MacMini - basic questions from an aspiring pc convert

Not having ever used a Mac i have some basic q's before i take the plunge and join the Apple world. I am considering purchase of a Mac Mini for the purpose of using connecting directly to the TV and streaming media from my NAS.
Currently have a QNAP NAS connected through the wireless router to my PC running XP, where i store videos, photos and music.
Q1: will the Mini be able to stream video/photo/music from my existing NAS drive (QNAP), given that i have setup and formatted the NAS from my PC? i.e. will the Mini be able to see and run the files from the NAS?
Q2: does the Mini have an optional acccessory 5.1 decoder if i wish to play a regular DVD and connect to a 5.1 home theater sound system?
Q3: any potential problems or issues that i should know about before i try to set this up.
Appreciate any help offerred.
/Fredrik

I use NAS in my home network system. My NAS is 2 bay- Raid 1 setting. I also set it up via Windows last year since the software came with the NAS only has Windows version (to be specific - XP and Vista 32 bit)
So far, I have no trouble to use it with Mac since they are all in the same network ID. My Power Mac, 2 mac mini, and mac book all can see and utilize it. That NAS is my main iTune and media server at home. - so read and write are fine.
The "format" for most of NAS in the market - is neither FAT nor NTFS. Actually, they use other - most likely Linux. That means - I can NOT remove those drives and stick into computer, as they can not be read via XP/Vista/OSX directly.
Did your NAS come with web-based capacity for the NAS?? If so, you can control the NAS via Mac too.
Regarding to you Q2 - which I have never tried.
Sam

Similar Messages

A basic question from a SQL Server convert

Hello:
I am new to Oracle coming in with a SQL server background. I wanted to create a stored procedure that returns a SELECT result set.
When I tried the following code:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE spTest
AS
BEGIN
SELECT
          Last_Name_C || ', ' || First_Name_C as Name_C, User_ID_C, Email_C, Phone_C
     FROM
          S_USER
     ORDER BY
          Name_C;
END;
I get an error message, "an INTO clause is expected in this SELECT statement"
How can I return the SELECT result set via a stored procedure?
Thanks.
Venki

SQL> create or replace function f return sys_refcursor as
2    c sys_refcursor;
3 begin
4    open c for select * from emp;
5    return c;
6 end;
7 /
Function created.
SQL> var c refcursor
SQL> exec :c := f
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> print c
EMPNO ENAME      JOB          MGR HIREDATE     SAL   COMM DEPTNO
7369 SMITH      CLERK       7902 17-DEC-80    800            20
7499 ALLEN      SALESMAN    7698 20-FEB-81   1600    300     30
7521 WARD       SALESMAN    7698 22-FEB-81   1250    500     30
7566 JONES      MANAGER     7839 02-APR-81   2975            20
7654 MARTIN     SALESMAN    7698 28-SEP-81   1250   1400     30
7698 BLAKE      MANAGER     7839 01-MAY-81   2850            30
7782 CLARK      MANAGER     7839 09-JUN-81   2450            10
7788 SCOTT      ANALYST     7566 09-DEC-82   3000            20
7839 KING       PRESIDENT        17-NOV-81   5000            10
7844 TURNER     SALESMAN    7698 08-SEP-81   1500      0     30
7876 ADAMS      CLERK       7788 12-JAN-83   1100            20
7900 JAMES      CLERK       7698 03-DEC-81    950            30
7902 FORD       ANALYST     7566 03-DEC-81   3000            20
7934 MILLER     CLERK       7782 23-JAN-82   1300            10
14 rows selected.
SQL> create or replace procedure p (p_c out sys_refcursor) as
2 begin
3    open p_c for select * from emp;
4 end;
5 /
Procedure created.
SQL> exec p(:c)
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
SQL> print c
EMPNO ENAME      JOB          MGR HIREDATE     SAL   COMM DEPTNO
7369 SMITH      CLERK       7902 17-DEC-80    800            20
7499 ALLEN      SALESMAN    7698 20-FEB-81   1600    300     30
7521 WARD       SALESMAN    7698 22-FEB-81   1250    500     30
7566 JONES      MANAGER     7839 02-APR-81   2975            20
7654 MARTIN     SALESMAN    7698 28-SEP-81   1250   1400     30
7698 BLAKE      MANAGER     7839 01-MAY-81   2850            30
7782 CLARK      MANAGER     7839 09-JUN-81   2450            10
7788 SCOTT      ANALYST     7566 09-DEC-82   3000            20
7839 KING       PRESIDENT        17-NOV-81   5000            10
7844 TURNER     SALESMAN    7698 08-SEP-81   1500      0     30
7876 ADAMS      CLERK       7788 12-JAN-83   1100            20
7900 JAMES      CLERK       7698 03-DEC-81    950            30
7902 FORD       ANALYST     7566 03-DEC-81   3000            20
7934 MILLER     CLERK       7782 23-JAN-82   1300            10
14 rows selected.
SQL>

