Update on my new MacMini

[Mandy]

While I have already edited 2 videos OK, I wanted to put my dial up internet info on the MacMini to be able to get updates, info, etc. I thought I would just switch the phone line from the laptop to the MacMini which is what I do with old iMac with no problems.

However, I found that Best Buy hadnt eliminated their user info and password (this was a demo), and have been spending every free moment trying to get that changed to my info. Finally, yesterday, managed to get thro to the section and put in a new password and user info. Then was able to take Child of Cs previous advice to do a fresh install.

However, when I went to connect the phone line I found that the input was covered up solid for some reason. There is only the ethernet input open. I do have an external modem, but I need to get a USB2 adapter for it, if the Source has one.

Also, to date I havent got a KVM switcher, but am simply switching the monitor cable from my PC to the MacMini when I need to use the MacMini. However, an Apple rep advised me that eventually I could damage the little prongs (or terminals I guess) if I keep doing that.

Would appreciate some of your valuable input on the above, and many thanks in advance.

My own advice would be not to buy a demo. Too much hassle (altho it was quite satisfying to solve the problem without having to take it back to Best Buy).

[Tim]

yea any store demo I would do a fresh install for sure. Would solve any troubles introduced from people mucking about on a demo.

I think if you're real careful, changing the cables for a while shouldn't be too damaging really. But it goes without saying a kvm is best. Does your usb modem have a regular usb cable? Because I plug usb 1 stuff into my usb 2 port all the time.

[Child of Cupertino]

What I would have done is boot from the System Restore DVD RIGHT OFF THE BAT. Nuke the drive without batting an eye, or bothering to run it. Regardless, it is irresponsible of them to have sold it to you without them standing you in front of the Mini and assisting you in creating a new account (with admin privileges), then nuke the old, demo account.

You can of course swap any USB devices between two comps. On the Mac, you can swap the video cable if you put it to sleep, first. One way to do this is via the Apple Menu. To wake the Mac up, just tap on the spacebar a few times. Once is probably fine, but human nature is to go, "wake up" tap-tap-tap :D

And finally, DIALUP, Mandy?? How about Rogers High-Speed light or something? Software updates and even typical web surfing would be a lot better, and I think it's the same price as most dialups (~$20.00/month).

[Dr.Dan]

Rogers Lite Edition (1000 Kbps download and 128 Kbps upload) is $35...
Ultra Lite (128 Kbps download and 64 Kbps upload) is $25

http://www.shoprogers.com/store/cable/internetcontent/compare.asp?shopperID=0287JEGMUJMJ9PB9SQWP317R3QGE F1C7

[Mandy]

What I would have done is boot from the System Restore DVD RIGHT OFF THE BAT."

Agree, but I couldnt do it until I had changed their info to mine.

Quote: And finally, DIALUP, Mandy?? How about Rogers High-Speed light or something? Software updates and even typical web surfing would be a lot better, and I think it's the same price as most dialups (~$20.00/month).

I pay $10 month for dial up for 50 hrs a month, recently upped it to $15 or 100 hrs, so one day may up it again to cable.

Tim, my external modem doesnt have a USB connection, but a VGA (think it's called), so would need an adapter if there is one. If not, maybe Ill just connect my iMac(which has my dial up info) and MacMini.

Many thanks for the speedy and valuable input here, as usual.

And yes, will be getting a KVM switch when I get down to the Apple store maybe next week. I already got separate external speakers for the MacMini.

[Child of Cupertino]

Just reread your original post. "Covered up solid"? As in, there's a cap on the hole?? I wonder if that occurred on account of it being a demo?? Although, I can't see why. This is weird. Every G4-based Mac Mini came with a modem (http://www.lowendmac.com/mini/minis.html).

Mandy, can you please do the following?

1) Go to the Apple menu and select the "About This Mac" command.

2) From the window that opens up, select the "More Info..." button.

http://i4.tinypic.com/10pzjhh.jpg

3) The System Profiler application will launch. it's first window will look something like this:

http://i4.tinypic.com/10pzjol.jpg

From the main window of this app (and "Hardware" should be highlighted on the left-hand vertical window), tell us the following info:

CPU Speed, Memory.

4) From the left-hand vertical window, select "ATA". Now the main window should look something like this:

http://i4.tinypic.com/10pzrxc.jpg

This window will show the specs on your hard drive and optical drive (CD/DVD). Tell us the drive size and model number of your hard drive. For example, my model number is ST9808210A. I can Google that and tell that my Mac Mini has an 80GB Seagate Momentus 4200rpm, 8MB cache drive (http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,638,00.html).

5) From the left-hand vertical window, select "Disc Burning".

http://i4.tinypic.com/10pzvpv.jpg

The main window will now show all your specs for burning. Is there anything listed for "DVD-Write"? I know it wasn't listed as a feature on yours, but I'm just wondering.

