Re: The new Mac mini
On 2 aug 2011, at 23:41, Scot Hacker wrote: I'd be really bummed to see optical going away before streaming catches up. You can be a generic PC vendor and STILL ship PS/2 ports, and mice with PS/2 adapters, because you know, USB simply isn't totally ubiquitous yet. OR you can be Apple and say screw it, it's time for change, our users deserve better. Guess what the best way to make streaming catch up is? Introduce incredibly popular media consumption devices that doesn't have optical drives... There's a trade off, for sure, but at this point I'd absolutely love to see Apple ditch optical drives across their entire line of products. Borrow / keep a USB CD+DVD reader around for the, probably really rare, need to access some old CD / DVD. j o a r ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 2, 2011, at 11:55 PM, Joar Wingfors wrote: On 2 aug 2011, at 23:41, Scot Hacker wrote: I'd be really bummed to see optical going away before streaming catches up. Guess what the best way to make streaming catch up is? Introduce incredibly popular media consumption devices that doesn't have optical drives... The Netflix streaming catalog isn't tiny because people still have handy optical drives. It's tiny because the studio licensing terms are difficult/arcane/expensive. Apple can disappear optical all it wants - it's not going to have any effect on the byzantine licensing problems Netflix grapples with. Totally orthogonal problems. ./s ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 12:22 AM, Scot Hacker wrote: On Aug 2, 2011, at 11:55 PM, Joar Wingfors wrote: On 2 aug 2011, at 23:41, Scot Hacker wrote: I'd be really bummed to see optical going away before streaming catches up. Guess what the best way to make streaming catch up is? Introduce incredibly popular media consumption devices that doesn't have optical drives... The Netflix streaming catalog isn't tiny because people still have handy optical drives. It's tiny because the studio licensing terms are difficult/arcane/expensive. Apple can disappear optical all it wants - it's not going to have any effect on the byzantine licensing problems Netflix grapples with. Totally orthogonal problems. We're about to cancel Netflix. DVDs are scratched and dirty. Their streaming collection never haves what we want. Can Apple secure more/better licensing? I should hope/think so! They have built the hardware, software and an ecosystem that content makers need to deliver their product. Why would Netflix ever get a better licensing deal than Apple? Rationale? Anyone paying 90x for P/E should rethink (and soon now). K ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 02:41, Scot Hacker shac...@birdhouse.org wrote: On Aug 2, 2011, at 6:02 PM, Arno Hautala wrote: With movies, online distribution generally is already past what DVDs offer. Not sure what you mean there. Approximately 12% of the Netflix catalog is available for streaming - the rest is DVD only (which makes it baffling to me why some people opt for streaming-only Netflix). I was referring to quality. Streaming is generally available in HD and BluRay is effectively irrelevant. And I still don't think A/V media is very applicable to Apple phasing out optical drives. Optical media and drives will still be around for dedicated players. Optical media for computer users on the other hand has been largely replaced by USB and network transfer. That's the important part. A/V consumption on computers is a nicety that is being phased out fairly quickly. -- arno s hautala /-| a...@alum.wpi.edu pgp b2c9d448 ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On 03/08/2011, at 2:55 PM, Joar Wingfors wrote: I'd absolutely love to see Apple ditch optical drives across their entire line of products. Now there's a wild prediction ;-) Cheers, Ashley. ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: IT Professional exams from Apple
Hi Sven, On 02/08/2011, at 9:53 PM, Sven Aluoor wrote: Where to find an Apple job (not hardware)? Is it possible to pass the exams without real-world server (only Vwmare Fusion) experience? Apple Certified Specialist in Directory Services (ACS - DS) Mac OS X Support Essentials Mac OS X Server Essentials Mac OS X Directory Services Check out the news about OS X Lion Server. All you need to be able to do now to be an Apple Server Expert is to flick an On-Off switch (or that's all you can do ;-). Apple is out of the Enterprise server market - hardware and OS - and targeting only the workgroup, small office, etc. I'm sticking with Mac OS X Server 10.6 (Snow Leopard Server) until it's no longer useful. Check out OS X Lion Server Discussion Forum at Apple. Cheers, Ashley. -- Ashley Aitken Perth, Western Australia mrhatken at mac dot com Skype Name: MrHatken (GMT + 8 Hours!) ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 2:49 AM, Arno Hautala wrote: A/V consumption on computers is a nicety that is being phased out fairly quickly. really? Data? Why the big emphasis on iTunes? A/V is not only optical you know. More people still use computers for A/V than use an Apple TV. I stand by my statement that it would have been nice to offer a variant of the mini with an optical disc device this time around. Introduce the mini without but have a variant with for the luddites who still use optical (which I bet is still a rather large majority of people). Broadband in the US is not everywhere or fast. Not everyone wants to rent media. Some like to buy. And that some is probably larger than the group is streams significantly (still). I do agree that the change will happen, but it has not happened yet I wager (while physical media sales are down, are they down over 50%?) ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 11:32 AM, objectwerks inc wrote: On Aug 3, 2011, at 2:49 AM, Arno Hautala wrote: A/V consumption on computers is a nicety that is being phased out fairly quickly. really? Data? Why the big emphasis on iTunes? A/V is not only optical you know. More people still use computers for A/V than use an Apple TV. I stand by my statement that it would have been nice to offer a variant of the mini with an optical disc device this time around. Introduce the mini without but have a variant with for the luddites who still use optical (which I bet is still a rather large majority of people). Broadband in the US is not everywhere or fast. Not everyone wants to rent media. Some like to buy. And that some is probably larger than the group is streams significantly (still). I do agree that the change will happen, but it has not happened yet I wager (while physical media sales are down, are they down over 50%?) Maybe not but are these the target audience Apple really cares about? Apple seems to be more focused on the market segment that will have broadband of some sort. I don't doubt the merit of what you are saying but I don't think Apple cares all that much. There is a vision they have and they will be the first to go there, just like they did with stuff like floppies, built in wi-fi, and usb for example. --Larry___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 9:32, objectwerks inc c...@objectwerks.com wrote: I stand by my statement that it would have been nice to offer a variant of the mini with an optical disc device this time around. They did, actually. Baseline mini dropped $100 from last year. Optical drive is $80. Buy both and you get a much faster mini and $20 off. ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 10:24 AM, LuKreme wrote: On Aug 3, 2011, at 9:32, objectwerks inc c...@objectwerks.com wrote: I stand by my statement that it would have been nice to offer a variant of the mini with an optical disc device this time around. They did, actually. No, they did not. It requires an optional separate USB optical drive. My whole point is that I believe that a variant offering (not the main optical disc-less offering) with in-built optical drive in THIS generation of mini would have been welcomed by the market. I am not saying to ship all minis with the in-built optical drive. Just a variant. There are major differences between something hung-off the USB port and an in-built device. And for someone like Apple that tries and makes the user experience supreme, including where it comes to cables (think of all the Apple efforts to get rid of excess cables), Apple is now forcing people to have an extra cable and a more fragile set up. Baseline mini dropped $100 from last year. Optical drive is $80. Buy both and you get a much faster mini and $20 off. And Apple could keep the extra $20!win-win for all -- I am not arguing that the change is taking place that makes the optical drive less relevant today. But it is not totally irrelevant and I would bet that people would rather have it in-built than as a USB thing hanging off (when talking about the mini, not the AIR, where it grossly impacts the form factor and hence usefulness of the AIR). ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 12:19 PM, LuKreme wrote: On Aug 2, 2011, at 19:02, Arno Hautala a...@alum.wpi.edu wrote: I doubt many software vendors are going to increase their distribution costs by replacing installation media with USB drives. USB thumb drives are cooperative with optical media. Sure,the unit cost is higher but packaging and distribution costs are a lot lower, not to mention storage. Also, a thumb drive can be written on site with the latest version. I love the thumb drive I have for my Air. I wish more would do that. Plus the media is smaller to carry around and can't get scratched. Has anyone actually done a real cost analysis? I wonder how much it cost Apple to do that. --Larry___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 10:30 AM, Lawrence Sica wrote: On Aug 3, 2011, at 12:19 PM, LuKreme wrote: On Aug 2, 2011, at 19:02, Arno Hautala a...