Basic Questions from Prospective Lion Server Switcher

I have five servers I am running right now using Windows 2003 Server and various 3rd party packages.     Several years ago I became a Mac fan, moved all of my client based stuff to Mac, and now want to start moving my server based equipment to the OSX platform.
I stopped by my local Apple Store, and they had a version of OSX Lion Server running on a MacMini, but couldn't seem to answer the most basic of questions because as their business people stated "We are not Server Certified" ... they recommended I talk to an outside consultant to get these basic questions answered which seems a little extreme.
So I'm hoping the group can help.
(1) I read through most of the Lion Server Advanced Administrative manual.    Lion server appears from the manual to do most of what I need.   However, when I tried doing some of the functions in the manual on the demo Lion Server at the Apple Store, many of the functions I wanted to do did not seemed to either be installed, or their were buttons missing in the Server App.     I do not know if this was a permission level problem, because the account I setup for myself had administrative rights.
(2) In the mail app, it only appeared you could setup one mail domain.    It appeared you could setup virtual domains and users through the user app, but not through the mail domain itself?
(3) I could not find any where to enable DNS services.    The manual seems pretty straight forward in turning on DNS, but the Lion Server I saw had no DNS services running, or any way to enable them?
(4) Same for mailman listserv type function ... manual seems to be straight forward on enabling under the mail server, but again, no signs of the settings or enabling under the mail service.
(5) Under the mail app, didn't find any way to setup alternative SMTP ports ( I allow now Port 26 besides the standard Port 25 and SSL ports for my users.) ... I find port 26 gets past most firewalls at hotels etc.      Didn't see any way to control SMTP authentification too.
(6) Under the Lion Server tech description, it talk about a built in web editor, saw nothing of the kind.
So did the apple store have a limited install or am I missing something that the lion server manual does not match the capabilities of lion server.
Love to get a straight answer before purchasing hardware to replace 5 present machines.
Thank you.
David

Thanks for quick response.   Indeed, in hindsight, it appears that they had only installed the Server App, but not the Server Admin tools.
Unfortunately, I am not a system admin, but I played one on TV <grin>
All kidding aside ... I'm willing to learn, but would need most of the basics controlled through the GUI ... and then feel comfortable reading up and editting configuration files and running commands from the Terminal.
On this line, is there good documentation of this, or is this something that you know because you are familiar with Unix?    ie something like the alternate port issue ... is this something in the GUI, or something I would have to edit via Terminal?
Just trying to make an informed decision before jumping platforms.
Thanks
David

Basic questions from a new mozaic owner

I have some very basic questions about how to use the new mozaic 2G mp3 player. I bought the Mozaic because it has a speaker and sleep timer, but I'm finding it to be much harder to use than other mp3 players that I have had (Ipod shuffle, clix etc). This may reflect my failure to look in the right place but I have to say the "help" section isn't much help.
Here goes:
. I download podcasts to listen to during my morning run. WMP provides an easy to find place in its program, "recently added," which allows the user to just work with those files. As near as I can tell, Creative makes you wade through all of your tracks. Is there some way to create a file to which "recently added" tracks, or specific tracks, can be dumped? How about automatic tagging of these added files?
2. I have several thousand pictures on this hard dri've. Apparently, the Mozaic Centrale
Is going to copy all of them, which strikes me as a waste of space. Is there a way to shut this function off? I couldn't care less if a single photo was added to the centrale program (or whatever it's called). Is it really going to duplicate all of the jpg files?
3. I have the Zen Stone plus speaker which has served me very well. I had similar problems working with whatever Zen was calling its media player and wound up using WMP instead. I"d like to take a run at using the dedicated Zen media player....
I apologize for the basic nature of these questions, but the answers weren't obvious to me from the materials I was able to locate.
gba

sineadholly wrote:
Problem with speaker. I read you need to do a firmware update to get the speaker option on your product's menu so i've completely updated it, but still no option to switch speaker on, and won't just come on when i unplug the headphones, any ideas?
what exactly is the model of your Mozaic? Is it EZ 00, EZ 300 or plane ZEN Mozaic?

