Thoughts on an early Mac mini?

[theMarble]

On Yosemite/El Capitan, the TITAN X is the boss for pre-SSE4 CPUs IIRC.

Would that be using MLPostFactor or whatever it's called now?

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

It depends. If running SL is your goal, by all means. If surfing the web is a must, that too. For games, I would get the G4. It has a better discrete graphics chip than the useless integrated one in its successor. That and the fact that you can run OS9 directly on it opens up a heap of legacy games that either aren't available on the Intel box or won't run as well despite its having a much better processor.

My mini is a TDM machine for incoming portable powerpc macs and that's it really. Otherwise it really does live as a book end on my shelf. My reasoning for a Intel mini are for the exact use case scenarios you listed - snow leopard, browsing, app support etc. I have zero interest in getting linux on it as that is already covered multiple times over on other boxes - same with gaming.

My use case would certainly be best suited with an intel mini over a ppc one ie: garage mac. Hmm, that gets me thinking. Maybe I'll sell my current garage mac - a PMG5 a1047 and replace it with an Intel mini. Wireless mouse and KB and a lot of additional bench real estate would be reclaimed. (although the powermac is a convenient heater of my garage in the winter and would be missed )

Anyhow, for 20 bucks, go buy it. Intel minis are cool boxes (and useful) for sure.

 

[weckart]

Bolt an eGPU to the Intel mini using the AirPort slot and watch it run circles around the G4's Radeon 9200

True but no longer $20 and not so Mini but a fun project nonetheless.

 

[Amethyst1]

Would that be using MLPostFactor or whatever it's called now?

Dunno. IIRC all I did to boot Yosemite (previously installed on a fully compatible Mac to make life simpler) on a 2006 MBP was replacing boot.efi.

 

[originaldotexe]

I use mine (Snow Leopard max) to stream music. I can stream to any Mac in the house via AirServer. Or I can stream to my BT soundbar. Additionally, it has Adobe CS2 on it so if I need to scan something it can communicate with my 2001 era USB scanner via TWAIN.

But it's primary purpose (right now) is as the depository for downloads from all my Macs and PCs.

I'm running it headless (although it is connected to my HDTV). 4GB Ram, 320GB HD.

View attachment 2012264

i see skype and facetime on your dock, do those actually still work on snow leopard? i know they killed off the skype servers for leopard/tiger

 

[eyoungren]

i see skype and facetime on your dock, do those actually still work on snow leopard? i know they killed off the skype servers for leopard/tiger

No.

Skype would be in there because the Mini is a drive image of my 17" MBP, which was a drive image of my 17" PowerBook G4 some time in 2013-2014 I think. I think back then I was using the app that @gavinstubbs09 was maintaining: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t-skype-2-8-to-work-once-again-guide.1764226/

The Facetime icon in there was me downloading the app from the app store and trying it out. Of course, it didn't work.

Things end up in the dock and I end up leaving them there.

 

[originaldotexe]

No.

Skype would be in there because the Mini is a drive image of my 17" MBP, which was a drive image of my 17" PowerBook G4 some time in 2013-2014 I think. I think back then I was using the app that @gavinstubbs09 was maintaining: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...t-skype-2-8-to-work-once-again-guide.1764226/

The Facetime icon in there was me downloading the app from the app store and trying it out. Of course, it didn't work.

Things end up in the dock and I end up leaving them there.

ah ok.
in theory i think its actually possible to make the original skype & spotify work again, by patching them with a similar method to how people make nocd's for games, but changing how the network code works instead. old skype used something that microsoft dubbed as legacy skype servers, which were killed off a few years back, so im wondering if those servers share much similarity with the modern ones and how hard it would be to make it work again (without all the modern features of course)

 

[eyoungren]

ah ok.
in theory i think its actually possible to make the original skype & spotify work again, by patching them with a similar method to how people make nocd's for games, but changing how the network code works instead. old skype used something that microsoft dubbed as legacy skype servers, which were killed off a few years back, so im wondering if those servers share much similarity with the modern ones and how hard it would be to make it work again (without all the modern features of course)

Skype is interesting. For a lot of us PowerPC users it meant relevance - until MS got a hold of it. Once that happened we got cut off and eventually the workarounds failed. A strange thing for a company that continues to support really old PCs with its software and OS.

