Mac Mini MINI

**Jirka Jirout** · 08-12-2005, 08:33 AM

Originally Posted by agentofchange

12v battery -> Pure Sine wave inverter -> UPS -> Mac

Many UPS's have a USB connection to the mac and management software. You can set it up so that when the UPS looses power it sends a message to the machine to shut down.

You do not need an UPS for that. The way you described it, you would end up with some 50% efficiency or even less.

A simple microcontroller with one input line and RS232 port will do the job. They can be easily programmed in C and the program should not take more than 20 lines. Just watch the input pin and send a word/sequence of bytes over the RS232 when the pin goes high (or low). On the Mac side another simple program would listen on the serial port for a pre-defined word and perform "shutdown now" when it receives it. I used to do this back in 2002 in the first version of my install and it worked without any problems.

**agentofchange** · 08-12-2005, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by Jirka Jirout

You do not need an UPS for that. The way you described it, you would end up with some 50% efficiency or even less.

A simple microcontroller with one input line and RS232 port will do the job. They can be easily programmed in C and the program should not take more than 20 lines. Just watch the input pin and send a word/sequence of bytes over the RS232 when the pin goes high (or low). On the Mac side another simple program would listen on the serial port for a pre-defined word and perform "shutdown now" when it receives it. I used to do this back in 2002 in the first version of my install and it worked without any problems.

You are right, but for a lot of people this is out of their league.

Skills required:

1. Coding (and interface with)
2. Electronics
3. Possible mucking around with RS232 to USB

Or they can buy a cheap UPS with USB and the software is all done for them.

**FireAnt** · 08-12-2005, 12:22 PM

I switched mine to use the sleep mode which is initiated by the Carnetix power supply for the Mac Mini. It works great! I don't know why I ever wanted it to shut down. It's awesome to have music playing right where I left off and no delay. It does look like some one is finding a solution to powering it off in another thread "shuting down the Mac Mini" using Seepwatcher.

Mike

**mutilator** · 08-16-2005, 06:56 AM

your an F***ing genious
do you know the part number of that cup holder?

btw im on my 3rd mini now

tom.

**FireAnt** · 08-16-2005, 07:55 AM

Thanks, I like your screen in dash too. I don't know the part number but someone ordered thiers from E-Bay Germany at this link http://cgi.ebay.it/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...e=STRK:MEWN:IT

**mutilator** · 08-16-2005, 11:30 AM

cheers dude. im not sure weather im going to move the climate control knobs and stuff or not yet :s
thats why i like your idea.

we will see.

tom.

**laimk** · 08-18-2005, 11:30 PM

FireAnt,

which rayming GPS receiver you use for your Mac? Bluetooth or usb?
i tried to use my bluetooth gps recevier with my powerbook, i failed to connect them.

**FireAnt** · 08-19-2005, 07:42 AM

Originally Posted by laimk

FireAnt,

which rayming GPS receiver you use for your Mac? Bluetooth or usb?
i tried to use my bluetooth gps recevier with my powerbook, i failed to connect them.

I use the USB one. It was a little dificult to get working in the beginning. I had to go through setting permissions with osx. Now it seems to work fine. But, the route 66 software still sucks.

Mike

**fiddy** · 08-23-2005, 10:39 PM

Do you still use the stock radio for the sound? If so how do you run it? Did the monitor come with mac software?

**FireAnt** · 08-24-2005, 09:00 PM

Yes, I still use the stock radio for sound. It has an auxillary input for the sound to come from the Mac Mini. I also have the steering wheel controls for the stock radio that allow me to adjust the volume. I down loaded the USB drivers for the touch screen from the internet. They were compatible with OSX

Mike