#263224 - 24/08/2005 01:52
Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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I'm considering purchasing a Mac Mini, plugging it into the VGA port on my TV set, feeding it a codless keyboard and mouse, and using to play media files.
Anyone have any idea (a) if this will work well, and (b) what cordless keyboard and mouse I should get?
I'll also need an 802.11 adapter for it, right? It'll be connecting to my wireless network.
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#263225 - 24/08/2005 01:58
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ooo, if I get one of the higher-end models, it comes with built-in Airport and Bluetooth, so I could theoretically just get a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and be done with it. Right?
Anyhoo, is there any chance that the video playback on one of those things would be substandard? Or perhaps have incompatibility problems with things like Divx or Xvid playback?
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#263226 - 24/08/2005 02:38
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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pooh-bah
Registered: 12/02/2002
Posts: 2298
Loc: Berkeley, California
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Yup, bluetooth and airport is the way to go. All you'll need is the power cord and display cable.
The mac mini should work fine for playing the video. VLC is the best for playing diverse video formats, though the interface isn't the greatest. It supports plugins, so perhaps it has stuff for easy to use remote controls.
The only problem with the mac mini that I can see is that it won't be able to play apple's latest and greatest high def trailers, but pretty much nothing besides a powermac can these days.
Matthew
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#263227 - 24/08/2005 03:23
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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You'll probably have best results with VLC and MPlayer and very seldomly need to use QuickTime player. Apple's DVD player is also nice if you ever need to use it. At this time you're looking at having to use all these tools from the finder with a mouse and keyboard (or remote controlling the OS UI). Unfortunately there aren't any media front-ends available yet in a polished enough state to consider for full-time usage. But at least thyere are a few being developed that may eventually fit the bill. I was considering the Mac Mini with an external HD to run as a music server and also to play media. Then I decided I'd really like to have a PVR again (right now) so I ended up building another PC. I'd much rather be running a Mac for this purpose because the video driver software and controls are better (and I can influence their development  ) but alas, it's the lack of the third-party software that prevents this right now. Bruno
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#263228 - 24/08/2005 03:26
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: hybrid8]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Good points. I don't mind using the Finder to play video files, I don't need a front end. Front ends are for Tivos (which I've got already).
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#263229 - 24/08/2005 05:56
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 17/01/2002
Posts: 3996
Loc: Manchester UK
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MythTV (or at least the frontend) works wonderfully on my iBook talking to my linux backend. They've even got the mythvideo plugin working on the mac with mplayer so you can watch your xvid/divx videos too. I considered using a mini for a frontend, then an offer came up at my local computer shop and I built a discless shuttle with a silentx PSU for half the price of the mini.
_________________________
Cheers,
Andy M
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#263230 - 24/08/2005 11:54
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/03/2000
Posts: 12338
Loc: Sterling, VA
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Quote:
I'm considering purchasing a Mac Mini, plugging it into the VGA port on my TV set, feeding it a codless keyboard and mouse, and using to play media files.
Have you read that the latest Tivo Desktop software lets you send media to your Tivo? I'm not sure how much of it you can do (what file types for instance). I know you have a DirecTivo, but I did you do those hacks that were posted here, and did it open up the ability to use Tivo Desktop?
_________________________
Matt
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#263231 - 24/08/2005 15:55
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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How do you get your media? Do you encode it yourself? Even after acquiring all the codecs I could find I still can't play all of the *ahem* adult oriented content i've downloaded from who knows where on the internet. And I've yet to find one player that does everything well. Sometimes it has to be WM, sometimes VLC, sometims QuickTime. Maybe there's a solution and I haven't found it but the availability of players and codecs is definitely less than in the Windows world.
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#263232 - 24/08/2005 16:20
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dignan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Dignan: My tivo is a high-def DirecTivo, and I haven't hacked it yet. My understanding is that so far it's not as hackable as the regular DirecTivos, that they're still perfecting the features. But anyay, I'd also like to have a PC that can let me surf the web from my couch too, so I've got other reasons for wanting the media player to be on a computer, too.
Dylan: The media files I want to play are episodes of television series that I've missed. For example, as soon as I get this hooked up, I'm going to hunt for a couple of episodes of Battlestar Galactica that I missed during my relocation period. I actually don't use any of the online services if I can avoid them, I've got friends who run their own media server, they bittorrent the files themselves, and I just leech files off of their server with SFTP. Most of the time they are Xvid or Divx.
I've also been having a lot of Mac Envy lately. Well, let me be more specific: OSX envy. I figure it would be fun to have a Mac just to play around with it. So as long as it'll network and play Divx/Xvid files, I'm golden.
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#263233 - 24/08/2005 16:39
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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old hand
Registered: 15/02/2002
Posts: 1049
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It does, as others have said, using the VLC program. We've been doing this on the GF's new powerbook.
Makes sense to have OS X envy. It's great. Bill G and his minions couldn't produce anything as nice in a thousand years.