@alum.wpi.edu wrote: I doubt many software vendors are going to increase their distribution costs by replacing installation media with USB drives. USB thumb drives are cooperative with optical media. Sure,the unit cost is higher but packaging and distribution costs are a lot lower, not to mention storage. Also, a thumb drive can be written on site with the latest version. I love the thumb drive I have for my Air. I wish more would do that. Plus the media is smaller to carry around and can't get scratched. Has anyone actually done a real cost analysis? I wonder how much it cost Apple to do that. I am betting that thumb drives SW distribution is in the same order of magnitude as optical media distribution. When you consider how many free thumb drives I have received (even as junk mail by snail mail) as marketing devices (Nissan sent me a 1GB one not long ago to show off some new vehicle) they cannot be that expensive and I bet the equipment necessary to produce the recorded device is cheaper than the stamping of optical media. ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On 3 Aug 2011, at 12:34 PM, objectwerks inc wrote: On Aug 3, 2011, at 10:30 AM, Lawrence Sica wrote: On Aug 3, 2011, at 12:19 PM, LuKreme wrote: On Aug 2, 2011, at 19:02, Arno Hautala a...@alum.wpi.edu wrote: I doubt many software vendors are going to increase their distribution costs by replacing installation media with USB drives. USB thumb drives are cooperative with optical media. Sure,the unit cost is higher but packaging and distribution costs are a lot lower, not to mention storage. Also, a thumb drive can be written on site with the latest version. I love the thumb drive I have for my Air. I wish more would do that. Plus the media is smaller to carry around and can't get scratched. Has anyone actually done a real cost analysis? I wonder how much it cost Apple to do that. I am betting that thumb drives SW distribution is in the same order of magnitude as optical media distribution. When you consider how many free thumb drives I have received (even as junk mail by snail mail) as marketing devices (Nissan sent me a 1GB one not long ago to show off some new vehicle) they cannot be that expensive and I bet the equipment necessary to produce the recorded device is cheaper than the stamping of optical media. I believe the latest Macbook Air no longer comes with any external media (thumb drive or DVD). Gregg ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 10:52 AM, Arno Hautala wrote: On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 12:34, objectwerks inc c...@objectwerks.com wrote: I am betting that thumb drives SW distribution is in the same order of magnitude as optical media distribution. When you consider how many free thumb drives I have received (even as junk mail by snail mail) as marketing devices (Nissan sent me a 1GB one not long ago to show off some new vehicle) they cannot be that expensive and I bet the equipment necessary to produce the recorded device is cheaper than the stamping of optical media. There is no chance that thumb drives are cheaper to produce and distribute than it is to burn and distribute a DVD. Even the bulk prices that I've seen for a 4GB drive are around $7. Let's say Apple can get a ridiculous discount and drop that to $2. I can buy a 100 pack of DVDs for $30. That is going to go down further for bulk orders, but it's already at $0.3 And I seriously doubt it's cheaper to assemble USB media than it is to press a disc. Sure, a 1GB drive might be around $0.5 for a large bulk order, but there's no way they've got anything on optical. Any company that decides to follow Apple and ditch optical media is not going to consider USB distribution when they can offer network as a primary avenue. Arno: You did not read what I said ;-) As a WPI alum, you should recognize the phrase same order of magnitude. :-) $2-3 say for the cheap thumb drive (SW distribution drives are usually a simple flat piece of plastic with a little flash embedded, not teh fancy ones you see at retail) is in the same order of magnitude as a $0.75 DVD or whatever the price is. It is more but in the same magnitude. Also, your comparisons are incorrect. Apple (or whoever) buys the thumb drives already assembled. They just need to put the software on. Their price they pay already includes the assembly. The DVDs on the other hand need expensive equipment to press once the blanks are manufactured. That is what I was referring to. The data dumping to flash device is probably a cheaper device than the burning the DVD device. The DVDs you buy are not the same as the ones they use to professionally make DVDs and the cost of pressing needs to be included. I am also not advocating replacing all DVD distribution of SW with thumb drives. It is however an option that is not significantly more expensive than the DVD route and has its advantages. ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
