<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">The Mac Mini is a low cost Macintosh ($500). It is just a small computer (2inches x 6.5 in x 6.5 in.). It does not come with a keyboard, mouse, monitor or enough RAM. It is designed to be fully functional, but inexpensive- and it's quiet. I think it comes with a bit small of a hard drive and not enough RAM. The system bus may be a little slower than other computers as well, but I'm sure it works for MythFrontEnd just fine. If you're serious, I'll pick one up to test on (I'm an Apple guy). Mac is a unix machine so it's not too different from other unixes out there (which is why Myth could be ported to it). <DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>The mini has DVI out and an included DVI to VGA adapter. An S video out adapter is $19. There's a nice port of MythFrontEnd out there so I can just run it on my Mac laptop and point it to my Linux backend. <DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>And I do run MythOnMac on my laptop - over wireless even. I have an old 802.11b router so I get a 1/2 second pause every 3 seconds of show. Kinda annoying, but to watch the game and keep up on the score while i wash dishes, it works just fine. Someday I'll get an 802.11g router and I hope that'll fix it. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><A href="http://www.apple.com/macmini/">http://www.apple.com/macmini/</A></DIV><DIV><A href="http://www.mythtv.info/moin.cgi/MythOnMacOsx">http://www.mythtv.info/moin.cgi/MythOnMacOsx</A><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Todd</DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Oct 6, 2005, at 6:09 PM, Ricardo Kleemann wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">Thanks Todd,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">Which version of the mac is the "mini"? I'm sorry I'm not too familiar with Macs, I'm just interested in finding out more about different alternatives for frontends. Is this an older mac? Does it already come with an appropriate video card?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">It's awesome to think mythtv can run on a laptop...!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2"></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face="Arial" size="2">Ricardo</FONT></DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title="thoule@wesleyan.edu" href="mailto:thoule@wesleyan.edu">Todd Houle</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title="mythtv-users@mythtv.org" href="mailto:mythtv-users@mythtv.org">Discussion about mythtv</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, October 06, 2005 3:04 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [mythtv-users] Need suggestion for Frontend only fanless solution</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV>I'm running a front end (not to TV) on my Mac G4 laptop (1.6Ghz)- which has a hair more power than the mini. Here, I'm using 33% of my CPU when watching a show. The show is recorded with a PVR350 at high quality (720x480?). Seeing as the mini is only a little less brainy than this machine, I think it would work just fine as a front end. I don't know anything about HDTV though. The S-video output adapter is an optional purchase for $19; it comes with DVI and VGA output. <DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV> <DIV>btw- on a remote front end, when I pause live tv, that's still using the buffer defined on the back end, right? Starting a show, I hear the hard drive buzzing away in my laptop... <DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV> <DIV> Todd <DIV><BR> <DIV> <DIV>On Oct 6, 2005, at 12:42 PM, Ricardo Kleemann wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Does this mini-mac solution work well for a frontend?</DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">What model / version of the mac is this?</DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV> <DIV style="MARGIN: 0px">Ricardo</DIV> <DIV style="MIN-HEIGHT: 14px; MARGIN: 0px"><BR></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR><BR> <DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">__________________________________</FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT style="FONT: 12px Helvetica" face="Helvetica" size="3">Todd Houle</FONT></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT style="FONT: 12px Times; COLOR: #1a1aff" face="Times" color="#1a1aff" size="3"><U>Apple Certified System Administrator</U></FONT><FONT style="FONT: 12px Times" face="Times" size="3"><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></FONT></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></DIV><BR><DIV> <BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><HR><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>_______________________________________________<BR>mythtv-users mailing list<BR>mythtv-users@mythtv.org<BR>http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users<BR></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">_______________________________________________</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">mythtv-users mailing list</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">mythtv-users@mythtv.org</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users</DIV> <BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>