[Cialug] OT: mac-mini?

[Bryan Baker]

It uses a fairly recent Samba (3.x) for windows style networking. But 
with a bit nicer interface than most *nixes.
TCP/IP is pretty painless. IPv6 support is there out of box, has built 
in one-click ssh, ftp and apache as well, also NFS, etc. so, it 
networks nicer than XP for my money. MS provides a nice RDP client for 
it too, so you can even do remote windows sessions, it's pretty slick.

I use a Mac laptop as my primary workstation on a Windows/Samba network 
where this (and our Xserve web server) are the only 2 macs in the 
place. Rarely need to use the XP machine sitting next to it, and I'm 
the network admin here.

I love Safari and use it almost exclusively on the Mac. Firefox, 
Mozilla, Opera are all still good and viable options as well, though IE 
is now officially dead on the platform - Hopefully that will help 
pressure some IE-centric websites, but probably not much. Hopefully 
soon they'll release the official version of webkit (safari's core) 
that passes the ACID2 test.

On Oct 20, 2005, at 12:44 PM, Dieke, Steve wrote:
> I have been thinking about it as well but also have been hesitant.  How
> is the networking aspect?  I assume it can connect to XP and *nix
> systems with relative ease?  Also how do you like Safari?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On
> Behalf Of Tony Bibbs
> Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2005 12:37 PM
> To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
> Subject: Re: [Cialug] OT: mac-mini?
>
> Yeah, simple application.  Figured it'd be considerably cheaper than a
> G5 laptop.  Got the keyboard/mouse taken care of.
>
> --Tony
>
> Bryan Baker wrote:
>> Don't have a mini, but do know Macs.
>> If you're not expecting a screaming gaming rig, the mini should be a
>> good way to dip a toe in.
>> One caveat, the KB & Mouse will need to be USB - you probably have a
>> mouse that fits the bill, but maybe not a KB and the mini is BYOKB&M.
>> It should come w/ a DVI to VGA adapter, so an existing XGA or DVI
>> monitor should work fine.
>>
>> One bonus, if you decide you don't like it, you could use it as a
>> fancy DVD player/media center, and there's always PPC linux. Macs also
>
>> tend to hold a bit more resale value than PCs.
>>
>> One other down side of the mini's is they are G4's, but as I said, if
>> your needs are modest, they're fine.
>>
>> On Oct 20, 2005, at 11:56 AM, Tony Bibbs wrote:
>>
>>> I've been hesitant to jump into a mac desktop or laptop for the sheer
>
>>> cost and the change it would impose on me.  However, my wife and I
>>> are looking at buying or building a relatively cheap PC for our kids
>>> and one we could wire our ipods up to.  I immediatley thought this
>>> might be a good excuse to buy a mac-mini...it would help me determine
>
>>> if I like mac's, has decent games for the kids and, obviously, would
>>> work fine with our ipods.
>>>
>>> Figured I'd ask if anybody on this list has a mac-mini and, if so,
>>> what they think of it.
>>>
>>> --Tony
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>> --
>> Bryan Baker
>> Technology Advocate
>> Iowa Legal Aid
>> Suite 230
>> 1111 9th Street
>> Des Moines, Ia 50314-2527
>>
>> (515) 243-2151 (x1635)
>>
>> http://www.iowalegalaid.org
>> bbaker at iowalaw.org
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Cialug mailing list
>> Cialug at cialug.org
>> http://cialug.org/mailman/listinfo/cialug
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--
Bryan Baker
Technology Advocate
Iowa Legal Aid
Suite 230
1111 9th Street
Des Moines, Ia 50314-2527

(515) 243-2151 (x1635)

http://www.iowalegalaid.org
bbaker at iowalaw.org