My first few hours on Mac Mini 2014: pls help

[Mais78]

My Mac Mini (my first Mac!) arrived today. I powered it on and crashed during set up (I got a rainbow wheel that would not go away), not a good start! It crashed while setting up KeyChain, was there anything else to set up after that? I forced power off and after restart the Mini went to straight to desktop instead of going through set up again.

I tried to download all the software I use but could not find the Mac version of Keepass http://keepass.info/ someone knows where to download it?

Display: I am using a Dell U2412M, with my windows laptop it is very crisp, with my mac mini it appears very pixelated, anyone knows how to fix this? I bought it for photography so not ideal.

Other than that I have to say first impression of Mac OS is positive and the Mini is very fast despite the traditional HDD.

thanks
A Mac Virgin

 

[adonis3k]

what happened when it crashed?

 

[Mais78]

what happened when it crashed?

I was setting up Keychain, it sent the message to my iphone, on the iphone I entered my password to approve and after that on the desktop the mouse pointer turned into a rainbow wheel and could not click on next, waited a minute or two but did not go away so I powered down.

I am having an issue also with firefox, I put my email and pass for Firefox Sync but it says "Unknown account". Do Windows and Mac versions have separate account? I thought the Sync would be cross-platform.
Thanks

 

[Mais78]

I fixed Firefox, I had to migrate to their new Sync platform first. Still no fix for pixelation and KeePass.

 

[Jago]

Use MacPass: https://github.com/mstarke/MacPass/releases

 

[AnalyzeThis]

All my mac mini 2012 work flawlessly with Dell U2412M. Try to replace mm, if fails again, give mm 2012 a thought and save $$$ in the process.

 

[Mais78]

All my mac mini 2012 work flawlessly with Dell U2412M. Try to replace mm, if fails again, give mm 2012 a thought and save $$$ in the process.

I doubt it is the mini not working, pictures look fine, I guess i is the way the OS renders the text? Will post some pics later.

BTW, when you calibrate your Dell, do you set the monitor on Mac (vs PC) on the monitor menu, or now that OS X is on gamma 2.2 the setting should stay on PC?

thanks

 

[DeltaMac]

Is there any difference when you change those monitor calibration settings?

I have a Dell S2340M on my mini. Great display, after I changed some of the built-in settings.
When I first got the display, I used VGA, which had very blurry text (pictures were fine) until I tried changing to a different preset video mode (multimedia, movie, text, others) in the display menus. I then changed the video connection from VGA (which had other disadvantages, such as odd power-saver settings) to DVI-D, which may have helped the most.

FYI - I would be using the miniDP to DP connection, if I had your U2412M.
Which connection are you using now?

 

[OLDCODGER]

For your Dell monitor, you will need to do "expert" calibration in "Displays" pref pane, and make sure you tick "use LCD font smoothing" in "Appearance" pref pane.

As DeltaMac says, use miniDP to DP for best connection, and calibrate the monitor for your best viewing preference.

 

[AnalyzeThis]

I doubt it is the mini not working, pictures look fine, I guess i is the way the OS renders the text? Will post some pics later.

BTW, when you calibrate your Dell, do you set the monitor on Mac (vs PC) on the monitor menu, or now that OS X is on gamma 2.2 the setting should stay on PC?

thanks

I did not calibrate anything, it is perfect the way it is. I did not change any settings in monitors menus either because of I did not have any issue with default settings. Monitors would supply their color profile to the OS via EDID protocol. Calibration usually need on questionable quality or non-compliant monitors or when user is "possessed" with color calibration. I use HDMI-to-DVI cable (make sure it is good quality and compliant) and I would not use TB connector as it is not needed for 1900x1200 resolution support. HDMI works just fine. I have mm 2012, so I could not comment why mm 2014 could not negotiate monitor setting by default without user intervention with industry standard/reference monitor, just like your other pc. BTW, Macs are very picky about external monitors, but this monitor is absolute perfection. Good luck!

 

[Fishrrman]

It has been said above, but I'll repeat:

If you're not already using a MiniDisplayPort-to-DisplayPort connecting cable, use that first.

 

[Mais78]

I am using a MiniDP to DP already. Calibration was a side note, it is not going to change the pixelation (by the way I use Colormunki with Argyll), default is not good enough for photography. I could not get color temperature below 7000, by switching to MAC it helped to get it to 6700, still not convinced what that setting of the monitor does.


Back to pixelation, I have attached two sample images, one from Mac and one from Windows Laptop, guess what is what.

Any idea how to match the crisp text of the windows machine?

 

[DeltaMac]

There's very little difference that I can see, other than the screen font appears to be different between your two screen shots - which will always be the case.
The main distinction is when seeing a Windows screen, on Windows, and comparing the identical screen on a Mac system.
Screen shots won't show that - when you view both screen shots on the same computer display.
This screen font issue has been beat to death over the years.
Windows screen fonts will often be sharper, because Windows uses a different screen technology, erring to display screen fonts with clarity/readability, even if the font shape does not remain correct to the font. Apple's direction on that seems to be to attempt to stay true to the font shape.
Perhaps someone else with a better understanding about display font tech will add to that.
I did say that I saw some difference in the clarity of the Mac system by experimenting with the display settings to choose a different preset color mode (internal settings on the Dell!) That might make a difference for you, too.

 

[Cherish]

I am using a MiniDP to DP already. Calibration was a side note, it is not going to change the pixelation (by the way I use Colormunki with Argyll), default is not good enough for photography. I could not get color temperature below 7000, by switching to MAC it helped to get it to 6700, still not convinced what that setting of the monitor does.


