Hi Jayson and others, Jayson's post about problems associated with the DVD player reminded me that there have been special issues that have come up from posters with Mac minis on this list -- usually, because they are running stripped down setups.
Here are two points that I've seen in the previous forum posts. Maybe someone who has set up minis (Dan? Tim?) can comment on or add to this list: 1) DVD functions look for a monitor. They don't require an actual monitor to work, but they at least check for a connector that runs to a monitor. You can buy a DVI connector for about $19 that lets the mini "think" it is connected to a monitor. I believe this connector came as a default with earlier model Apple laptops, and perhaps other machines. See Dan's post on Running a Mac mini without a physical monitor: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40macvisionaries.com/msg05738.html Also, if you want DVD writing capabilities in addition to playback you may want to consider getting a SuperDrive (DVD read and write, as well as CD read and write) instead of a Combo Drive (DVD read only; CD read and write) at the time of purchase. This is true for any model Mac, but it's a particular consideration for the Mac Mini because the standard configuration with less hard drive space comes with the Combo drive (as Jayson pointed out in another thread). This is a potential issue if you later want to use some iLife apps like iMovie or iDVD to write DVDs, because not all functions are fully supported for external burners, as Tim Kilburn noted in this post about his experience with external DVD burners: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40macvisionaries.com/msg28303.html 2) Initial setup with VoiceOver may require that a USB mouse be plugged in. See Dan's response to Cheryl's post about setting up a new Mac mini from December. By default, the system will look for a mouse: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40macvisionaries.com/msg05738.html I don't own a mini, so this is just a summary of issues that I've seen mentioned while reading the list. I've provided links to the original posts so that you can read these in detail. I've retitled the subject of this thread to reflect the change in content. Cheers, Esther On June 24, 2008, at 07:17PM, Jayson Smith wrote: >Hi all, > > Here's an interesting one which you may want to hang on to in case you > ever need it. I told you about the initialization error I was having with > Apple's DVD player. I downloaded and installed the Softcon DVD player and ran > it. I'm sure what I'm about to say will also fix my error with the Apple DVD > player. Here goes. > >When I ran the program, it told me something to the effect that there wasn't >a supported graphics device. Now keep in mind, this is a Mac Mini, with no >monitor. You guessed it... You need a monitor plugged in. Mind you, it >doesn't have to be turned on, doesn't even need to be plugged into AC power, >it just needs to be plugged into the computer. Someone should really make a >'fake monitor' plug you can just plug into your computer that makes it think >there's a real monitor there. That would let you carry it around, etc. and >not have to also carry a monitor if you wanted to watch DVD's. >Jayson > >
