Mini Mine

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After realizing that I needed the ability to run Mac OS X in addition to Windows XP to ensure my Web designs work across platforms, I waited patiently for Tiger to ship so that I could purchase a Mac Mini without having to upgrade after just a few months.

So yesterday, I strolled into the Burlingame Apple store, and inquired if they had any Minis available with OS X, and with the upgrades installed (known as the Ultimate Edition). To my delight, they had exactly one of these left, so I left the store with it and an AppleCare Protection Plan.

A day later, I’m still not done installing it, because making space for it has required extensive rerouting of power cables, replacing the PS/2 KVM switch with a USB model, and swapping my keyboard and mouse for USB versions. If I only had computers on this desk, it would have been much easier than finding new places to plug in all the ham gear, the CC Radio, the Weather Alert radio, and all the other gadgets I have around here.

I think I will let things settle for a bit, and figure out how I’m going to make use of the new KVM’s ability to switch USB devices before I install the Mini. And since I also have a laptop to fix, I’ put off the Mac until tomorrow.

Author: Peter Sheerin

Peter Sheerin is best known for the decade he spent as the Technical Editor of CADENCE magazine, where he was the acknowledged expert in Computer-Aided Design hardware and software. He has a long-standing passion for improving usability of software, hardware, and everyday objects that is always interwoven in his articles. Peter is available for freelance technical writing and product reviews, and is exploring career opportunities in interaction design. His pet personal project is exploring the best ways to harmonize visual, tactile, and audible symbols for improving the effectiveness of alerting systems.

3 thoughts on “Mini Mine”

  1. My solution’s been the use of PearPC so far, but I can’t say it’s in a state where I would recommend it to people unless they want to meddle a lot with getting the network right.

  2. Just get your KVM working plugged in, there’s nothing to ‘install’ – you’ll love the Mini and it hardly takes any space on your nasty desk.

  3. Try VMware. You’ll get to use one “set” of computer hardware (i.e., one monitor, one cpu, one keyboard, one mouse, one cd-rom, one network connection, etc.), and you’re limited only by hard drive space and operating system licensing. You can make virtual machines to your heart’s content, and they can team together as a private network, or act as individual machines on your existing network. AND you can share files between the host operating system and each “guest ” OS. http://www.vmware.com/products/ws/

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