specific setup) But infinitely better than the Microsoft keyboards or mice.
That said imagine if Apple reduced the price – not to mass market level but say $50 they would probably sell more.
So did it work ? Yes, of course I followed the instructions for a change and it all recognised each other etc… Mind you now that I have a mouse with at least 5 buttons I’m not sure what to do ! Got to find out which are the ‘Apple’ keys are too !
Note that the Logitech LX700 keyboard and mouse set is wireless released in 2004.
The good bits
The desktop set worked perfectly when the Mac Mini was turned on the first time.
The wireless range for both keyboard and mouse was at least 5 meters with fully charged batteries. I love wireless in general there’s no wires and you can hide the transmitter recharging base. (Yes I even love Infrared)
Furthermore all you have to do to wake the Mac from sleep mode is to move the mouse or press any button on the keyboard.
Problems
The Logitech didn’t come with any Mac software or drivers so I haven’t quite worked out what the keyboard mapping is yet. That said the keyboard has a lot of additional buttons which as this point are all but useless as the Mac does not allow native identification of the extra buttons.
Needless to say I haven’t any keyboard manufacturer that makes Apple Mac specific keyboards or associated drivers. You’d think there would be now that its based on Unix.
Anyway I’ll update the page with how I’ve solved it – if I manage to do it.
Logitech keyboard mapping for Apple Mac
So far I’ve worked out :
ESC = ESC
Start = Apple key
F12 = Eject DVD/CD
Keyboard scroll wheel = scroll up/down
Conclusion
Good so far.
Apple Mac Mini – Introduction
Mon 12 Feb 2007Filed Under: Apple Computers | Comments Off on Apple Mac Mini – Introduction
Welcome to my new review BLOG on the Apple Mac Mini.
Yes, I am aware of the new Intel based Apple Mac’s but lets face it complete upgrades hardware architecture always result in a period of adjustment. I’m not going to wait another 2 years before Apple gets it together again.
The reason why I got one was because I was tired of the viruses, spam, adware, ever increasing costs of anti-virus subscriptions and now firewalls, increasing CPU usage and site management problems with the Windows based computers. I figured there must be a easier why to maintain a website and stuff like that. So the Mac Mini is to test out Apple stuff in general. – Hmm Long Term Window user. So here’s my Apple Mac Mini review.
I mean the config required when my main internet development machine fails for what ever reason or I need to reinstall – it takes days to get it right again. So we’ll see if a full migration to the Mac is worth all the hassle and cost !
The event that prompted the acquisition was the failure of the Norton Internet Security program. This program was supposed to safe guard my work machine a decent ASUS V6V notebook, which I must add has performed without any problems what so ever since purchase earlier this year. Anyway over the new year an update of their software caused the firewall side of things to fail. I didn’t realise this until I got back from holidays and tried to use my email program which is Eudora 6.2. I use Eudora as my main email program because its easy to use and has never been buggy or had security issues. I use Palm desktop for the calendar etc.. because it works perfectly with my Palm TX. (Yes I had a MS based PDA but it was a forgettable experience)
So when I tried to get mail things started playing up. I thought it was just a temp bug 9when you’ve used windows for years that’s the sort of thinking you get into) but realised that this machine doesn’t play up for no reason. I thought back to how sluggish the shut down process was before the new year and a mysterious Norton error – but the message only appeared once so I ignored it. Anyway I spent at least a day trying to work out what was going on as the Eudora appeared to the problem. So virus checked the whole machine – nothing. Ran the MS – virus checker – Nothing. Checked Eudora versions etc.. – nothing. Then checked the firewall – Yes. Searched the web and came up with only one article about the problem.
To cut the story short I had to erase the firewall rules and reset the thing. I no longer trust Symantec or Norton products and will probably not ‘upgrade’ it this year. Speaking of which I let Norton subscription lapse after the trial period (it came with the V6V) to see whether it was cripple-ware and worked out that it wasn’t working properly – it stopped removing viruses (yes a 1 year old one that will remain nameless for testing purposes). What a joke ! I updated the subscription this year to verify that this was the case and what do you know – confirmed my assessment. Hmm…I might try again this year and report my findings.
Anyway back to the Mac Mini review – Why did I put up the review page ? I’m not exactly attached to Apple products. (This is the first in 20 years Shock Horror – I don’t even have a iPod.) but I couldn’t find what I wanted with internet searches so I decided to add one more site.
So what’s the spec of my Mac Mini ? It’s a 2006 model – Apple Mac Mini
1.42GHz PowerPC G4
1GB RAM
32MB ATI Radeon 9200
80GB HD
SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth
Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.4
iLife ’06
I didn’t purchase any additional software apart from what came in the box for the Apple Mac’s so it will be interesting to see what I’ll havee to get. Hope you can hang around.