hello Kevin This is actually quite a funny story; or it would be if it weren't so serious. :)
Yes, I agree. As a visually abled user, I obviously need a monitor in order to use the machine unless it's one of those times I'm deliberately using VoiceOver. But Apple promotes environmentally friendly operations and it would surely be more environmentally friendly to have the machine running without a monitor. That said, on most servers there is remote administration so under those circumstances one obviously doesn't require a monitor. In fact, when you're administrating the server in that way it's fine without a monitor which, of course, is obvious. There are times when you do need to perform certain tasks locally; but the vast majority can be accomplished via the admin tools over a network or even over the Internet in the right circumstances. The problem is that Lion server has been stripped of some of its GUI access. It is now necessary to have a lot more experience of the Terminal than it was in SL server, for instance. And yet, Apple claim that it is "Easier than ever" to set up and administrate a Mac OS X server. \ One can, of course, use SSH and push mods through that way; Gordon does that quite often. But it isn't always possible and on those occasions we are required to have the monitor connected in order to do much. It doesn't have to be turned on, just physically connected. Now, we think that the design of the new models may make that unnecessary. Apple has now moved to using HDMI instead of mini display ports. So we think they've reverted back to the old way of doing things. We will be able to tell you more when our quad core machine arrives. We have now managed to get Apple to agree to provide us with an upgrade to the machine that we bought a couple of weeks ago. They made an error, and another error yesterday. When they issued the replacement order, they accidentally shipped us another old model which will be arriving here today. So we will have 2 Mac Mini 2010 models. Apple is going to have to arrange to have both of them collected when they ship us the new 2011 model some time within the next 10 days. The machines are still being manufactured because apparently there was some delay in the arrival of components for the machines and they have none ready to ship off the shelf. So basically the replacement has been a bit of a catalogue of errors. Apple made an error when they shipped us the first model because nobody from Sales contacted us to offer us the chance to wait for the new model; which is, apparently, Apple's usual policy when an upgrade is pending so close to an order. Lynne On 27 Jul 2011, at 23:07, Kevin Barry wrote: In my opinion, it's just plain weird for a server to require the presence of a monitor. Many servers sit alone in a closet and have zero use for a display. And, I am talking about sighted users. <--- Mac Access At Mac Access Dot Net ---> To reply to this post, please address your message to [email protected] You can find a monthly formatted archive of all messages posted to the Mac-Access forum at the following URL: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/mac-access/index.html> The Mac-Access mailing list is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free! Please remember to update your membership options periodically by visiting the list website at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/mac-access/options/>