As of Lion and the latest hardware it will actually net boot from apple servers from what I understand. I've wondered about that. Will it save my WiFi password etc in PRAM? ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 10:43 AM, William Ehrich wrote: As of Lion and the latest hardware it will actually net boot from apple servers from what I understand. I've wondered about that. Will it save my WiFi password etc in PRAM? No, there is a built-in system that will take over that allows you to chose network connection and enter in WPA passwords. This system is not dependent on their being a hard drive at all, and is new in the new hardware. -- Karl Kuehn lark...@softhome.net ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 13:11, objectwerks inc c...@objectwerks.com wrote: Arno: You did not read what I said ;-) As a WPI alum, you should recognize the phrase same order of magnitude. :-) $2-3 say for the cheap thumb drive (SW distribution drives are usually a simple flat piece of plastic with a little flash embedded, not teh fancy ones you see at retail) is in the same order of magnitude as a $0.75 DVD or whatever the price is. It is more but in the same magnitude. OK, but a cost that is 2-4 times as expensive isn't something to ignore at the volumes that Apple would be working with. The data dumping to flash device is probably a cheaper device than the burning the DVD device. I wouldn't think so, but I also have no concrete numbers to reference. It just doesn't seem likely that DVDs are more expensive to produce and press than USB drives are to produce and load. The manufacturing isn't free for either medium. I am also not advocating replacing all DVD distribution of SW with thumb drives. It is however an option that is not significantly more expensive than the DVD route and has its advantages. Even if 2-4 times as expensive isn't significant, it's still greater. Network transfer is going to be cheaper. On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 13:14, Ian Ragsdale osxt...@ianragsdale.com wrote: Sure, the disk itself will be way cheaper than the thumb drive, but the much lower packaging distribution costs from the smaller size will go a long way towards making up the difference. I doubt there's much difference here. Certainly not enough to outweigh the manufacturing and loading costs. But again, I don't have any numbers to back this up. And if you're strictly looking from Apple's perspective, the cost savings of simplifying their supply chain, and lowering their manufacturing and support costs by removing a non-solid-state part (the most likely kind to need repair) is probably going to WAY outweigh the extra cost of shipping thumb drive media. Exactly. This is also why they found it better to drop the optical drive and offer an existing external. Not shipping USB drives (The Air today, the full line in the future) further lowers that cost. -- arno s hautala /-| a...@alum.wpi.edu pgp b2c9d448 ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On 2011-08-03 11:11 , objectwerks inc wrote: The DVDs on the other hand need expensive equipment to press once the blanks are manufactured. That is what I was referring to. The data dumping to flash device is probably a cheaper device than the burning the DVD device. The DVDs you buy are not the same as the ones they use to professionally make DVDs and the cost of pressing needs to be included. one small point: bulk production of DVD media is not burning; it is far faster per unit than transferring data to a USB drive; no one would buy a complete DVD manufacturing system for producing small quantities when one can contract the work to an outfit that achieves quantities of scale ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Aug 3, 2011, at 12:24 PM, st...@paper-ape.com wrote: On 2011-08-03 11:11 , objectwerks inc wrote: The DVDs on the other hand need expensive equipment to press once the blanks are manufactured. That is what I was referring to. The data dumping to flash device is probably a cheaper device than the burning the DVD device. The DVDs you buy are not the same as the ones they use to professionally make DVDs and the cost of pressing needs to be included. one small point: bulk production of DVD media is not burning; it is far faster per unit than transferring data to a USB drive; no one would buy a complete DVD manufacturing system for producing small quantities when one can contract the work to an outfit that achieves quantities of scale yes of course. My point was the incremental costs associated with each. When you contract it out, there is a cost over the raw materials. ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: The new Mac mini
