Mac Mini Dock For under £10 ($6)!

**mr2mac** · 10-11-2006, 04:26 PM

Hi guys,

Was a bit bored at home today so i'd thought i would make good use of my time to make a dock for the Mac mini.

I basically ripped off ideas from other people, so it looks a bit of a mish-mash. But it works, and it only costs £10!

Firstly I had to make a socket for the power switch so it could be powered on by the Carnetix P1900.

Then i transferred the position of the sockets by doing a rubbing of them using a pencil and paper, could have taken a photocopy of the mac , but i was lazy. I then stuck this transfer of the socket positions to a length of angled Aluminium. Then cut it out using a Dremel. I cut two slots in the alumininum so i could bend it around the mac. Then attached a cross member to hold it all together. I then fixed the plugs through there respective holes using Evo-stick Metal Epoxy Putty. And there you have it ,the dock is done

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I havn't put it in the car yet, it'll go in the glovebox.

Hope the pics look OK

See ya

**BarryWoods** · 10-11-2006, 06:10 PM

You didn't put in an ethernet port. Looks pretty good though.

**pepsibobby** · 10-11-2006, 07:02 PM

ethernet in your car? who ever heard of such a crzzy thing.

**SurgResDocMD** · 10-11-2006, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by pepsibobby

ethernet in your car? who ever heard of such a crzzy thing.

LOL very good point

**Jirka Jirout** · 10-12-2006, 03:07 AM

Originally Posted by pepsibobby

ethernet in your car? who ever heard of such a crzzy thing.

I have. I have a small ethernet switch under the rear seat and 4 ethernet outlets in the car.

Originally Posted by SurgResDocMD

LOL very good point

Not really a good point at all... If you do not want to take your computer out of the car for uploads of new data, the difference between 54Mb of a wi-fi connection (very theoretical 54Mb at that) and 1Gb of regular Ethernet is rather noticeable, especially if you are uploading 1GB+ movies and similar stuff.

**mr2mac** · 10-12-2006, 03:48 AM

No ethernet? Didn't think i'll need it, what do you use yours for Jirka? Do you link with other PCs or macs?

thanks

**Jirka Jirout** · 10-12-2006, 03:56 AM

Originally Posted by mr2mac

...Didn't think i'll need it, what do you use yours for Jirka? Do you link with other PCs or macs?

I mostly use it to upload new large stuff to the car - movies, music, system updates... I either use my PowerBook connected the the outlet in the armrest or run a 10m cable to my home network. And I plan to add a second mini to the car, mainly for watching movies and playing games (connected to the 17" LCD under the roof). When this is done, both computers will be linked by ethernet.

I can also route internet from WiFi network to the Ethernet.

**Bugbyte** · 10-12-2006, 07:57 AM

I didn't put ethernet in my dock either, but since it's a dock, removing the computer is pretty simple, LOL! Just take it in the house and plug it into the network.

Great job MR2Mac. I wish I'd thought of using the epoxy putty. No failures yet, but one of these days, I'm sure.

**mr2mac** · 10-12-2006, 11:15 AM

thanks bugbyte, need more vent holes i think though.

**BarryWoods** · 10-12-2006, 09:55 PM

I have a linksys wrt54gs running kismet drone. Don't have to worry about my laptop auto connecting to someone's wireless network and making me a felon.