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My Next Mac Mini

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Re: My Next Mac Mini

#81

Post by peatmoss »

daenney wrote: post #22
raphinou wrote: post #15

Honest question : any good reasons to go with Windows rather than Linux?

A lot of it would depend on what your use case is. In this case the author needs an Elgato/Geniatech EyeTV stick and app for his purposes which isn't supported on Linux by the manufacturer. It might work, but it might also not be worth the hassle. However, if you want something that plays media but doesn't (necessarily) also have to be able to receive regular terrestrial signal it shouldn't matter much beyond user pr…

I bought one of those HDTV terrestrial sticks (RTL2832) for about $10. I use it for FM Radio, but I'd guess that would still work for TV on Linux?

Think Penguin sells a stick that's a bit pricier, but also presumably very easy to use with Linux: https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/usb-tv-tuner-w-suppor...

There's also the Linux TV site that discusses the software side of things: https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/TV_Related_Software

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#82

Post by jdeibele »

rwmj wrote: post #29
zymhan wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would anyone buy a Mac Mini and put Linux on it?! There are a million other small PCs that are far better for that. If I was going to buy a Mac Mini, it's to have an affordable Mac that I can stick somewhere in my house to run occasional OS X software. I already have a few other computers, plenty of them running Linux. A Mac Mini is a great way to get a cheap OS X setup going. Also, it's not low margin, they char…

Back when I had a Mac Mini (10 years ago), you could pull them apart and upgrade the RAM and hard disk, which I did. Is that not still the case?

You can't upgrade the RAM anymore.

"Mac mini (Late 2014) does not have user-installable RAM."

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205041

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#83

Post by swozey »

quantumhobbit wrote: post #75
rwmj wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBH I've never understood what Apple gets out of selling the Mac Mini. It cannibalizes their own low-end laptops/desktops, and at the same time must be quite a marginal product mainly sold to a small number of hackers who probably put Linux on them.

I have one that I was using as a great home theater of to stream Netflix and other online services. I wish they would support it more because it was far more versital than the roku I use now and much simpler to use than a Linux or windows equivalent.

Android net/media boxes are becoming very popular, to the point you can grab them off of Amazon for very cheap.

I haven't jumped into that ecosystem yet so I'm not sure how great they are or what the best ones are. I've been thinking of buying a few of them to replace the Rokus around my house.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#84

Post by ajmurmann »

rwmj wrote: post #12
Marazan wrote: post #3

Apple's attitude to the Mac mini truly confuses me. Many years ago I was interested in getting one for eithet iPhone development or as a media pc but every time I looked they kept seeming to jack the price or downgrade the spec (relatively speaking).

TBH I've never understood what Apple gets out of selling the Mac Mini. It cannibalizes their own low-end laptops/desktops, and at the same time must be quite a marginal product mainly sold to a small number of hackers who probably put Linux on them.

I've been to countless offices that use Mac Minis for dashboards and CI monitors.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#85

Post by scribu »

labrador wrote: post #80

I don't understand, since Apple has so much money, why they don't put some of it into the Mac line. It seems short-sighted.

I think the limiting factor is not money, but mental bandwidth. Even if they could just go out and buy a whole extra product team that's up to their standards, they would still need constant attention from the leadership to be successful.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#86

Post by UnbornSoul »

CydeWeys wrote: post #50
UnbornSoul wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It can't be used as a DVR.

Aren't DVRs kind of a dying product category? They're only relevant if you have a cable subscription, and most people putting media PCs in their living room are relying on streaming services. I don't know anyone who uses a DVR anymore, but I know dozens of people with Netflix/Amazon/Hulu/etc. subscriptions.

Here in Europe the situation is mostly the other way around. Netflix is available in most countries for a year or two. Amazon launched only a month ago in most European countries. Also the author mentioned Eye TV which is DVR software.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#87

Post by rickyc091 »

pmorici wrote: post #23
caleblloyd wrote: post #5

The NUC has full Linux support out of the box. You can configure them with 16GB of RAM and a 256GB-512GB SSD for $400-$500, especially if you go for the old model (Gen 6 Skylake instead of Gen 7 Kaby Lake, not much has changed)

Are you sure? I have one and the wifi definitely doesn't work out of the box and there are a couple other annoyances the worst being the machine locking up if you let it sit for too long. I haven't spent time to investigate but that isn't the definition of "works out of the box"

I've been tinkering around with it since the last two iterations. The primary reason it might not have worked out of the box is probably due to the bios not being updated to the latest version. Otherwise, I've installed Ubuntu on over a dozen of these machines for a project without any trouble. If you try to swap the SSD from one NUC box to another, you might run into some trouble though... the bootloader needs to be repaired.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#88

Post by e12e »

21 wrote: post #70
raphinou wrote: post #15

Honest question : any good reasons to go with Windows rather than Linux?

Windows is less maintenance (ie: just works)

Sometimes Linux might take more effort to set up (but in my experience it's quicker to install and set up [ed: than windows] on hardware that's a year or two old - since volunteers / third party developers usually do the work of supporting it, not the vendor). But once set up, Linux requires much less maintenance than windows. That's been true for years (and AFAIK that's also true for BSDs).

[ed: part of the reason setup and maintenance of Linux is easier is thanks to powerful, integrated package management systems, like apt]

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#89

Post by zymhan »

jdeibele wrote: post #82
rwmj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Back when I had a Mac Mini (10 years ago), you could pull them apart and upgrade the RAM and hard disk, which I did. Is that not still the case?

You can't upgrade the RAM anymore. "Mac mini (Late 2014) does not have user-installable RAM." https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205041

I thought the author had an older Mac Mini that would be upgradeable, since they were looking at buying the 2014 model.

Re: My Next Mac Mini

#90

Post by supercanuck »

I've tried this but i've struggled mightily getting audio via HDMI from the Nuc. no matter if I install Windows or Linux.

I simply replace the mac mini with the nuc, same hdmi etc and nothing.

So tread carefully.

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