CANDELAIR PREF TOOLS PRO
CANDELAIR PREF TOOLS TV
CANDELAIR PREF TOOLS MAC

The Apple Remote supposedly doesn’t work very well with Snow Leopard, according to various reports and the Plex startup screen. Remote Buddy has built in actions for many common media center applications, including Boxee, Plex, VLC, and even Firefox. These functions are very helpful particularly when Boxee crashes (which it seems to do quite frequently). It extends the functionality of the remote – you just hold the menu button for a second or so and a separate menu pops up that allows you to perform all sorts of tasks (called “Behaviours” in the Remote Buddy world…yes, they are British) such as opening applications, rebooting the system, adjusting the volume, and even operating the mouse cursor with the remote control. However, I wanted to be able to start a few applications, have a virtual mouse, and perform a few other system-related tasks without the assistance of SSH or VNC, so I installed Remote Buddy. If you want to completely live in the Boxee (or Plex) world, this is all you need, really. The Apple Remote has 7 buttons – up, down, left, right, center, Menu, and Play/Pause. I chose to use the standard Apple Remote control since my primary usage of this machine will be to run Boxee and it doesn’t require a lot of functionality to use to the fullest. JollysFastVNC (not necessary if your WiFi connection is better than mine).MacPorts for all those missing standard UNIX command-line utilities that Apple forgot to include (wget, curl, watch, git, unrar, etc.).I was only a few bucks, but still… Software:

CANDELAIR PREF TOOLS MAC

I stupidly purchased a MiniDVI->DVI adapter so I could plug my monitor into the Mac Mini for setup, but the Mac Mini comes with this adapter already. Mini Displayport Male and USB Male Audio to HDMI Female Converting Adapter.If you want digital audio to go over HDMI, you could get one of these instead of the MiniDVI->HDMI and 1/8″->RCA cables: Barnum would be proud).ĦFT 3.5mm Stereo Male to 2RCA Male Cable For short runs, as long as the cable is up to spec, there is no difference in visual and audio quality between a $3 Monoprice cable and a $130 Monster cable (P.T. Monoprice has several of them starting as cheap as $3. Western Digital Elements 1.5TB External HD (WDBAAU0015HBK) Because of the corporateperks account, I was able to get this for $17.00. Amazon has them for a little cheaper than the Apple Store. Because I have a account, I was able to get this for $563.00.

The Mac Mini is a late-2009 model, with a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 160GB Internal HD, and 2GB of RAM…the most basic model they offer. I’ve provided a bunch of links down below that go into more elaborate setups, including using the Mini as an over-the-air HD tuner and DVR.

CANDELAIR PREF TOOLS TV

The configuration described below is the one I settled on based on my existing TV and sound system (both low-end, but adequate for me). Somehow, I turned into an Apple Fanboy over the last couple years.

CANDELAIR PREF TOOLS PRO

Ok, it wasn’t that hard, given that I already own a 2006 15″ MacBook Pro, a 24″ iMac, and use a 15″ MacBook Pro at work. So, after much deliberation I mentally justified the Apple tax and ponied up for a Mac Mini (with Snow Leopard). There may be some hacks out there to get it working, but honestly my day job is configuring and administering clusters of Linux machines and I really didn’t feel like giving myself headaches for my television. However, after much research and with the advice of some helpful coworkers, I learned that Netflix doesn’t work under Linux. Originally, my plan was to purchase one of the many inexpensive ($200-300) media center PCs available or something like the Dell Zino, which along with Linux, seemed like a perfect solution.

Candelair pref tools