Mac Mini (powerpc), Airport Extreme, dapper, and bcm43xx

[Eric Dunbar]

On 25/03/06, Michael R. Head <burner at suppressingfire.org> wrote:
> On Fri, 2006-03-24 at 19:31 -0800, Daniel Robitaille wrote:
> > On 3/24/06, Michael R Head <burner at suppressingfire.org> wrote:
> >
> > Since I'm thinking of maybe acquiring one of these G4 mac mini one of
> > these days, how about the rest of computer?  Is everything working
> > well?   I have vague recollections of sound and fan issue with Ubuntu
> > when the mac mini was first released.
>
> I've been using it for a week now, effectively as a set top box (hooked
> up to my stereo and Dell 2000FP monitor). I haven't noticed any problems
> with the fan. Sound's great. There was some reason why I had to go to
> dapper, but I don't recall at the moment what was problematic in breezy.
> I think it had to do with xv or dvd playback, but I'm not sure.
>
> I'm using totem-xine for xvid video and DVD playback, banshee for music,
> and everything's quite nice.
>
> Note that they've only got stereo sound out, and no microphone. It's not
> a problem for me, but it might be annoying for others.
>
> Oh, and I got an ATI remote wonder II for it. It's decent enough, and
> works essentially out of the box with dapper (though some keyboard
> shortcuts have to be remapped).

Ooo. That's a cool toy.

As an FYI for any Mac mini owners (or prospective owners):

You can get a little dongle (Apple DVI to Video Adapter) that allows
you to hook your Mac mini (and G5 tower's) DVI port to s-video and
composite for 19 EUR (presumably VAT inclusive), 19 USD, or 25 CAD.

<http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/6284003/wo/B8348SDOc8KL3FLPOaQdaLXVn5s/1.0.19.1.0.8.25.7.11.2.3>

Caveat: I'm not sure if there are separate PAL & NTSC dongles or
whether one gadget does both.

PS Just so you know, it's _not_ going to turn a regular TV into
something it's not -- a high quality/high res video monitor (even a
12" 512*342 1980s era colour monitor is sharper than your conventional
TV).