Mac mini

>I've been looking for a small (& cheap) computer to use in art installations.
>
>Until today I was planning on building my own using a Shuttle box and linux.
>
>But now.. WoooHooo:
>
>http://www.apple.com/macmini/

twhid,

this sounds awesome. for installations around town, it's portable enough.

but for shipping, or with performance stuff (fast setup/strike, ) you
might look into old mac laptops. they have the now obsolete serial
ports (instead of USB), but you may be amazed how much of that stuff
you can fond under $20 on ebay, friend's closets, etc. good to have
a non-profit they can donate to on your behalf.

the old macs still have tons of xtras like video accelerator,
built-in mic, video out … (stuff new pc's still don't?). some are
so old you'll need ethernet adaptors or network pcmcia cards, but i
found several in a week. you can often get g3s that'll run osX for
$200. os8'ers for about $50.

it's unusual any external hardware will come with drivers, but some
can be found in the archives of manufacturers sites.

director 7 and a fun collection of xtras sure is useful for this.
but obviously you can write java or C for em. and if you have cootie
spray on hand, flash. a lot even have built in modems (if you use a
dial-up). chances are you won't find an old mac laoptop that is "web
ready".

but be careful with ebay, cuz it's easy to get burned. a scam
magnet. but friends often keep the most broken units thinking
someday they'll repair a cracked logic board or something. anyway, i
have a big stack of ones i use, and a much smaller stack of ones i
keep for parts and old software.

good luck

Hey dude,

good advice :)


On Jan 11, 2005, at 3:32 PM, Plasma Studii - uospn