6) From the left-hand vertical window, select "Graphics/Displays". What does it say your graphics card is, and how much VRAM does it have?

7) And finally, click on "Modems" on the left side.

http://i4.tinypic.com/10qay45.jpg

Anything listed?? It could be just covered but still inside the Mini... if it's not, I'd say it SHOULD be there and maybe that something should be done for you.

So, all this stuff above is to try and figure what you REALLY have, not just what it says you have ion the invoice, because if the modem is missing that's really odd.

[Tim]

not really, as apple specs list the 1.42 model as being a BTO for the modem.
http://support.apple.com/specs/macmini/Mac_mini_orig.html

[Child of Cupertino]

I forgot about that, but that is only on the last, fastest G4 Mini they did. All the rest before it, from my Rev. A on up, had a modem.

Problem is, we don't have enough info on Mandy's system, here... but given that the modem is GONE, she's probably got thaat fastest Mini... but that Mini has a Superdrive, and I thought she wasn;t getting a Mini with a Superdrive?

We need more info.

Regardless of the specs, if Mandy could swing it, she should really get onto the cheapest broadband she can get. For one, it'll be faster (I cannot imaging download a bunch of software updates on dialup!), and 2 she would then be ussing the Mini's Ethernet port... and wouldn't have to buy a 56k modem (like Apple's new, USB-based ones).

[Mandy]

Child of C., really appreciate your laying out that procedure for the MacMini info. I actually did go thro all that previously to try and get the area where I could get the user info and password changed, in fact went thro every nook and cranny til I finally found where.

So here are the answers to your questions:

It is a model ST9808211A, cap 74.53 gb
Model Power Mac 10.2
Power PC G4(1.2)l.5 GHz, 512 MB

no DVD -write,but reads DVD. CD-write -R, -RW

ATI Radeon 9200 graphic card
VRAN-64mg

and lastly, Modem says no information found. I did see somewhere that not all models had an internal modem.

While going to cable hi speed is certainly an option, will have to decide whether or not just to get an adapter for my external modem for the time being or just simply connect the iMac and MacMini.

So, I take it that it wont be worthwhile to go back to Best Buy to see if they would put an internal modem in it.

Many thanks for all this info. This has certainly been a learning experience.

Now going to google my model number and see what it says.

[Tim]

oh you got one of the 'secret upgraded to 1.5 ones'.

[Mandy]

Looks like.

Also looks like it never had an internal modem.

So if I cant get an adapter, will have to get the Apple external modem. Still will be a lot cheaper than going to hi speed. Right now tho am researching info on internet sharing between a PC and Macmini. Kinda fun digging up all this info.

[Mouse]

You must have a strong stomach. ;)

[Child of Cupertino]

Yes! Mandy's got one of them "secret", undocumented Minis. You got the fastest G4 Mini Apple released! Sweet! You got 64MB of VRAM, versus the much more common 32MB. PLUS, if legend is true that hard drive is 5400rpm. I'm saying this without checking first... and now I'll check...

YUP! :)

5400rpm, 8MB cache (http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,636,00.html), versus most other Minis having 4200rpm 8MB cache.

Too bad a DVDRW didn't slip through the cracks :D No matter, as iDVD can now recognize external Firewire DVDRWs.

I suppose that you could TRY to go back to the store for an external modem if it said it had a modem on the display specs. But that could be a tough hill to climb.

I know you can use a Mac as a base station and share its internet connection with other Macs... probably with Windows PCs, too. BUT, can a Windows PC share an internet connection? That's the question in this case.

And, as you now know, the account name and password are changed in the Accounts system preference. Easy! :) For core functionality preferences like that, it's usually a safe beet to start perusing the System preferences, rather than wading through the utilities folder for a separate application.

As for Apple's modem? IT'S SIXTY BUCKS!!! Wadda ripoff! And the problem you have before you now is that, as every Mac made in the past seven or more years until late 2005 has included an Apple modem built right in... what are the odds of finding a USB modem where the maker has even bothered to write OS X drivers for it?? You can try searching through these search results at versiontracker (http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?PHPSESSID=a124156c90dc6b0b5ecd3a892e484 11e&mode=basic&action=search&str=modem&plt%5B%5D=macosx&x=0&y=0)... but gooood luck.

(Here's a thought: selling your PC will get you YEARS of Rogers High Speed Light. Two years of antivirus subscriptions will almost get you a 1GB stick of RAM.)

[Child of Cupertino]

Speaking of a gig of RAM, Mandy, I did a large project on my Mini last weekend prepping up the shoot of my son's school play for iDVD (The Wizard of OZ). It really turned out nice! In iMovie, I used the white reflection animated theme from iLife 06 for the intro, cutting cast vocal performance of 'Follow The Yellow Brick Road" in at this point. i broke away here and there between the three night's shooting (I fully digied just one night -- the "A roll", and digied only what I wanted to cut in from the B and C rolls of DV tape), did a nice credit roll at the end (but had to work around the title plugin's 45 second max), did the DVD chapters -- still in iMovie -- then clicked one button to shoot the whole kit and caboodle over to iDVD.