On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 1:52 PM, Arno Hautala a...@alum.wpi.edu wrote: On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 12:34, objectwerks inc c...@objectwerks.com wrote: I am betting that thumb drives SW distribution is in the same order of magnitude as optical media distribution. When you consider how many free thumb drives I have received (even as junk mail by snail mail) as marketing devices (Nissan sent me a 1GB one not long ago to show off some new vehicle) they cannot be that expensive and I bet the equipment necessary to produce the recorded device is cheaper than the stamping of optical media. There is no chance that thumb drives are cheaper to produce and distribute than it is to burn and distribute a DVD. My wife's Applecare DVD was shipped in a regular paper envelope. It had clearly been folded at some point, as the DVD was in 2 pieces. Apple can either invest in heavier more robust packages or plan to replace some percentage of DVD's. I'm sure they have done the optimization calculation but doubt they factor in the inconvenience to customers. I expect USB thumb drives are more likely to survive mailing. Even the bulk prices that I've seen for a 4GB drive are around $7. Let's say Apple can get a ridiculous discount and drop that to $2. I can buy a 100 pack of DVDs for $30. That is going to go down further for bulk orders, but it's already at $0.3 And I seriously doubt it's cheaper to assemble USB media than it is to press a disc. But it is not so easy to serialize pressed disks. Furthermore, USB's can be updated in the field. With DVD's if you need to rebuild a 2-year old system you need a whack up updates. Sure, a 1GB drive might be around $0.5 for a large bulk order, but there's no way they've got anything on optical. Any company that decides to follow Apple and ditch optical media is not going to consider USB distribution when they can offer network as a primary avenue. Optical drives are not as reliable as the rest of an iMac. If Apple stops selling optical drives they can save on warranty costs, and let other vendors get the support headaches. It makes sense for Apple to drop branded products in favor of 3rd party commodity accessories. -- George N. White III aa...@chebucto.ns.ca Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: IT Professional exams from Apple
Hi Sven (et al.), On 04/08/2011, at 12:46 AM, Sven Aluoor wrote: On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 3:28 PM, Ashley Aitken mrhat...@mac.com wrote: Hi Ashley Check out the news about OS X Lion Server. All you need to be able to do now to be an Apple Server Expert is to flick an On-Off switch (or that's all you can do ;-). Apple is out of the Enterprise server market - hardware and OS - and targeting only the workgroup, small office, etc. I'm sticking with Mac OS X Server 10.6 (Snow Leopard Server) until it's no longer useful. Check out OS X Lion Server Discussion Forum at Apple. I found an article in InfoWorld with title Why IT won't like Mac OS X Lion Server http://www.infoworld.com/print/167787 The Lion Server GUI is dumbed down, but behind the scenes there are a lot Open Source components like PostgreSQL, Samba, OpenLDAP,.. which you can configure and use through CLI? Sure, but that was one of the big benefits of OSX - the powerful GUI on top of the CLI. I suppose one day I might upgrade to Lion Server but certainly not until everything stabilises within this transition. From what I've read it seems like a bit of a mess - admin this from the Server app, this from Server Admin, that from Workgroup Manager, and other things from the command line editing .plist files. It's a pity Apple didn't persist with the Server Preferences for simple administration and Server Admin and Workgroup Manager for advanced administration. I think that is the clear sign that Apple has changed their direction significantly, hence the reference to moving out of Enterprise server market. Cheers, Ashley. -- Ashley Aitken Perth, Western Australia mrhatken at mac dot com Skype Name: MrHatken (GMT + 8 Hours!) ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
is the Mac Mini hardware easy to upgrade?
Hi, I am planning to get one of the new mac minis. It comes with 2-GB of RAM, in the form of a pair of 1-GB chips. Are both of these user-replaceable and easy to access in the new minis? Is there any disadvantage or loss of performance if the two memory chips are not identical? If not, I might just replace one with a 4-GB chip. Otherwise, I guess I could just replace both. If the mini is used mainly as a media player, do I gain anything by upgrading the 2-GB of RAM? If not, then maybe I will just stick with 2-GB for a while. Do these minis work just fine in a headless configuration? I assume I can access it wirelessly from my Mac Pro. As a media center, do I just need the power cord, an HDMI cable to the HDTV, and an Apple remote? I think I have an old style Apple remote (from my 2009 MacBook Pro) around here somewhere. Is that all I need to control the mini for playing videos? I think I heard that Front Row (which I have never used) is no longer included (in Lion). Can I simply use the Snow Leopard version? Thanks, Gregg ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: is the Mac Mini hardware easy to upgrade?
