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Help connecting mac mini

K

KezN

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 24, 2014
25
0
Hi

I would be very grateful for some help. I treated myself to a mac mini and an Asus PA248 monitor for Christmas, but unfortunately I don't have a cable that will fit between the two. Please could someone explain to a computer illiterate what I need to purchase. I am in the UK and links to the items would really help.

Many thanks for your help.
Kez
 
KezN said:
Hi

I would be very grateful for some help. I treated myself to a mac mini and an Asus PA248 monitor for Christmas, but unfortunately I don't have a cable that will fit between the two. Please could someone explain to a computer illiterate what I need to purchase. I am in the UK and links to the items would really help.

Many thanks for your help.
Kez
Click to expand...

Well the model of the Mac Mini would be helpful.....

Assuming it is a 2010 or newer, you can use a simple HDMI to HDMI cable. They can be found at any home electronics store.
 
Thanks to both of you for guiding me to what I need. I am like the child on Christmas morning that has just been given a toy and when they come to play with it they discover it needs batteries and they have none. :(
 
Does the HDMI port in the 2014 Mini directly support 1920x1200 over only HDMI? The OP has a 24 inch 1920x1200 monitor (I think) - my 2012 Mini only supports 1080 on HDMi so you have to use an HDMI to DVI converter or the displayport to drive 1920x1200. HDMI to HDMI won't do on mine (I've two 1920x1200 monitors - the LaCie 324 has an HDMI port and definitely won't run at 1920x1200 from my Mini at full resolution).

M.
 
Last edited:
I have just managed to borrow a cable and I am in the process of setting the mac mini up. :) Will let you know what happens with regards display. Thanks for your input.
 
The display set up fine and allowed the correct 1920 x 1200 display.

I have another question though please if people can help: I set up the file transfer from my laptop (windows 7) to the mac and it spent all night doing it. This morning it said there was 8 minutes remaining but it just stayed at that for 2 hours and didn't do anything. I cancelled the transfer on the pc but when I then logged on to the mac I can't find any of the files that it spent all night transferring. Where will they be?

Thanks for your help.
 
Regarding file transfer:

It would help if you told us WHICH files you are attempting to transfer.

Certain things go in certain places.
Examples:
Photos and pics would go into the "Pictures" folder in your Home folder
Music would go into the "Music" folder (also in home folder)
Movies would go into the "Movies" folder (also in home folder)
Data files (such as from word processing, spreadsheets, etc.) could go into the "Documents" folder (in the home folder).

These locations are NOT "ironclad" -- that is to say, you can really put things anywhere you want. That's what I do, myself.
Apple just provides these folders in your home folder because they assume it will be easiest for a new Mac user to organize things that way.

Insofar as the actual transferring of files goes:
You're going to have to do some kind of "inventory" to see what files "got over" for you over the night, and which ones did not.
You're also going to have to discover where they went!

If your attempts up to now have been "less than successful", I suggest you use something like an external drive or perhaps a USB flash drive to "move things over" slowly and incrementally.
Don't rush.
Take your time and get it all sorted out.

I also suggest that you keep the PC up and running and accessible for a while yet.
Figure on 2-4 months or longer.
If you get flummoxed with something on the Mac, you can go back over to the PC side and work with it, until you get comfortable with "the Mac way".
 
Thanks for your input. I have given up on the file transfer using the migrate option as it has done the same thing on two occasions: got to the stage where it says there is 1 minute left and then it just hangs and two hours later it had still done nothing. I will transfer using an external hard disk.

Now I have the problem that firefox that I have just installed keeps crashing. To be honest I am beginning to wonder why I bothered changing from a windows pc!
 
KezN said:
...
Now I have the problem that firefox that I have just installed keeps crashing. To be honest I am beginning to wonder why I bothered changing from a windows pc!
Click to expand...

You can go into your console to help determine why Firefox might be crashing.

But - is Firefox the only web browser you can use? There's a dozen or so others that you could use, which might be useful to know if you are a new Mac user.
Does Apple's Safari work OK for you?
Lots of users use Google Chrome in one form or another - although others find that Google might not always be on your side :D
 
Thanks to both of you for your input.

I like firefox and have used it for years so I wanted to carry on using it. Yes there is Safari - that is what I am using now to access the forum. When you say that I can go into my console, what does that mean? Sorry but I am used to windows not mac.

Re info that I was transferring, it was just files that I had stored on my HD.
 
The console is used to record/keep track of system messages, which includes crash logs. Your Console is in the Applications/Utilities folder. Look through Crash Logs, where you will likely find multiple entries for Firefox.
Or, easier, is to try launching Firefox. If it crashes, and gives you a crash message, there's a button to review the crash entries right there on that crash window. You won't always get something useful, unless you know exactly what you are looking at, but sometimes the first 25 or 50 lines can help you decide how to proceed.
 
OK. U might try just importing them individually to each appropriate App.

Example: iPhoto has a import feature. Open iPhoto, choose Import, your HD should show up, choose the folder that the photos are located, click import. It may take awhile and at the end if iPhoto is unresponsive let it do its thing as it is analyzing the pics for features like faces. Like the previous posted said... be patient !! It will probably be doing a lot of memory swapping as you only have 4 gigs of ram. Don't delete the files on the ext. hd when asked.

