Wiley Mac mini Hacks & Mods For Dummies
Contents
1. can Then there are hacks which usually describe unusual techniques for chang ing software for good or for ill I only talk about the good here Like the authorities facing an armada of mod carrying scooters some of the designers at Apple may cringe at the kind of mods and hacks you can do with and to your Mac mini There s your attitude for you Why Mod a Perfectly Good Mac Apple loaded up the Mac mini with plenty of goodies both in hardware and software It already lets you do cool things with music photos movies video conferencing e mail the list is long And as Figure 1 1 shows it looks pretty cool So why mess with it Chapter 1 Modding a Mac mini An Overview Fl Figure 1 1 Take your 2 inch high Mac mini to places where other Macs won t fit a The answer is that there s no reason to let the marketing gurus and engineers at Apple decide what you should do with your mini Their job is done because you ve already decided to buy a Mac mini It s now time to Think Different as Apple used to say This section looks at some of the big picture reasons why you might want to mod your Mac mini 1 Save money Make it do something new Make it look different on screen and off If you haven t yet bought your Mac mini you re in luck The following section shows you how to save some bucks when you order your mini Saving money by adding options yourself Buying a Mac mini is a lit2. far as requirements go a lot of software will run on both Intel and PowerPC processors Most of the software you already have which is written for PowerPC software will also run on Intel based Macs So if the processor requirement says 1 GHz G4 it will likely run on an Intel Mac of some gigahertz rating Newer software may only run on Intel Macs so you will need to check your software carefully before purchasing The switch to Intel processors could also affect hardware Most peripherals use driver soft ware sometimes built into Mac OS X and sometimes provided by the manufacturer Chances are good that some hardware just won t work on the newer Macintel boxes at least for a while At this point it s difficult to say whether PowerPC or Intel processors are faster When comparing different processors the gigahertz ratings of each don t reflect the same perfor mance measures The main reason Apple is switching to Intel is that IBM is not moving fast enough in producing new versions of PowerPC processors At some point the fastest Intel processors will be faster than IBM processors not because of gigahertz ratings but because Intel is advancing faster than IBM This will translate into faster Macs Don t squeak by Software manufacturers always list the bare minimum hardware required to run their software This is kind of like watching a big blockbuster movie on a tiny black and white TV with a 1 inch speaker Yes
3. include estimates for ship ping and sales tax It s annoying as all heck when Google returns 600 000 items that are mostly relevant to Windows PCs To restrict Google to Mac items try searching www google com mac This will separate the Macs from the chaff Chapter 1 Modding a Mac mini An Overview 9 Now add up the costs If the total exceeds the amount you wanted to spend for the project you may want to rethink your plan But it s better finding this out now than after you started to invest Locating suppliers For some particularly adventurous modifications be sure you can actually get the parts or tools you need before you start your modifications You don t want to get halfway through a project only to be stopped because you can t find a particular and necessary item If you have to rethink your plan it s best to do it before you start so you don t waste your efforts Throughout this book I give you suggestions as to where you will find parts These are only jumping off places as are some of the mods described in this book When you branch off on your own mods you may need to find your own vendors Of course the Internet and Google in particular is a great way to find suppliers no matter where they are located Setting realistic expectations The final bit of planning is to estimate your own abilities and endurance Before you start a modding project make sure that you have a realistic idea of what you c
