Looks like there's really no front ends for Mac OS X

I hope this post doesn't come off like I'm whining or *****ing. It's just an observation. I'd like to run OS X on my Mac Mini for my carputer but I can't find a front end.

Looks like there are only two possible choices right now. One still under development and one that has stopped.

Qcar looks really promising but all I can run is a 10 minute timed demo of the product. I PM'd the author asking to be a beta tester and never got any response. He's MIA from the main thread about the software too. So, if I want to complete my project in the coming weeks then this product may not be an option.

AMP seems decent but the development has stopped as far as I can tell. Don't want to commit to a product that (likely) has no future.

All the front ends mentioned in the sticky are incomplete, dead or have 404 or parked pages when I follow the links.

Am I missing something or is this an accurate summary of what's available today (early May 2007)?

you have pretty much summed it up as far as offical front ends go. qcar is the one with the most potential, but amp works really well for the most part. there are other options, for one you could use the program parrallels, running in coherance mode will let you use any front end from windows basically as an app on mac. this does require a copy of windows to though. you can also use native mac apps such as itunes and front row. both work pretty well with the use of a rotary prehperial such as a griffen powermate or nulooq. you can also write applescripts to help make these apps more car friendly. if worse comes to worse you could always do a dual boot with a new intel mini.

hope this helps somewhat in your decision.

He's not MIA from the main thread. I think he's been pretty busy, though.

Whither a front end or not, the Intel Mini is a good choice for the car. Run Windows on it until an OSX compelling alternative shows up. It's a good hardware package.

i would go with what bugbyte said.

Unfortunately beta testing is not something that should be taken lightly and as the programme is still in developement, it is not something that can really be considered active as a usable front end.

The product is very good, and is getting better all the time. There are a few beta testers on here, that do feed back to QCar direct, but please understand that it is not something that should be moaned about. These guys are working really hard, but do have other commitments as well.

The end product will be worth the wait, they are already talking to other parties about software being intergrated into the system as well.

Please be patient.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Whither a front end or not, the Intel Mini is a good choice for the car. Run Windows on it until an OSX compelling alternative shows up. It's a good hardware package.

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Couldn't agree more. The hardware is excellent. I've got Windows / Parallels / Boot Camp already set up on there so I can run any combination that I want.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by www.workingcars

but please understand that it is not something that should be moaned about. These guys are working really hard, but do have other commitments as well.

The end product will be worth the wait, they are already talking to other parties about software being intergrated into the system as well.

Please be patient.

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I don't mean to sound like I'm moaning. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the effort that everyone puts into their software and hardware development. Right now I just need to narrow my focus and pick what software I'm going to start off with so I can finally get around to installing all this hardware :D

As much as we mac-o-philes may hate it, if you run something like Road Runner under Windows, the car PC looks nothing like the OS it runs on. My main complaint with Windows is that it is technically difficult to do a lot of things. Although mucking about with the Mac in your car can also be a challenge, I've found that OSX makes things simpler than Windows (I've run both on my car) and it seems more stable.

100% agree with Bugbyte.