Music should work the same way with iTunes. If you have a lot of music that comes up as incompatible , you might sign up for iTunes Match ($25) and that will take all of the DRMs off and convert them into the correct formate.

Edit: Thought that you had a 2012 base model.... my bad.

Documents: Open the external drive on your desktop so you can see the contents. There will be an Icon at the left of the chosen line of your Docs folder. Drag that (the icon) to the Documents folder in the Dock (at the bottom) and it should copy them to the Doc folder on the Mac.
 
Last edited:
marclondon said:
Using an HDMI to HDMI cable? Are you sure you're not getting a "letterbox" display?

According to Apple:

"The HDMI port supports up to 1080p on HDMI connections. With the HDMI to DVI adapter, the HDMI port will work with resolutions up to 1920 x 1200."

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4214

M.
Click to expand...

By letterbox display I take it you mean that the screen isn't filled with the image? If that is what you mean, no it is displaying fine. When I go to system preferences and display the option for the correct screen size the 1920x1200 is there and is the chosen option.

----------
DeltaMac said:
The console is used to record/keep track of system messages, which includes crash logs. Your Console is in the Applications/Utilities folder. Look through Crash Logs, where you will likely find multiple entries for Firefox.
Or, easier, is to try launching Firefox. If it crashes, and gives you a crash message, there's a button to review the crash entries right there on that crash window. You won't always get something useful, unless you know exactly what you are looking at, but sometimes the first 25 or 50 lines can help you decide how to proceed.
Click to expand...


I found the console and it is pretty double dutch to me. It does have lots and lots of lines saying something along the lines of stopping handsoff advertising?

----------
QuietGamer said:
OK. U might try just importing them individually to each appropriate App.

Example: iPhoto has a import feature. Open iPhoto, choose Import, your HD should show up, choose the folder that the photos are located, click import. It may take awhile and at the end if iPhoto is unresponsive let it do its thing as it is analyzing the pics for features like faces. Like the previous posted said... be patient !! It will probably be doing a lot of memory swapping as you only have 4 gigs of ram. Don't delete the files on the ext. hd when asked.

Music should work the same way with iTunes. If you have a lot of music that comes up as incompatible , you might sign up for iTunes Match ($25) and that will take all of the DRMs off and convert them into the correct formate.

Edit: Thought that you had a 2012 base model.... my bad.

Documents: Open the external drive on your desktop so you can see the contents. There will be an Icon at the left of the chosen line of your Docs folder. Drag that (the icon) to the Documents folder in the Dock (at the bottom) and it should copy them to the Doc folder on the Mac.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the pointers - I shall try these and see if it works. :) I have an 8 gigs of ram model by the way.

----------

It is working: the photos are importing! Thanks for the tip. :) As they say, everything is easy when you know how! I just have a hell of a lot to learn with a Mac. :eek:
 
My Pleasure.

The Docs example should work for anything else you need to import.

Merry Christmas!! Im off to do Family dinners etc.
 
The handoff message has no relation to Firefox, but if you want to stop those messages -

Problem: You get tons of messages from sharingd in the osx console log like ...

Code: 
Nov 11 15:25:32 dudes-Air.box sharingd[781]: 15:25:32.972 : Stopping Handoff advertising
Nov 11 15:26:17 dudes-Air.box sharingd[781]: 15:26:17.574 : Stopping Handoff advertising

Solution: Disable the Hand-off-feature

- in the System Preferences, go to "General"
- below there is a checkbox saying
"Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices"
- uncheck it
- done
Click to expand...

Did your Firefox work OK at first - and now doesn't work?
Or, Firefox never opened, not even the first time...!

Can you tell us what steps you follow to try to run Firefox, and what you see happen on the screen?
Be sure to restart your Mac before you try to run Firefox this time.
 
QuietGamer said:
My Pleasure.

The Docs example should work for anything else you need to import.

Merry Christmas!! Im off to do Family dinners etc.
Click to expand...

Merry Christmas to you to. I hope you have a good family meal. :)

----------
DeltaMac said:
The handoff message has no relation to Firefox, but if you want to stop those messages -



Did your Firefox work OK at first - and now doesn't work?
Or, Firefox never opened, not even the first time...!

Can you tell us what steps you follow to try to run Firefox, and what you see happen on the screen?
Be sure to restart your Mac before you try to run Firefox this time.
Click to expand...

Firefox just kept crashing when I tried to use it. It now seems to be working OK though as I am accessing the forum with it. Previously when it was crashing I think it might have been to do with cookie: I have it set to ask each time and the box that appears was like a yo-yo going up and down but not responding to what I was telling it: deny cookies.

I am off to bed now as I have been working all day and on the go since 4am. Thanks for your help.
 
I'm using Firefox right now on the new Mini...

However, did have some niggles when I migrated from an older machine with many upgrades on it.

Mostly due to the old software that came along with it.

Did the usual, check fonts, do disk permission, update apps, extensions, ect.

Still got a few problems, and had to resort to getting rid of some really old extensions -- one from 2010 was killing me.

:apple: / About this Mac / Software / Extensions

Showed some old stuff, just hunted it down and manually deinstalled it.

Firefox / Tools / Addons -- has some stuff that might need to be updated also.
 
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