Basic questions from techie thicko with 'new' G4

I've looked but can't find the answers to these basic questions.
My new (reconditioned) computer as below came with just the operating systems and something called 'Cloner' plus some Utilities.
A) What is the best way to switch between OSX and Classic?
(It defaults to X on start-up and I can get to X from Classic by re-starting pressing 'x'. If that's the right way to do it, what is the approved way of getting into Classic?)
B) I'm not sure (after reading about it!) what I can do with Cloner and how.
C) I have AppleWorks on OS9. Can I update this for OSX? Failing this, is there a Software Download that will give me a basic DTP facility until I can afford to buy an advanced programme? I also have Pagemaker 7 in Classic.
D) I have been transferring stuff to Classic from my iMac DV 9.2.2 with my card reader and this seems to work well. Anything to watch out for?
There's more but I can't impose on members' kindness too much!
For future reference, is it possible to post pictures on these boards and if so how please? I have Photoshop and hosting sites.
Sorry to be a pain but I really am an idiot about techie stuff.
Thanks for any help.

I'm not sure what Cloner does. It sounds as if it may clone the hard drive, a bit like Carbon Copy Cloner:
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
I'm wondering whether it was just used to put the operating systems and utilites onto the drive in the first place when they reconditioned the computer. Perhaps they use a 'master' drive and just clone it to the drives in the computers they're reconditioning, rather than installing everything separately and repeatedly.
I think version 6 of AppleWorks runs under both OS 9 and OS X natively. If you have an earlier version, I'm not sure whether it's a free downloadable upgrade or whether you have to pay for it.
I'm sure the card reader works fine, although you could network the two computers together with an ethernet cable and create a small network. With two computers you just need a crossover cable to create a crossover network:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106658
If you're thinking of keeping your iMac, that may be a better long term solution. You could then use the iMac as your OS 9 machine and the PowerMac as your OS X machine if you wanted to.

Basic questions from new iMac owner

What exactly should I buy for Time Machine backups (I have 27 inch iMac with 8 gb memory). Also can I migrate data directly to my iMac from my Dell All-in-One, including Itunes music library? What type of connector best to use?

You should buy an external disk that uses the usb3 interface (assuming your iMac is new). Use the disk first with your Dell. Format it as NTFS if required, put your itunes folder on it, put your documents folder on it, put your pictures folder on it, .....basically get your stuff on the drive.
Move the disk to the mac. Now, copy the iTunes folder in the Music folder. Place everything inside the documents folder inside the iMac's documents folder, put the pictures folder inside your iMac's pictures folder, ...basically move your stuff to the appropreiate iMac folder.
Now start up iTunes and it will see the old library and all will be fine. If any of your album, apps, movie artwork looks weird, simply close iTunes go into the cache folder inside the iTunes folder and delete the old cache files. Restart iTunes and the artwork will look OK.
You can also open iPhoto and import all the photos from your old picture folder.
Finally when you are happy that all your stuff is in the right place. Reformat the drive as hfs journaled, name the drive Backup, and point time machine to it from system preferences. You can format the drive using disk utilitiy which is inside your applications/utility folder.
It's really not that hard to convert. Don't worry about applications you had on the Dell. They won't work. You just need your data files. Data is data so all will be well.
Good luck

A few basic questions from a new user - backups, moving files, sharing

I'm a Mac user considering getting an iPad. I'm hoping someone can clue me in to some basic aspects of the experience:
1) are backups easy? can you "clone" it (the way I do with my desktop and laptop) so that everything (content, settings, preferences, etc.) can be restored exactly in the event something happens to it?
2) how does one move files to it? Specifically, PDFs - I have a ton of PDFs I plan to be reading on this thing. Does it show up as a drive (drag-and-drop) when connected to my desktop machine, or does it work through a special conduit or? Does it have a filesystem we can see?
3) is there any notion of "users" - can multiple people share it and have their own sets of preferencs settings/content?
4) is the iPad 2 date still best estimated as April? I need it for a trip in mid-March and I don't want to buy the 1st model if the second is coming out shortly thereafter. Is there any likelihood of having it be available in the first week of March? If not, is there a good place (on-line) to rent one for a week perhaps?
thanks in advance!
Mike

1, yes they are easy, but they are not a clone. When connected to iTunes on your computer you just tell it to backup. That will backup your notes, settings, app data, but not synced data (i.e. not your music, films or contacts and calendars synced from your computer).
2, via iTunes, not as a drive. PDFs can be dragged into iTunes and then synced to the iPad to go into the (free downloadable) iBooks app. Alternatively you can buy an app like Goodreader which allows you to transfer PDFs wirelessly from your computer (can also be used to read/store PDFs emailed as attachments).
3, no. There is only one set of options. If you have children (or even other adults) then you can set a passcode to restrict access to, for example, Safari, iTunes, or the ability to install and delete other apps. But it's basically a single user setup.
4, speculation as to what Apple may, or may not, be planning is prevented by the terms of use of these forums. All that can be said here is that no new version has been announced, and when/if one is it will be on the apple.com frontpage. You should ask yourself whether the current one meet most, if not all, of your requirements, not whether some unannnounced item might.