4. project 1 Estimate the scope of the project 2 Estimate the time it will take 3 Estimate the cost 4 Locate potential suppliers of parts and tools 5 Set realistic expectations Sizing up the job The first step in planning a project is to estimate how big a job it will be and how much work you ll need to put into it List all major steps involved in the project Check to see if you re missing anything It s easy to overlook something when you re reading about it I find that the act of writing things down gives me a better understanding of what s involved This makes it less likely that I ll skip a step or hit a brick wall in the middle After you make your list review each of the steps Identify any steps that might stick out as particularly labor intensive or that might require addi tional research or understanding You need to know what you re doing at each step of the way 18 Part I Owning a Mac mini air lt r Estimating time Estimating how long it will take to complete a project is one of the more diffi cult aspects of planning but it is important to know if you want to finish the project You can think of time estimation as the second more detailed part of the estimating process you started in the preceding section Here s a trick Before you start your time estimation decide how much time you want to spend on the project You ll find this handy to compare it to the estimate you co
5. upgrades That s a version such as 10 4 1 or 10 4 2 or 10 5 1 or 10 5 2 that you can install using the Software Update utility in System Preferences Let other people find the problems with brand new versions of Mac OS X for you Read the problem reports at Web sites such as macintouch com and macfixit com Researching your software s needs Before putting out any money for software do a little research If you don t plan your brand new software may run slowly or it may not run at all Read the requirements Before you install software and even some hardware read the requirements that the manufacturer recommends for a minimum Mac system This will be the amount of RAM memory the amount of free hard disk space and the type of processor the software needs to run If you re buying software in a retail store the requirements section is listed on the box in ultra small type The manufacturer s Web site should also list the software s requirements Chapter 1 Modding a Mac mini An Overview Check for Intel processors Starting in 2006 Apple will begin shipping cer tain Mac models with Intel Pentium processors the same processors that Windows PCs use Eventually Apple will retire the PowerPC and all Macs will run Intel processors Perhaps Apple will change the name from Macintosh to Macintel but wouldn t bet on it We don t know when the Mac mini or any other Mac model will make the switch As
6. you aren t daring enough to do the most radical mods described in this book There are plenty of down to earth mods that won t cost more than the mini did But the maxed out mods described in Part VI are interesting and entertaining even if you just read about them In this chapter I cover what you should know before you do anything rash with your Mac mini This chapter is all about scope and it shows you how to find out if your mini has what you need for your mod It also lets you know what you re in for what you might need to investigate and why you d want to modify and hack your beautiful Mac mini What s a Mod If you ever saw the movie Quadrophenia by The Who you d recognize the term mod as the name of the trendily dressed Vespa driving occasionally rioting British youth faction of the early 60s Hyper and with attitude the mods were doing something different A mod is also doing something different with your stylish Mac mini Not just changing the look or feel but using it for something that you or even Apple might not have thought about And because your Mac is a tiny mini it can go in places that you wouldn t ordinarily take a Mac such as in your TV s entertainment center in a cupboard or in your car I don t recommend using a Mac mini on a Vespa however A mod isn t limited to working with the hardware Changing or adding soft ware can open up the mini to new uses just as changes to hardware
7. you can do it but you d be happier with beefier hardware So if the manufacturer says its software requires 256MB of RAM memory and you have 256MB go out and buy some more RAM Otherwise you re likely to get slower performance than you d like If the requirement for free hard disk space is 3GB and you have 3 1GB the soft ware will install but you aren t going to have much space to do much else If the required processor is a 1 2 GHz PowerPC and your Mac mini has a 1 2 GHz PowerPC processor you re squeaking by Chapter 19 describes how to use a soldering iron to push that 1 2 GHz to 1 4 GHz 21 22 Part I Owning a Mac mini