J
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#263234 - 24/08/2005 16:42
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
so I could theoretically just get a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and be done with it. Right?
Yep. And heres the cool part. Out of the box, you can plug the Mac Mini into your VGA cable and power, and thats it. On bootup, if it doesn't see a USB keyboard and mouse, it will bring up some instructions to pair a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. It will basicially be one of the first of many "hey, that makes sense" moments if it's your first major experience with OS X.
Another control solution that you might want to look into is the ATI Remote Wonder. This last I saw at least worked with the DVD player and iTunes, and I think will work with MPlayer and VLC, but I'm not certain of that. I'll have to dig mine out later to see, as I may be getting a Mini soon for similar use in the living room.
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#263235 - 24/08/2005 16:51
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
the higher-end models, it comes with built-in Airport and Bluetooth
They do, but it's important to note that the addon Airport+Bluetooth costs the exact same amount as if you had it specially configured, installation and all (assuming you're near an Apple Store) and that way you won't get reamed on their exorbitantly priced memory.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263236 - 24/08/2005 16:51
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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enthusiast
Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
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Quote:
My understanding is that so far it's not as hackable as the regular DirecTivos, that they're still perfecting the features.
TyTool has some trouble with some HD stuff, but everything else pretty much works.
-Z
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.
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#263237 - 24/08/2005 16:53
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: n6mod]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Do you have an HDDirecTivo that you've hacked? If so, please point me at the instructions you used. I desperately need it to make calls over IP ever since I got VoIP phone service.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263238 - 24/08/2005 16:57
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dylan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
Even after acquiring all the codecs I could find I still can't play all of the *ahem* adult oriented content i've downloaded from who knows where on the internet.
Download the K-Lite Codec Pack. I've not had any trouble viewing any of my *ahem* adult oriented content since installing it. It includes Real Alternative, Quicktime Alternative, and Media Player Classic, too. I have some issues with MP Classic, though: it's slow when reading from network drives and it resets its zoom setting with each clip it plays.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263239 - 24/08/2005 17:01
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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Divx and xvid have QuickTime plug-ins, which means you can use them in lots of OS X apps. Or, as others have said, there is VLC. Though if you drink the Apple kool-aid you won't like open source apps that don't behave like native OS X apps. (Full disclosure: I've been successfully brain washed by Steve Jobs in the past 6 months.) http://labs.divx.com/archives/000057.htmlhttp://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/25128Those are the codecs. Believe it or not, I actually like the new Real Player for OS X. I'm not sure if it uses QT plug-ins or it's own codecs. But it played the things I've tried so far. Here's a new player that I haven't tried yet that looks promising. It works with QT plug-ins. QT itself is a pretty weak media player. But like Windows Media codecs there are other front ends that have access to the video playback engine.
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#263240 - 24/08/2005 17:04
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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Quote:
Download the K-Lite Codec Pack.
Yes, K-Lite solved all my Windows codec problems but, AFAIK, there's nothing so comprehensive for OS X.
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#263241 - 24/08/2005 17:08
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
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Quote:
They do, but it's important to note that the addon Airport+Bluetooth costs the exact same amount as if you had it specially configured,
The recent update to the Mac Mini line bumped all models to 512mb RAM, and the $600 price point includes wireless lan and bluetooth now. So the $100 over the $500 model now gets you:
Airport/Bluetooth ($99 option)
80gb hard drive (40gb more space then the $500 model)
1.42 gHz proc instead of 1.25ghz.
Loss of the 56k modem. (the $600 one offers it as a $29 addon, it comes standard at $500)
The only difference between the $600 and $700 model is the 4x DVD (-/+) writer now.
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#263242 - 24/08/2005 20:41
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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enthusiast
Registered: 27/09/1999
Posts: 200
Loc: Berkeley, CA
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There's a funny code you can use to make it call Tivo over IP, something like ,401# or something.It still has to call DirecTV if you use it for PPV, though. (After some limit in the card is reached, anyway)
As to hacking it, search for 'killhdinitrd' over on Deal Database
That's the way in, and once you've done that, it's not much different than a Series2 DTiVo.
EDIT: Here is the thread you want.
Edited by n6mod (24/08/2005 20:44)
_________________________
-Zandr
Mk.IIa #010101243 currently getting a 500GB SSD. More spares in the shed.
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#263243 - 24/08/2005 21:45
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: drakino]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 12/11/2001
Posts: 7738
Loc: Toronto, CANADA
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The Remote Wonder will work with any application so long as it has a standard bundle identifier. MPlayer unfortunately doesn't, but it's easy enough to remedy. I think I'll include instructions on how to do the modification in the release notes for the upcoming version of RW. I've already got profiles made for VLC and MPlayer and a bunch of other programs that I'll throw in as defaults with the next version. The new (forthcoming) Remote Wonder software also supports all three models of remote: original bulky RW, sexier but with horribly small buttons RW2, and the new smaller but with more buttons RW-Plus. And a brand new interface (which like the last, I also designed ) Bruno
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#263244 - 25/08/2005 10:31
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: n6mod]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
There's a funny code you can use to make it call Tivo over IP
Yeah, I know that part, but I still have to hack it to enable the USB ports.
