It's tempting.

Post #333,173 by Another Scott 9/26/10 8:55:23 PM Reply	It's tempting. I just got a Mac Mini Server so I'm aware they're good boxes. (I haven't set it up yet.) I don't think it would be a good fit for her, though. As I said to Greg above, I'll try the iPad and see how it goes. If it doesn't work out for her, I can use it, and I'll cross the next bridge as it happens. Thanks. Best of luck with your Mom! Cheers, Scott.
Post #334,648 by Another Scott 10/22/10 10:03:51 PM Reply	Finally did the iPad unboxing. I got the 32GB WiFi + 3G model a few weeks ago and finally found the time to set it up. It's an amazing little box. I have it in an Otterbox Commuter case which seems pretty good. Putting the screen protector on wasn't too difficult. Of course, I had to install the latest iTunes on my XP laptop - that took half of forever. Registration of the iPad was fairly painless. I downloaded several free apps. Setting up WiFi was trivial. It connects and runs well with our home network. I had to Sync again for the downloaded apps to install, and it took a while. Osmos is very neat - it's a physics-based inelastic collision game where you're a cell. So far, I'm very impressed. One annoyance is that it doesn't charge through my laptop's USB port - I have to use the charging adapter and the USB cable (dunno if that's the way it always works or if I've got weak ports). Now to figure out how to set it up so that my mom doesn't drain my credit card by downloading half the internet, and to decide when to start the 3G service... :-) Cheers, Scott.
Post #334,659 by Bman 10/23/10 12:34:46 AM Reply	Re: Finally did the iPad unboxing. Great!! Your mom will love it I love mine you can not charge it with a laptop it takes more to charge then an ipod use the wall charger video uses the most power just playing on the web the power will last for days "Pictures are better then words because some words are big and hard to understand" Peter Griffin (Family Guy)
Post #334,665 by static 10/23/10 8:24:13 AM Reply	Thoughts on charging. There was an article a few months ago about a little company who figured out how to make their battery-powered emergency USB charger work on iPods. And then again on newer iPods. And then again on even newer iPods. Turns out Apple are playing somewhat with the USB electrical current rules and use specific resisters across the datalines in their charging things to tell the iDevice when it can take its (usually) motza charging current. That's why it won't charge on a laptop: it's made so it can't. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Post #334,667 by Another Scott 10/23/10 3:03:48 PM Reply	First annoyance - Hangs on syncing with my XP laptop. I bought a movie and a music video and some other stuff, then tried to sync it. It trundled for a while, but there was no disk activity. Then it gave up with an error popup with lots of references to 0xE8000065 http://discussions.a...=2088612&tstart=0 I'm trying it with a D-Link powered USB hub now. It seems to be doing something (~ 150 kB/s)- we'll see how it goes... :-/ Cheers, Scott.
Post #334,674 by folkert 10/23/10 6:37:19 PM Reply	Use a Mac. it'll work much better.
Post #334,675 by Another Scott 10/23/10 7:13:05 PM Reply	Read my mind. It's been a busy day. Our new LG washer and dryer were delivered this afternoon, and I'm finally setting up my MacMini Server at the moment. :-) It's been pretty painless so far, but I don't have much idea of what I'm doing - network-admin-wise. It's looking for updates now. Gotta figure out how to tell it our Windows Workgroup name (not "Workgroup")... Once the Mini is configured, I'll try doing the iTunes Syncing to the iPad - as you say, I expect it'll be painless. This Mini is amazing. It's a 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo with 4 GB of RAM and includes OS X Server with unlimited client licenses. It was something like $750 (refurbished at Apple) plus tax and shipping. I've got it standing up on edge on a shelf with my monitor. It's tiny! About $5 for a DVI cable to connect to my HP LP2475W (the Server comes with a HDMI to DVI adapter), a Logitech USB mouse, and a MB110LL/A aluminum keyboard and it's good to go. More later. Cheers, Scott.
Post #334,677 by Bman 10/23/10 7:47:21 PM Reply	Re: Read my mind. My 1st mac was a mini and I loved it it had the G4 chip Let me know hoe the mini server is I think you will like it "Pictures are better then words because some words are big and hard to understand" Peter Griffin (Family Guy)
Post #336,497 by Another Scott 11/30/10 11:17:46 PM Reply	TheReg review of MacMini Server. http://www.reghardwa...mini_server_2010/ I like it. My earlier complaints about fiddling with CUPS to configure remote access to the attached printer was before I discovered "Server Admin". As you might suspect, just about everything can be done via the GUI tools without messing with CUPS and the like directly. It's a quick, nearly silent, and unobtrusive little box that consumes hardly any power (compared to my previous dual-core Opteron box). It's hard to beat the features, especially for the price I paid ($850+ shipping and tax for a refurb from Apple). Cheers, Scott.
Post #336,688 by crazy 12/4/10 6:45:25 AM Reply	Thanks I've just recommended it.
Post #334,703 by Another Scott 10/24/10 1:17:16 PM Reply	Second annoyance - Refreshes on returning to Safari page The fact that it only has 256MB of ram really shows up with Safari. I haven't had any trouble with pages not rendering yet, but if you have more than a few pages on the Safari screen, then when you switch between them a refresh is triggered. E.g. You start a reply here, but want to check something with Google. You start up a Google session, get the info you need, return to the posting screen and watch your composition get wiped by the refresh. :-( Some have said if you only have 2 or so sites active then it doesn't do the refresh. I dunno the limit for sure... This is why Apps should be better than unoptimized web pages - the footprint should be smaller and there should be less download traffic. It's still an amazing gizmo. Cheers, Scott. (Posted with iPad.)
Post #334,706 by Bman 10/24/10 3:45:52 PM Reply	Re: Second annoyance - Refreshes on returning to Safari page That may change with the ISO 4.2 up date in NOV "Pictures are better then words because some words are big and hard to understand" Peter Griffin (Family Guy)
Post #334,707 by static 10/24/10 4:00:55 PM Reply	I think this might be partly Webkit's fault. I've noticed both in Chrome and the Android browser that it will take almost any excuse to refresh the page. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.

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