8. Chapter 1 Modding a Mac mint An Overview In This Chapter Discovering hacks and mods Knowing when to mod your Mac Finding out what you can do to your Mac Making a plan for your mod Thinking about software I multipurpose mini is the most modifiable Mac on the market If you don t yet have a mini you will realize this as soon as you pull it out of its Styrofoam cocoon Sure there s the big expensive Power Mac with its expan sion slots and room for more hard drives than any sane person needs but its sheer bulk makes it destined to be tied to a desk or working as a network server in a closet somewhere The Mac mini on the other hand is the size of a few CD jewel cases as big as one of the Power Mac s hard drives fitting inside the pocket of your cargo pants Not only can you install things inside the Mac mini but you can also install the mini itself inside of other places This book shows you how to modify alter the hardware and hack change the look or function of software a Mac mini to be more productive to have fun or to go where no Mac has gone before at least in your experience as a Mac user Or maybe you re a veteran Windows user switching to your first Mac and want to know what you can do with it inside and out Perhaps you don t have a mini yet but you think the minis are cool and you re looking for a reason to justify augmenting the Mac you already have 10 Part I Owning a Mac mini Don t worry if
9. Drive DVD burner You won t be able to come near Apple s price of 100 for the slot loaded DVD RW drive so if you want to put your movies on disc or need over 4GB of storage per disc the Apple upgrade is the way to go If you missed out when you bought your mini check out Chapter 8 to do your own upgrade Even if you already own a Mac mini you may still need to add some of these hardware options But you may not know what hardware is already inside the mini Fortunately all you have to do is ask Mac OS X Go to the menu and choose About This Mac A window appears as shown in Figure 1 2 showing Chapter 1 Modding a Mac mini An Overview 13 your mini s processor speed and the amount of RAM To find the amount of free hard disk space go to the Finder and look at the bottom of a folder window For instance Figure 1 3 shows that my hard drive has 24 12GB of free space 8 0 6 About This Mac oY Mac OS X Version 10 4 1 a amma Figure 1 2 Check out incre G Streit your Memory 256 MB SDRAM processor Startup Disk Big Drive speed and installed meno RAM E BOO Applications Co EOC F CD i Back View Action New Folder Search deposits 4 PDF ee iDVD folder iDVD_Manual pdf 0 Figure 1 3 gt Look at the bottom of the window for the Image Capture app iMovie app available 7 harddisk a space on 154 items 24 12 GB available F Eee To find out if you have intern
10. al Bluetooth or AirPort or to see if your DVD drive can burn DVDs do the following 1 In the About This Mac dialog refer to Figure 1 2 click the More Info button 2 The System Profiler utility opens as shown in Figure 1 4 14 Part l Owning a Mac mini D Figure 1 4 Open System Profiler to check the hardware options installed inside the mini PCS e608 Jim Dixon s Computer Jim Dixon s Computer 6 22 05 12 54 PM Contents PIONEER DVD RW DVR 105 Y Hardware ATA Firmware Revision 1 21 Interconnect ATAPI Audio Built In Burn Support Yes Apple Shipped Supported Bluetooth Cache 2000 KB Diagnostics f Reads DVD Yes mji CD Write R RW Wri R Fibre Channel cum ndera Protection CD ve si FireWire Burn Underrun Protection DVD Yes Graphics Displ Write Strategies CD TAO CD SAO CD Raw DVD DAO Memory Media No PC Cards PCICards f Parallel scsi ff Power 4 Printers Serial ATA f USB Y Network AirPort Card Firewall Locations Modems Volumes Y Software Applications Extensions Fonts 4 Frameworks Y HL 3 Click Disc Burning to find out if your optical drive can burn DVDs Figure 1 4 shows that this Mac mini can 4 Click Bluetooth or AirPort Card to see if your mini has these wireless options installed New tricks for a not so old mini Saving money is all well and good but a more fun reason to mod your mini is to make it do something different If y
11. an accomplish Part of this is knowing what kind of commitment you re willing to give to the project Ask yourself some questions and see if you can give yourself some honest answers What do I really want out of this project Do I have the time and energy to devote to my goal If I don t reach my goal what would I be willing to settle for What you don t want is to get stuck halfway through a project with a par tially assembled Mac mini gathering dust Software Considerations Some Mac mini mods call for adding software or upgrading Mac OS X Installing software may seem like an easy aspect of modding but before you 20 Part I Owning a Mac mini ar buy the new software you first need to find out if your Mac mini is up to snuff When to upgrade Mac OS K Don t be a Mac OS X pioneer when it comes to upgrading to major new cat versions of Mac OS X Jaguar Panther Tiger Leopard and so on A Mac OS X pioneer is someone who races out to buy the newest version of Mac OS X while the shrink wrap on the box is still warm Bad idea The first 0 releases of Jaguar Panther and Tiger contained bugs and incompatibilities with existing software and even with some hardware It takes a little while for manufacturers to catch up to Mac OS X and it takes Apple some time to create backwards compatibility with some software The best practice is to hold off changing cats until Apple issues one or two 1
