 Well, I bit the bullet and built a Mac mini media center. As with most things Mac it was very simple after doing some basic research. Based on that research, to create this monster, I used a Mac mini, VIZIO 32 inch TV/Monitor, Apple wireless keyboard, Mighty mouse, Scientific Atlanta digital cable box, EyeTv TV tunner and various cables. Once I had all the componets in hand I hooked it all up in the following way. Mac mini to TV via RGB, cable box via composite video to the TV, sound via 1/8 male to male from the Mac mini to the TV. To hook up the cable TV, screwed in the incoming 75 ohm cable to the splitter and then one out went to the TV and the other to the EyeTv tuner on the mini. The keyboard and mouse are connected via wireless, as you might have guessed. Network connection is provided via Airport Extreme. Originally, I had it connected via Linksys WRT54G, but the set up begged for “N” speed, so I updated the router to an Airport Extreme multi channel router. That did the trick, the network flying now! All this could have been done with many other computers, but there are very few that provide the power of the mini with a near zero noise level. This is very important when you realize this is in a bedroom. Also, there were many other ways to hook all these components up, but I went with the most standard setup I could, given the components that I already had. Future updates, will be to move components to HDMI and a hardwired gigabit ethernet connection. Ripping 100+ DVDs stored on some sort of central storage to be shared across the network. Possibly via the USB port on the Airport Extreme? This was a truly enjoyable project that just allows the enjoyment to keep going and going.
Scientific Atlanta digital cable box
Two three feet sections of 75 ohm cable
Note: Links are for illustration only and do not reflect where the components came from.
written by Blake
Remote Synchronization, aka rsync, is a very handy tool for setting up automated backups for your Mac.
First this is not designed as a definitive guide. But I hope, it is enough to get you going if you need a good way to automate your backups.
I use it to backup this website, among many others, to a local machine, then I have that machine backed up to an offsite service. It is available for Unix, Linux, Mac, and PC. It is native on all but the PC. In order to use it on a PC you will need to follow the instructions at the following website, PC setup instructions. Below are the basic steps to get this up and running on a Mac, Linux, or UNIX system. Once up and running you can backup between any two systems, Mac, Linux, Unix, or PC, at this point it becomes platform independent.
- Obtain a external drive, Firewire is best but USB will do. Configure it as /Volumes/backup . There is a great writeup on Dave’s Logbook on how to do this.
- Setup SSH Instructions here
- Then to backup your home directory from a terminal window execute the following command
- rsync -aE –delete ~ “/Volumes/backup/”
- parameter a = archive mode
- E = copy extended resources
- –delete = remove any files on the receiving site , files that have been removed since the last sync
- Put the rsync command above in a cron or create an Automator script and run it from iCal. I’ll cover cron and iCal launching in a future article, but until then you can google “Mac cron” or “iCal launch Automator” and find all the info you need to setup and run the command from cron.
Questions/comments - Contact Blake
written by Blake
One day we will know, but until then we can only speculate. For my part, I think a tablet done right, would be a very useful tool. Around the house it would be great for me. The laptop is just a bit big, and it is just a 13 inch, and the iPhone is just a bit too small So, as Goldie Lox once said, a table is just right, well she would have said it. Anyway, there is a fantasy picture here at pcworld.com .
written by Blake
With cheap PCs moving at a very nice pace from store shelves, should Apple cut prices on some low end Macs and MacBooks in order to grow their market share? Their profit margins from last quarter would lead you to believe they can. Also if you look at the iPod model, it would also seem to be a viable model even for Apple, who typically like to be known as designing and selling high end products. Some interesting figures can be found on this CNNMoney article.
written by Blake
|
Well, I bit the bullet and built a Mac mini media center. As with most things Mac it was very simple after doing some basic research. Based on that research, to create this monster, I used a Mac mini, VIZIO 32 inch TV/Monitor, Apple wireless keyboard, Mighty mouse, Scientific Atlanta digital cable box, EyeTv TV tunner and various cables.
