My Tech

by Khürt Williams on November 26, 2005 · View Comments

In November 2005, I bought a mac mini to use with my iPod nano and I love it.  It is what some call the switcher Mac.  The mac mini specs are:

  • 1.42GHz PowerPC G4
  • 1 GB DDR333 SDRAM
  • ATI Radeon 9200
  • 32MB DDR video memory
  • 80GB Ultra ATA hard drive
  • SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
  • DVI
  • 802.11g AirPort and Bluetooth
  • Mac OS X 10.5.6
  • 500GB G-Drive Q External FireWire HD

G4 Mac mini

At first I connected the Mac mini to my existing Dell Trinitron monitor, keyboard and mouse. Later I bought an Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse to complement Apple’s industrial design. Since my “office” was in the unfinished unheated basement of my home I was only able to use the computer during the summer. The following cold winter made it challenging to use the mini for more than 20 minutes at a time. After purchasing a MacBook in 2006 I used the mini less often so in the spring of 2007, I decided to move the Mac mini to the family room. The Mac min was connected to my Sony KV-34HS420 34″ FD Trinitron WEGA HD-Ready CRT TV via an XtremeMac Xtreme DVI to HD cable.

However, contention between someone wanting to sync an iPod and someone wanting to watch a show shortly ensued so I moved the Mac mini back down to the basement where it now servers as a music (via AirTunes) and video (via pyTiVo) streaming server.  I am continuing the slow process of ripping and encoding (MPEG4) my legally owned DVDs.

I then bought a gently used AirPort Extreme (AE) Base Station from a friend and along with an Apple Time Capsule (500GB) configured a WDS network. I attached a an HP USB printer to the AE base station effectively creating a wireless print server.  I bought an G-Drive Q 500GB firewire external drive for the Mac mini to store my music and I set the Mac min and MacBook to backup wirelessly (via Time Machine) to the TimeCapsule.

Apple Time Capsule
Image via Wikipedia

I bought a Apple AirPort Express on eBay and used the WDS to create a wireless mesh network. The AirPort Express is connected to the input jack of an Altec Lansing powered speaker system.  Using my iPod Touch and the Apple iPhone Remote app I am able to control the Mac mini and stream my music library to the powered speakers.

I am a big fan of Google and their services. A few years ago I purchase a number of domains for myself and my kids (the wife wanted nothing to do with it). Google Apps provides email, calendar, contacts list and other collaboration solutions (Google Docs, Google Video, Google Chat) to entities large and small. I have setup those domain to use those services. Google has also been good about integrating their services with OS X Leopard. I use Mail.app with Google IMAP for email, Google Calendar with iCal, and sync my Google contact list with AddressBook.  Read about how I did all of this here.

13

With all the media in one external Firewire drive, backups are easier, and I can connect the drive to another machine when the Mac mini needs to be replaced.  The Mac mini is running iTunes with the Bonjour service providing access to the music library and movie library to all the other iTunes enabled and TiVo devices in the house.  The Mac mini also has an iPod dock so that my wife and I can update our iPods.

The MacBook specs are:

  • 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo
  • 2GB RAM
  • SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
  • 802.11g AirPort and Bluetooth
  • 80GB HD
  • Mac OS X 10.5.6

In Spring 2009 I took advantage of Apple discounts to purchase a 20″ iMac for the kids and a White 13″ MacBook for my wife. I bought another 500 GB G-Drive Q and attached it to the iMac and moved all my photos and video to that drive.   Because my photo library is very important to me, I use a service called Backblaze to backup to the cloud.  Backblaze’s unique value offering is that they will send a USB driving containing my data to me at cost (about $189).  Just plug in the external drive and go.  You can read more about how I set this up here.

20 iMac

20

iMac specs:

  • 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
  • 4GB 800 MHz RAM
  • 250GB HD
  • Bluetooth, 802.11n AirPort
  • 500GB G-Drive Q External FireWire HD
  • SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
  • Mac OS X 10.5.6

Tagged as:

GAuthor: Khürt Williams
I'm a husband, a father to two very smart kids, an information security manager and a web developer. I'm a Mac geek who loves photography, hefe-weisse ale and Ethiopian coffee. I'm @khurtwilliams on twitter.
  • carlosabreu
    this is an amazing set up. currently im a college student, love computers and gadgets, and i own my first DSLR and i absolutely love it, it is sick. D300, with a 8-55mm Zoom-NIKKOR VR Image Stabilization Lens and a AF-S DX Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED perfect for newbies, and cant wait to push it to the limit and see what it can do. how can i find a photography club such as the one you mentioned on the ISO advantage article?
  • Carlos,
    Thanks. It took 5 years (and severe budgeting) to get that stuff pulled together.

    The D300 is awesome camera. As my photography skills develop I may upgrade from my D40 (assuming micro 4/3 format does not kill the DSLR).

    I found some local photo clubs through meetup.com. There is a club for every experience level and photography style.
  • Bob Campbell
    Khurt, I have just purchased a time capsule, I have similar setup to yours, however, when Installed TC the Airport utility that was installed was, 5.5. This new version does not have a WDS tab, the app. does appears to be the same in all other functions. How do you set up a WDS network with out a WDS tab?
  • Bob,
    All Time Capsule have the ability to use WDS. I have AirPort Utility 5.4.2 but that doesn't matter. If the tab is not showing up either you have a defective TC or defective software.
  • Nice post indeed! I have the 20" iMac too, but I only have a 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo & 1 GB 667MHz RAM version. I'd like to get a MacBook Pro and Apple TV soon. I have my 2G iPod Touch connected to the iMac, and I do believe iPods/iPhones synch via iTunes better on Macs than on PCs. Good to know we're both in the Mac camp. Now about you're camera, I'm on Team Canon. ;-)
  • I have a Nikon. No cult feeling as yet. I just wanted something with an interchangeable lens and more control than my Sony DSC-S70 could provide. A coworker recommended I look at Nikon and I bought the cheapest thing I could find, a D40. I cracked my kit lens when I slipped on a rock trying to get a shot. I replaced it the Nikkor 18-55 f/5.6 VR. I prefer prime lenses so I added the Nikkor 35mm f/1.7 to my kit. I also have the SB400 flash. Nothing else. No tripod (don't need if I have zoom with VR and a fast prime).

    If micro 4/3 takes off I'll invest in one of those. I like the smaller form factor of the Panasonic Lumix GF1 and the look is kind of nostalgic.
    <a href="http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/panasonic-...">" target="_blank">http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/panasonic-...
  • @Cesar Noel, I wish I could too! LOL. With the exception of the MacBook, the Nintento Wii and the Time Capsule, I bought all of it on eBay or with "birthday" money.
  • Nice Post. Wish I could afford this kind of Setup
blog comments powered by Disqus