12. he categories of hobbies or with some people obsession A good place to start out modding is to add peripheral hardware and new soft ware The next level is cracking open the case and exposing the guts of your mini something that you ll find yourself doing a lot in this book When you start replacing parts yourself you may venture into the realm of voiding your warranty if your mini is less than 90 days old Part VI includes instructions on how to break out the ultimate hardware hacker s tool the soldering iron The following subsections describe some of the things you can expect to do when mini modding Plugging things in Okay maybe you don t think that plugging hardware into the Mac mini quali fies as a mod Fair enough but you can do some interesting things by plug ging hardware into your Mac mini Some chapters in this book use the Mac mini s connection abilities to do all kinds of things I m not just talking about plugging in external hard drives and scanners but plugging in things like stereos and TVs If you re new to the Mac or switching from Windows read Chapter 2 for the basics If you ve been plugging into Macs for years skip Chapter 2 15 16 Part I Owning a Mac mini NG O MBER eS Adding software Not all modifications are made completely with hardware Some modifica tions require you to install new software on the Mac mini For instance the description in Chapter 10 of controlli
13. me up with Look at the list of steps you created in the preceding section and assign a time estimate to each step If the project requires a technique that you ve never used before try out some sample tasks to see how long it will take Now add up the time estimates for each step Then increase the sum by 25 percent Like a lot of home improvement projects a complex modification will almost always take longer than you initially thought it would Finally compare this final number to the amount of time you were willing to spend on the project I m guessing that it will be larger You ll now need to reevaluate how much time you are willing to put into the project Estimating costs Cost estimation is one of the easier planning tasks That s because it s objec tive You find numbers and add them up This doesn t mean you can t under estimate costs so it pays to be methodical Create a parts list Go through your list of steps again and list the parts that you ll need Don t forget the smaller items The cost of items such as cables can quickly add up when you aren t looking Create a tools list First list the tools that the project will require Then inventory your own tools and note which tools you ll need to buy 1 Use the Internet to estimate cost Whether it s cables drives or tools you can use Google to search for what you need and come up with pric ing information If these are big ticket items
14. ng home appliances uses software that you may not have heard of before It s not difficult to install software but it s not something you should do blindly either The next step up from that is hacking the operating system described in Chapter 18 Check out the sec tion Software Considerations later in this chapter Adding software includes upgrading Mac OS X Although Apple wants you to upgrade to the latest and greatest the latest may not actually be the best for your purposes Always be careful before changing a perfectly good OS instal lation For the details check out the section When to upgrade Mac OS X later in this chapter Breaking open the box Many of the mods and hacks require that you crack open the Mac mini to get to the guts It s not obvious how to open it or that it can be opened at all There are no screws no visible tabs and no holes in which to stick implements The Mac mini looks like it appeared fully formed just like Athena popping out of the head of Zeus although without quite the same mythic proportions I will be honest with you The first time you open the mini will be nerve wracking Don t worry though It s actually not that difficult as long as you know what you re doing Chapter 4 describes how to open the Mac mini Replacing parts Some mods involve taking original parts out of the mini and replacing them with something else either because you just want something be
15. ou like to use iTunes to listen to music and watch movies try a few modifications to have the mini control the enter tainment center in your living room as described in Chapter 9 Or have it control music and video in your car check out Part V Try doing these things with an iMac And do you really want to spend 1500 to dedicate a PowerBook to your car Speaking of going mobile you can also use the mini in different places If you don t have a notebook computer to carry to different locations the Mac mini can be the next best thing Chapter 3 shows you how to take the mini on the road Chapter 1 Modding a Mac mini An Overview Changing your mini s look Some modifications have no productivity value at all but are very high on the coolness meter Making your mini look different is pure indulgence Do some thing easy like turning the mini into one half of a pair of fuzzy dice Or attempt something harder like building a clear plastic case reminiscent of some of the older iMacs Or amaze your friends by putting your modern Mac mini into a 15 year old Mac Classic The chapters in Part VI describe these kinds of modifications and hacks Part VI also describes the tools and techniques you can use to build your own mod designs What s in Store There are mods and there are mods Some mods don t require much effort or time to make while with others there is some assembly required Finally other mods can fall into t