I can recall even trying with an Intel Mac a few years back and failing. Now of course, there's Zoom which has only ever worked on Intel Macs.

I'd probably try Skype again if I didn't have the same issues trying to get it to work. Probably have to make a new account though, it's been a really long time.

 

[originaldotexe]

Skype is interesting. For a lot of us PowerPC users it meant relevance - until MS got a hold of it. Once that happened we got cut off and eventually the workarounds failed. A strange thing for a company that continues to support really old PCs with its software and OS.

I can recall even trying with an Intel Mac a few years back and failing. Now of course, there's Zoom which has only ever worked on Intel Macs.

I'd probably try Skype again if I didn't have the same issues trying to get it to work. Probably have to make a new account though, it's been a really long time.

i used google meet in tenfourfox on my g4 in the past, does zoom not support lwk or tenfourfox?

 

[originaldotexe]

other issue with skype is it is very insecure. someone can literally just make a request to microsoft's api with your username and it will hand your ip address back to them lol

 

[MysticCow]

I have a g4 mini. This was free to me

Install MorphOS on it. Yes it is not free, but it’s the fastest OS that mini will ever have.

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Install MorphOS on it. Yes it is not free, but it’s the fastest OS that mini will ever have.

Yanno I would love to run morphos & support the dev team but I just can’t justify the purchase right now. Now Morphos on something like my a1117 I think would crush it but yeah the funds need to go elsewhere. That’s what I get for buying into an endless, eat the ribeye right off your plate, super multi-dimensional, money pit of doom.

 

[MysticCow]

Yanno I would love to run morphos & support the dev team but I just can’t justify the purchase right now. Now Morphos on something like my a1117 I think would crush it but yeah the funds need to go elsewhere. That’s what I get for buying into an endless, eat the ribeye right off your plate, super multi-dimensional, money pit of doom.

We’ll if you don’t register it throttles down after 30 minutes. So after 30, it’ll feel like running Linux or Leopard on it.

 

[ricketysquire]

So I got a 2007 Mac Mini from the original owner for $19 + shipping. It’s the 1.83 ghz model with 2 gb ram and 80 gb hard drive. Looking forward to it arriving, it comes with leopard but I’m going to hunt down a tiger restore disk or try the tiger server image I found. Also thinking about getting 4 gb of ram and slapping on one of the many SSDs lying around. Not planning on connecting to the internet, I’m just going to play around with period software + power pc apps via Rosetta. If I get really bored I might boot camp with XP. Basically a nostalgia box

 

[esbardu]

It's a great nostalgia box and is easy to store.

I have several Mac Minis as nostalgia boxes. A 2006 Core 2 Duo 1.83 2Gb (upgraded from Core Solo). This was my first Mac but died (not turning on) so recently I bought a new unit almost unused. I have Tiger on this one.
Two Mac Mini G4 with Tiger and Mac OS 9. I would say that they are like having a SNES Mini, a MACOS9 mini machine, great for playing classic games.
And then a "newer" one, a 2009 Mac Mini that it's wonderful for Snow Leopard and iMovie HD (Dual boot Yosemite/SL).

Only swapping the Mini I'm able to travel in time. Having iMacs for the same purpose is great but you need a full room just for them.

 

[ricketysquire]

Oh I forgot about this thread. So I accidentally broke it while attempting to clean the Mac Mini and reapply thermal paste. The heatsink on those are really difficult to remove and reattach. It would just make the Mac chime and refuse to boot. I also had an issue where it wouldn’t keep the time and date even after a new battery.

So I guess the PSA is to be careful with these older machines.

 

[esbardu]

Sorry to hear that, it's true that heatsink attachment is tricky. I have cleaned my 2006 (when upgrading the CPU) but 2009 temps are fine so I still need to clean it properly.
I still like these models even when upgrading 2010,2011 and 2012 is a lot easier.