Mac Mini MINI - Page 5

Jirka Jirout · 08-12-2005, 09:33 AM

Quote: 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, 11:01 AM

Quote: 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, 01:22 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, 07:56 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, 08:55 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, 12:30 PM

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 · 08-19-2005, 12:30 AM

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, 08:42 AM

Quote: 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, 11:39 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, 10:00 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

Montanaja · 09-22-2005, 02:06 AM

Could you post sketch of how you modified the cup holder?

bagwellfive · 09-23-2005, 08:25 PM

swing away screen...
best idea I've seen yet here

docjohnboy · 01-07-2006, 03:59 AM

I love the look of this, however I keep going back to the theft concerns. I'm getting a security system in my MINI, but if the screen is just out there like that I would think it would be easy for someone to break the glass and grab it even with the alarm. I don't want to move my head unit down like the other MINI screen mod I saw. I wish I could fold it out of the glove compartment, but I haven't seen anyone do that on these forums yet. Maybe I need to look harder.

Thanks for sharing though. I'm just thinking aloud.

naeemi · 09-30-2007, 09:54 AM

Damn... it's really beautifull, it's my dream to got them.

hanzov69 · 06-27-2008, 04:48 PM

I will be attempting a similar install in the next few weeks (2006 Cooper S).

I'll be using the OEM cupholder add-on and an "updated" lilliput monitor purchased from MP3Car (Hi Heather!).

I promise I will document the heck out of the build process, for the curious.

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