16. tle like buying a car The basic model has an afford able sticker price But as soon as you start adding options power win dows sunroof and cruise control the price begins to climb like Lance Armstrong ascending the Pyrenees While you probably can t add your own sunroof to your new car you can save substantial bucks by buying the basic Mac mini and adding some extras or options yourself For instance 11 2 Part I Owning a Mac mini lt e 1 RAM Depending on when you bought your Mac mini you either have 256MB 512MB or 1GB When you order a Mac mini Apple offers to up your RAM memory from the basic configuration for a fee It may seem tempting until you find out that you can find an upgrade RAM module for at least 15 cheaper than what Apple charges at purchase time If you hunt around you can find a 1GB RAM model for the mini for about 85 Chapter 7 shows you how to install RAM yourself For the best prices for RAM memory check out www ramseeker com This site isn t a seller of RAM Instead it finds the cheapest prices at the moment from different sellers and displays links to those sellers Web sites You don t need to know the tech specs of the type of RAM that fits in the mini Just choose Mac mini from the menu on the RamSeeker home page and you get a list of Mac mini RAM prices from several dif ferent RAM sellers The price of RAM can change daily so make sure you check back before you place
17. tter or you want to make repairs yourself Apple sanctions the replacement of a few parts such as RAM For other parts such as the hard drive and the optical driver you re on your own It s not a good idea to remove these parts before the 90 day warranty expires though The main thing to remember about replacing internal parts is to make sure you re not carrying a static electricity charge that can damage the Mac s cir cuitry Some parts will come with a wrist strap that you attach to a metal appliance which has the effect of electrically grounding you If you don t Chapter 1 Modding a Mac mini An Overview 7 have a wrist strap just be sure that before you touch any of the Mac mini s internal parts you touch a metal lamp or other metal object to discharge static electricity you may be holding Planning Vour Mod The most basic goal of any project is to finish it Doing some planning before you start can prevent you from running out of money time parts technical skill or enthusiasm in the middle of a project Planning is knowing what you re getting into and how to get out of it The more complex a project is the more planning will be helpful Some mods such as installing more RAM require a minimum of planning For others such as installing a Mac mini in your car you want to spend the time to do thor ough planning before you touch or buy anything Here are the basic steps to take to plan for a complex modding
18. your order 1 Keyboard and mouse If you have a box of keyboards and mice in your garage from all of the Macs and PCs you ve owned there s no need to buy another set If you do need a keyboard or mouse you can find them for less than what Apple charges Chapter 2 describes what to look for in a keyboard and mouse for your mini YY Wireless goodies If you re going to be adding wireless peripherals to the mini you ll need Bluetooth An external Bluetooth adapter generally costs less than Apple s internal Bluetooth upgrade On the other hand Apple s price for AirPort wireless networking is on par with other ven dors and its bundle of both AirPort and Bluetooth upgrades is actually a good deal If you already bought your Mac mini without wireless read Chapter 6 to install it yourself Hard drive Apple can increase the basic 40GB hard drive to 80GB for 50 or to 100GB for 150 which isn t bad The problem is that 80GB or even 100GB isn t a whole lot of storage if you plan on filling up a 60GB iPod or want to do a bit of video editing with iMovie Over time Apple increases the size of the biggest hard drive option but it is never as big as what s available If you think you ll need to go beyond 100GB of stor age order your mini with the basic 40GB and put your money toward a big hard drive Chapter 7 describes replacing the internal drive 1 DVD burners One upgrade from Apple that you just can t beat is the Super
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