Once there, I selected a cutsie "kid's play" DVD interface, exported some other audio segments and one video clip from the play's iMovie project to use within the DVD interface AND added a separate video for the leading cast member bios. That video was a separate iMovie project using Ken Burns effect with rolling title bio info over each kid's pic. For background music, I used one of the "jingles" that now comes with iLife and expanded its length by editing it in iMovie's timeline.

It all worked out GREAT and iLife BLEW everybody away! (the school iss sellingg the DVDs for ten bucks each). But, the over seventy minute length of the video almost blew my Mac Mini away!! It was slu-u-u-u-uGISH! Jumping around the timeline was nasty. Undo actions would take a minute to occur It was very VERY frustrating, and the poor performance of the Mini actually killed our initiative to edit more B roll picture into the play... and, to make things worse for me, my friend (who is he father of one of my son's schoolmates) does AV work for a hospital an he shot it for the school and, although they use Macs at his work for editing, he still uses a PC at home and hasn't made "the move" yet. So, I was PEED OFF that the Mini was hitting the mat like that!

But, that experience pushed me to buy a gig stick for it. I previously had 512MB. Tiger Direct had a MIR for a gig stick that results in a price of $96.00. So, I went for it.

Cracking the Mini open to put the RAM in for the first time is a scary experience for the first time! If you ever want to do it, we'll talk about it then. But, once you've done it and understand what's going on, it's not scary anymore.

Anyhoo, I put the RAM in and rebooted the Mini. I loaded that big iMovie session in... and it performed GREAT! WOO-HOO!! Sure, there was a pause here and there if I jumped way over in the timeline and immediately hit play. But that's almost to be expected. After a brief (one second) pause, it would commence playback. it was like using a different computer, i tell you.

And, the amazing ending to this story is that, after purposely scrubbing about the timeline, clicking into the transitions window and doing a couple off other ordinary things just to get iMovie to load up its components and portions of the movie, I checked out how much free RAM I had left from that one gig...

under 200MB left!

WOW!

So, given the size of that project, it's no wonder changing ANYTHING on it took forever using just 512MB of RAM! Poor little thing... there were times I wanted to toss it out the window.

[Mandy]

Speaking of a gig of RAM, Mandy, I did a large project on my Mini last weekend prepping up the shoot of my son's school play for iDVD (The Wizard of OZ). It really turned out nice! In iMovie, I used the white reflection animated theme from iLife 06 for the intro, ...

...Cracking the Mini open to put the RAM in for the first time is a scary experience for the first time! If you ever want to do it, we'll talk about it then. But, once you've done it and understand what's going on, it's not scary anymore....

...it was like using a different computer, i tell you.
WOW!

So, given the size of that project, it's no wonder changing ANYTHING on it took forever using just 512MB of RAM! Poor little thing... there were times I wanted to toss it out the window.

WOW, is right, Child of C., not just for the MacMini but for all the work you put into it. Really enjoyed reading it. Congratulations.

I have been debating whether or not to upgrade to the iMovie 6 just to get the Themes pack, and your description kinda persuaded me.

But dont think I will be putting in more RAM, first I never do a movie longer than 20 minutes now, second, I have a few more things to buy for the MacMini and want to put a cap on the expense.

Yesterday, I checked out the Apple store at Eaton Centre, and it was packed whereas there was nobody in Compusmart. I can get an adapter for the modem cable for the MacMini but it cost the same as their
external modem which is $79, and iLife is a bit more than that.

I think I may just use the iMac for the internet cross with the MacMini because it already has my internet info and all I have to do is switch my telephone cable from the PC to the iMac (no big deal).

So, I will be buying the Linskey's KVM switch, upgrade to iLife 6 (just for the Themes) even tho I now have Final Cut Express installed and get down to work on a backlog of video editing.

Many, many thanks for all the info and advice to all. Always enjoy all the input here.

ps. really dont want to sell my new PC either.

[Child of Cupertino]

Well, you should be fine with 512MB on shorter films of that length. With that long one, however, the difference was radical.

There are currently only five animated themes. I know of ONE company that at this point offers third party themes:

http://www.ilearnfast.com/eyeCandy_index.html

I bought one of them, their portfolio theme. It looks great!

I contacted GeeThree ( http://www.geethree.com/ ) to find out if they will be offering third party themes. They said they're working on it.

[Mandy]

Thanx for the links. Checked them out and look promising.

But will still get the iLife 6. In fact checking CompuSmart's webpage, saw a web bargain for iLife 6 for $90 with a $40 rebate, so will be ordering that after this.

Almost forgot, I also need to buy an external DVD burner. By the time Im finished this "cheap" MacMini will end up costing almost a thousand. Not sorry tho, because it's nice to have a computer that takes up so little space.