Back to pixelation, I have attached two sample images, one from Mac and one from Windows Laptop, guess what is what.

Any idea how to match the crisp text of the windows machine?

I'm using Dell Monitor with Mac Mini and experiencing the same issue. From your Pic, the right picture looks the same to what I see so is that Windows screen or Mac?

 

[Mais78]

Right pic, the one with thinner fonts, is Windows

PS at the moment on my ipad i see a top and bottom pic, just in case

 

[Cherish]

Right pic, the one with thinner fonts, is Windows

PS at the moment on my ipad i see a top and bottom pic, just in case

The right picture looks the same as mine once I changed Dell Monitor Gamma to Mac and disable font smoothing. Is your left picture taken with Gamma on PC?

I have now enabled font smoothing and the fonts look darker but not as thin.

 

[Tsavo]

Posting screenshots of either screen doesn't do anything, since all it's doing is dumping the framebuffer to an image file. Therefore, the problem with the image is in between the video output of the Mini and your eyes.

1. Cable.
2. Monitor.
3. Monitor calibration.
4. Eyes (highly unlikely that these need to be calibrated).

You need to actually photograph the screens in order for us to notice the difference between them.

 

[Mais78]

The right picture looks the same as mine once I changed Dell Monitor Gamma to Mac and disable font smoothing. Is your left picture taken with Gamma on PC?

I have now enabled font smoothing and the fonts look darker but not as thin.

The Windows picture was actually taken from my laptop monitor, on my Dell monitor the text on Windows is even sharper but still those pics gives the idea of the difference in rendering.

I dont think you should set the gamma on Mac, i think that switch is a legacy from the time when Mac was on 1.8, now both PC and MAC use the same gamma so I would leave it on PC, but i am not an expert.
I think it is best to disable font smoothing on non retina display like ours.

----------

Posting screenshots of either screen doesn't do anything, since all it's doing is dumping the framebuffer to an image file. Therefore, the problem with the image is in between the video output of the Mini and your eyes.

1. Cable.
2. Monitor.
3. Monitor calibration.
4. Eyes (highly unlikely that these need to be calibrated).

You need to actually photograph the screens in order for us to notice the difference between them.

I think those screenshots really reflect what i see with my eyes, a pic would show the same thing.
I came to the conclusion that there is no issue, it is just the way Mac renders fonts.
Do you think there is an issue based on that Mac screenshot?

 

[Meister]

Download the app switchresx.
It let's you completely costumize your display settings. Try a different resolution (maybe a hidpi one) to make the image clearer.

 

[Cape Dave]

A fresh and clean download and install of OSX even on a new computer floats many boats. Trust me.

 

[Cherish]

The Windows picture was actually taken from my laptop monitor, on my Dell monitor the text on Windows is even sharper but still those pics gives the idea of the difference in rendering.

I dont think you should set the gamma on Mac, i think that switch is a legacy from the time when Mac was on 1.8, now both PC and MAC use the same gamma so I would leave it on PC, but i am not an expert.
I think it is best to disable font smoothing on non retina display like ours.

I went back to default settings PC Gamma/Font smoothing 1 after trying everything and this still looks best but still not perfect. Also tried connecting my MBP 2011 to the external monitor and display looks sharp on the MBP but not on the external monitor.

Font Smoothing on: http://i.imgur.com/j86LyAc.jpg
Font Smoothing off: http://i.imgur.com/ROK4h0k.jpg

Not sure why the picture looks pixelated though. I took it with command+shift+3.

Heres a screenshot taken by another user which looks super sharp with bigger font and text and the image does not looks pixelated. I don't get it. The font here is also what I see if I used the monitor with Windows. http://cl.ly/image/0i403k3g442w

 

[Googlyhead]

I am using a MiniDP to DP already. Calibration was a side note, it is not going to change the pixelation (by the way I use Colormunki with Argyll), default is not good enough for photography. I could not get color temperature below 7000, by switching to MAC it helped to get it to 6700, still not convinced what that setting of the monitor does.


Back to pixelation, I have attached two sample images, one from Mac and one from Windows Laptop, guess what is what.

Any idea how to match the crisp text of the windows machine?

I can immediately guess that the second is an older render/font, as it appears all bitmapped with no anti-aliasing applied (going by the text on the RHS). Perhaps the vector font for this one got corrupted, and it's using an alternative?

Edit:
Ok: so I read the rest of thread, and the fonts/smoothing has already been covered anyway!
I guess if you have a preference for a particular font, install that and set as default? Is there still an option for light vs. strong text smoothing?

 

[Mais78]

I can immediately guess that the second is an older render/font, as it appears all bitmapped with no anti-aliasing applied (going by the text on the RHS). Perhaps the vector font for this one got corrupted, and it's using an alternative?

Edit:
Ok: so I read the rest of thread, and the fonts/smoothing has already been covered anyway!
I guess if you have a preference for a particular font, install that and set as default? Is there still an option for light vs. strong text smoothing?

Maybe a different font can help but I really think this is down to how Mac and WIN render fonts. MAC honors the shape therefore can be blurry, WIN twicks the shape to match the pixels therefore looks much sharper. At least this is what I found googling the issue. I really wish there was a solution.

 

[Mais78]

This is really bothering me... Maybe Mac is not for me?

Screenshot on MAC

 

[Mais78]

similar screenshot on windows (pls zoom in with magnifier to see it sharp).
Night and day.