Hi Greg (et al.), On 04/08/2011, at 11:56 AM, Gregg Dinse wrote: I am planning to get one of the new mac minis. It comes with 2-GB of RAM, in the form of a pair of 1-GB chips. Are both of these user-replaceable and easy to access in the new minis? I believe so. Is there any disadvantage or loss of performance if the two memory chips are not identical? No, I don't believe there is any disadvantage or loss of performance. If not, I might just replace one with a 4-GB chip. Otherwise, I guess I could just replace both. 2 x 2GB is probably cheaper but in the long run 1 extra 4GB will obviously be better. If the mini is used mainly as a media player, do I gain anything by upgrading the 2-GB of RAM? If not, then maybe I will just stick with 2-GB for a while. Try it with 2GB and see ... Usually the more memory the better BUT if you are only running one app (I think unlikely really ;-) then you may be ok. Do these minis work just fine in a headless configuration? Headless configuration is not very good as a media player ;-) if you mean media server then it should be ok headless. I assume I can access it wirelessly from my Mac Pro. Sure. As a media center, do I just need the power cord, an HDMI cable to the HDTV, and an Apple remote? Yes, but I think a wireless keyboard and mouse or trackpad would be very useful (especially when you are not using it as a media center ;-) I think I have an old style Apple remote (from my 2009 MacBook Pro) around here somewhere. Is that all I need to control the mini for playing videos? Yes, see above. If you are only interested in playing videos (and have another Mac permanently in the household) why not just get an AppleTV or similar? I think I heard that Front Row (which I have never used) is no longer included (in Lion). Can I simply use the Snow Leopard version? Yes, no longer included but there are instructions on how to install SL version on Lion. Of course, there is no guarantee that will keep working or work 100% (e.g. starting up with remote). There are commercial and open source alternatives. Hope that helps. Cheers, Ashley. ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
Re: IT Professional exams from Apple
Ashley Aitken mrhat...@mac.com squaked out on Wed 03-Aug-2011 20:43 Hi Sven (et al.), On 04/08/2011, at 12:46 AM, Sven Aluoor wrote: On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 3:28 PM, Ashley Aitken mrhat...@mac.com wrote: Hi Ashley I found an article in InfoWorld with title Why IT won't like Mac OS X Lion Server http://www.infoworld.com/print/167787 The Lion Server GUI is dumbed down, but behind the scenes there are a lot Open Source components like PostgreSQL, Samba, OpenLDAP,.. which you can configure and use through CLI? Sure, but that was one of the big benefits of OSX - the powerful GUI on top of the CLI. I suppose one day I might upgrade to Lion Server but certainly not until everything stabilises within this transition. From what I've read it seems like a bit of a mess - admin this from the Server app, this from Server Admin, that from Workgroup Manager, and other things from the command line editing .plist files. I ran 10.6 Server and I am not running 10.7 server even though I had to jump through considerable hoops to get a 10.7 non-server install on my machine. Simply put, 10.7 servers a whole hell of a lot more trouble than it’s worth and the few simple things I wanted to use Server for were obnoxiously difficult if not impossible. Just pointing the default domain for the webserver to a folder I wanted was, as far as I could find, impossible to do. It's a pity Apple didn't persist with the Server Preferences for simple administration and Server Admin and Workgroup Manager for advanced administration. I think that is the clear sign that Apple has changed their direction significantly, hence the reference to moving out of Enterprise server market. The new Server.app is just too dumbed down and too confusing. Just as an example, where should one setup File sharing, in the Server.app or the System Preferences.app? If the settings disagree, which takes precedence? I could find nothing on this relatively simple question and testing led to nothing but confusion. Then add to that the fact that SMB shares in Lion are severely broken for non-Windows 7 machines (like, say, freeBSD, Linux, or Windows XP) and you have a “server” that really isn’t much of a server. -- If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect. ___ MacOSX-talk mailing list MacOSX-talk@omnigroup.com http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