Quote:
Here is the thread you want.
Thanks!
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263245 - 26/08/2005 05:53
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Okay this is THE BUSINESS.
I'm on my couch typing this with an apple bluetooth keyboard, with the bluetooth wireless LED mouse next to me. The thing tracks great on the couch cushion. The internet connection is a secure WPA link to my DSL modem. Finding the wireless adapter's MAC address (for my DSL modem's exclusion list) and inputting the wireless WPA key worked flawlessly the first time. This is really REALLY cool.
The industrial design of this Mac Mini, and the mouse and keyboard I'm using, is fantastic. There are lots of tiny little touches that make this stuff so very cool. Like the DVI-to-VGA adapter has the attachment screws made in a very cute way, they're more like little scroll wheels than twisty-knobs. And the way the power cord plugs into the power brick is cool, how it goes flush with the casing when it's plugged all the way in.
The only problem is the VGA input on my TV accepts only a brain-damaged subset of screen resolutions on the VGA cable, none of which are proper 16:9 resolution. I guess I'm going to have to use the Mac Mini on the TV's DVI input instead, which will accept a better range of screen rezzes. That means the high def Tivo goes Component, which really isn't so bad now that I think about it. I'll probably do that work tomorrow morning some time.
Haven't tried playing any videos on this machine yet. How does one use a Mac to connect to a Windows share on the LAN?
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#263246 - 26/08/2005 11:25
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Quote:
How does one use a Mac to connect to a Windows share on the LAN?
From Finder, Command-K then type in smb://servername/sharename
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#263247 - 26/08/2005 12:19
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
The only problem is the VGA input on my TV accepts only a brain-damaged subset of screen resolutions on the VGA cable
If you know the timings that your monitor expects, you could try using DisplayConfigX to match it.
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263248 - 26/08/2005 13:15
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Thank you very much, Bitt and Tony. That's fantastic information. I'm going to mess with both of those things today. Next macintosh question: Is there a way to make it so that the keys HOME and END do what I'm used to when in a text edit field? I'm used to using them to jump to the end or beginning of a text line as I'm editing it. They seem to do nothing on the Macintosh. I wonder why the keys are there if they don't do anything. Irritatingly, CTRL+LEFT and CTRL+RIGHT will go to the beginning and end of a line, but I'm used to using those key combinations to jump from word to word in a text edit. So they do the opposite of what I'm used to. I know this isn't Apple's fault that I grew up on Windows. But the question remains.
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#263249 - 26/08/2005 13:21
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tfabris]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Gah. Is there a freeware alternative to DisplayConfigX?
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#263250 - 26/08/2005 13:32
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: tonyc]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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Quote:
Quote:
How does one use a Mac to connect to a Windows share on the LAN?
From Finder, Command-K then type in <a href="smb://servername/sharename" target="_blank">smb://servername/sharename</a>
Command-K... I may have already said this here (I said it in some forum) but I think long time Mac users have a special part of their brain that remembers arcane keystroke combinations. It's all in the menus too but I find it interesting that the OS and user base that popularized the GUI uses so many keyboard shortcuts.
Anyway.... if you've got a share or folder on a network drive that you use a lot, the way I like to make it easily accessible is to drag it over to the lower left pane of the Finder or the right side of your dock. Then it mounts the network drive (including pulling your logon info from Keychain) when you click the folder. This is the closest in concept I've found to mapping a network share to a driver letter in Explorer.
My other Windows to Mac switcher tip is to drag the Applications folder to right side of the dock. Then you can hold a left click on the folder (or right click if you're using a real mouse) and get a Windows Start menu like launcher for your apps. You'll have to grab the Apps folder from the "Machintosh HD" root, not the alias in the left Finder pane.
X vs XP is a useful site for learning how things work differently than Windows.
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#263251 - 26/08/2005 13:33
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dylan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Ooo, good tips, thanks Dylan.
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#263252 - 26/08/2005 13:43
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: Dylan]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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Quote:
I find it interesting that the OS and user base that popularized the GUI uses so many keyboard shortcuts.
It has always been part of the Mac UI design spec, back to the very first one released in '84, for most things to be accessible via the keyboard. The GUI is there for less commonly used features.
The Windows UI design spec states ... uhhh ... is there a Windows UI design spec?
_________________________
Bitt Faulk
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#263253 - 26/08/2005 14:01
Re: Mac Mini as a TV-room media player
[Re: wfaulk]
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addict
Registered: 23/09/2000
Posts: 498
Loc: Virginia, USA
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Quote:
The Windows UI design spec states ... uhhh ... is there a Windows UI design spec?
I came across this interesting article last night on the development of the Win95 UI.
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