Mac Mini Hacks & Mods For Dummies

386 Pages·2006·10.213 MB·English

by  John Rizzo

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Mac mini
®
Hacks & Mods
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by John Rizzo
with Arnold Reinhold
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Mac mini
®
Hacks & Mods
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
by John Rizzo
with Arnold Reinhold
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Mac®mini Hacks & Mods For Dummies®
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
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are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2005935166
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-74900-4
ISBN-10: 0-471-74900-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1O/QV/QR/QW/IN
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About the Authors
John Rizzobought his first Mac in 1984, which came with 128 k of RAM and
no hard drive. He soon began modding the Macintosh with a soldering iron to
add RAM. Later, he cut some holes in the case and hacked in a new mother-
board and a hard drive.
Since then, John has been writing about Macs (and Windows, too). His books
include Mac Annoyances(O’Reilly), Mac Toys(with Scott Knaster; Wiley),
Customizing Windows XP(Peachpit Press), and the How the Mac Works
series (Que).
John writes about computer technology for Ziff Davis Online, which includes
eWEEK.com and Publish.com. His columns, features, reviews, news, and
analysis stories have appeared in every major Mac magazine, including
Macworld, MacAddict, MacHome, and the no-longer-published MacWeekand
MacUser. From 1988 to 1995, he was a staff editor and columnist for MacUser
magazine. His stories have also appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle,
CNET, and PC Magazine.
John is a leading authority on Mac and Windows integration issues. Since
1997, he has published MacWindows.com, the Web’s largest resource for
helping people get their Macs and Windows PCs to play nice together.
Before Apple invented the Mac, John worked as an engineer at Boeing in
Seattle building aircraft electronics.
Arnold Reinholdhas been programming computers since they had fila-
ments. His first introduction to the hype/so-what?/wow! cycle that governs
computer industry evolution was the invention of the transistor. He has
gotten to do cool stuff in spacecraft guidance, air traffic control, computer-
aided design, robotics, and machine vision. Arnold has been on the Internet
for over twenty-two years and has been a loyal Mac user for twenty. Recent
writing includes “Commonsense and Cryptography” in Internet Secrets, E-Mail
For Dummies, 2nd edition, and Internet For Dummies Quick Reference, 8th edi-
tion (all by Wiley).
Arnold studied mathematics at CCNY and MIT, and management at Harvard.
You can check out his home page at http://www.hayom.com/
reinhold.html.
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Dedication
To creative modders everywhere, who refuse to settle for the commonplace,
and who are not afraid to void warranties. They inspire the geek and the
artist within us.
Author’s Acknowledgments
Thanks to Bob Woerner at Wiley for his understanding and accommodation
during a time of unexpected obstacles. And to Nicole Sholly for bearing the
brunt of the consequences with grace and acumen. Her guidance through the
process was invaluable.
Thanks to my colleagues in the non-publishing world, who put up with my
absences as I wrote this book.
Thanks to John Edwards for his suggestions about X10 hardware, and thanks
to Pier Philipsen for streamlining some code for the Mac OS X hacks.
Thanks to Arnold Reinhold for writing the chapters on minis in your car
(PartV) and the mini-in-your-kitchen, and for coming up with ten more
thingsyou can do with the mini.
Special thanks to Chris for her support of my work and of my work habits.
And, finally, thanks to Archive.org for helping to keep me at my most produc-
tive during the late nights and into the wee hours of the Morning Dew.
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form
located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services
Media Development
Project Coordinator: Maridee Ennis
Project Editor:Nicole Sholly
Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Andrea Dahl,
Senior Acquisitions Editor:Bob Woerner Lauren Goddard, Joyce Haughey,
Barbara Moore, Heather Ryan
Copy Editors:John Edwards, Jean Rogers
Proofreaders:Leeann Harney,
Technical Editor:Pier Philipsen
Shannon Ramsey
Editorial Manager:Kevin Kirschner
Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services
Media Development Manager:
Special Help: Rebecca Senninger
Laura VanWinkle
Editorial Assistant:Amanda Foxworth
Cartoons:Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley,Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings,Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek,Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder,Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele,Vice President and Publisher
Joyce Pepple,Acquisitions Director
Composition Services
Gerry Fahey,Vice President of Production Services
Debbie Stailey,Director of Composition Services
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Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................1
About This Book...............................................................................................1
Foolish Assumptions.......................................................................................2
What You Don’t Have to Read........................................................................2
How This Book Is Organized...........................................................................3
Part I: Owning a Mac mini.....................................................................3
Part II: Cracking Open the mini............................................................4
Part III: Upgrading the mini Yourself....................................................4
Part IV: Mods for the Home...................................................................4
Part V: Modding Your Car for the Mac mini........................................4
Part VI: Maxi mini Mods........................................................................4
Part VII: The Part of Tens......................................................................5
The appendix..........................................................................................5
Conventions Used in This Book.....................................................................5
Icons Used in This Book..................................................................................5
Where to Go from Here....................................................................................6
Part I: Owning a Mac mini.............................................7
Chapter 1: Modding a Mac mini: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
What’s a Mod?................................................................................................10
Why Mod a Perfectly Good Mac?.................................................................10
Saving money by adding options yourself........................................11
New tricks for a not-so-old mini.........................................................14
Changing your mini’s look...................................................................15
What’s in Store................................................................................................15
Plugging things in.................................................................................15
Adding software....................................................................................16
Breaking open the box.........................................................................16
Replacing parts.....................................................................................16
Planning Your Mod.........................................................................................17
Sizing up the job...................................................................................17
Estimating time.....................................................................................18
Estimating costs...................................................................................18
Locating suppliers................................................................................19
Setting realistic expectations..............................................................19
Software Considerations...............................................................................19
When to upgrade Mac OS X................................................................20
Researching your software’s needs...................................................20
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Mac mini Hacks & Mods For Dummies
Chapter 2: Completing Your Mac mini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
The Back Panel...............................................................................................23
Audio......................................................................................................24
FireWire..................................................................................................24
USB 2.0...................................................................................................26
DVI video...............................................................................................27
Modem...................................................................................................28
Ethernet.................................................................................................28
Power.....................................................................................................28
What, No Keyboard?......................................................................................28
USB keyboards......................................................................................29
Using a Windows keyboard with the mini.........................................29
Mousing around....................................................................................32
Going wireless.......................................................................................32
Sharing your keyboard/monitor with another Mac or PC..............33
Adding a Display............................................................................................34
Types of video: Digital and analog.....................................................34
Choosing a type of video adapter......................................................35
Adding a second monitor via USB......................................................37
Chapter 3: The mini as a Portable Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Building a Mac mini Travel Kit.....................................................................39
Oh Solo mini....................................................................................................40
Power adapter: To carry or not to carry...........................................40
Cables.....................................................................................................41
Carrying a mini.....................................................................................41
Weighing in............................................................................................42
Toting the Keyboard with Your mini............................................................43
Mobile keyboards.................................................................................43
Cables.....................................................................................................45
Carrying the mini with a keyboard....................................................45
Weighing in............................................................................................46
Taking a Display with You.............................................................................46
Displays you can carry........................................................................46
Carrying cases......................................................................................47
Weighing in............................................................................................48
Part II: Cracking Open the mini....................................49
Chapter 4: Opening the Mac mini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Going Where Apple Doesn’t Want You........................................................51
Keeping the warranty intact...............................................................52
Minding your AppleCare contract......................................................53