Some basic questions from a mac newbie

hi,
i have been using linux and windows all this while, and recently began using an apple too. have some simple questions here that i hope to get some answers for.
1. is there something similar to /etc/hosts in linux where i can add the IP address of a server? this is for me to use the 'ssh' command in the terminal
2. when i open up an application, say safari or chrome, i want the window to fill the entire screen automatically, instead of having to drag the bottom right of the window to fill the screen. how to configure that?
3. when i close an application by clicking on the 'x' at the top left, why is it that it still appears in the list when i press command+tab? to remove the application from the list, i have to right click on its icon on the dock, then click 'quit'. this is rather troublesome.
appreciate any help!

1. is there something similar to /etc/hosts in linux where i can add the IP address of a server? this is for me to use the 'ssh' command in the terminal
The /etc/hosts file is there, but the /etc/ folder is hidden. You can use the Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities/) to access it via Unix, or could enter "open /etc" in the Terminal to open that folder in the Finder.
However, I'm not sure how this relates to ssh... I have not needed to modify that file, yet I can ssh all I need to. Are you trying to connect to your new Mac via ssh, or connect to other machines from the Mac via ssh?
2. when i open up an application, say safari or chrome, i want the window to fill the entire screen automatically, instead of having to drag the bottom right of the window to fill the screen. how to configure that?
Just drag the window out to full-screen and the browser should remember and open new windows at that size in the future. There are also some utilities (one called "Right Zoom" IIRC?) that will make the zoom button (green + button) behave more like the Windows zoom button.
3. when i close an application by clicking on the 'x' at the top left, why is it that it still appears in the list when i press command+tab?
Applications shouldn't quit just because you close their last window, unless the application's entire user interface is contained within that window. That is the case with ALL Windows apps, since there's no global menu bar, but only in some Mac apps. This is something that always ticked me off big-time with Windows... there have been times when I carelessly closed a window I didn't need anymore, but wanted to keep using the app, and then had to wait for it to load again. That won't happen on the Mac.
If this bothers you, just use the key combination command-Q to quit apps.

Basic Question from a new guy

Earlier question by me brought a response from Priya (thanks Priya) that I should post the results of querying my lsnrctl settings.
How?
I can run the query from DOS and get a pretty impressive output, but how do I save the output and then incorporte into a message such as this?
thanks
frank

Hi ,
It's simple ...
Just riht click and select "Mark". Then press <Ctrl>+<C> and then <Ctrl>+<V> here to paste it.....
LSNRCTL> status
Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC_FOR_XE)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
Alias                     LISTENER
Version                   TNSLSNR for 32-bit Windows: Version 10.2.0.1.0 - Pr
ction
Start Date                17-╓┼┬ -2007 16:25:16
Uptime                    0 days 1 hr. 52 min. 34 sec
Trace Level               offRegards,
Simon

Basic questions from a dummy

hi i have recently installed osx10.4.5. and have some problems any helpw ould be appreciated:
1 - i use entourage for email and contacts: it is extremely slow switching from email to calendar or to address book. any ideas why?
2 - my whole machine seems in creasingly slow, and i seem to have used up 45 of the 60GB on my hard drive. i suspect there is a lot of duplication. i already trashed several 1.5Gb abcksups of my Microsoft user data. any other ideas on how to reduce the amount of useless stuff on my machine and increase its speed. (or are the two related at all?)
3 - i'd like to synch my palm with entourage but invariably hit problems. does anyon e understand how isuync works ? can you piont me to some useful isntructions on how to sync - can i use applemail/address book/ical isntead of entourage?
thanks for any thoguhts on how to make my machine fast and smarter.
peter

Hi, Pete. Welcome to the Discussions.
By the numbers:
1 & 3: For these issues with Entourage, the best place to search or post for help is the Entourage group you can find on the Microsoft Mac Support - Newsgroups page. These are Google Groups with active participation from Entourage users, including a variety of expert users.
I don't mean to send you somewhere else, but I've found numerous answers there for folks with questions related to MS products. Accordingly, it has often proved to be the first, best place to look for answers to questions such as you are asking.
2: See my following FAQs:
- "Freeing Space on your Mac OS X startup disk."
- "Tuning Mac OS X Performance."
- "Problems from insufficient RAM and free hard disk space."
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X
Note: The information provided in the link(s) above is freely available. However, because I own The X Lab™, a commercial Web site to which some of these links point, the Apple Discussions Terms of Use require I include the following disclosure statement with this post:
I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

Basic Questions from an I-Pod Newbie

OK, I admit it. As far as the I-Pod scene goes, I just came out of my cave, as will be evident fromm the following question that I hope someone will have the patience in addressing.
Can I mix songs onto an I-Pod that I download from the I-Tunes store with ones from a regular store-bought music CD?

No, you can do everything within iTunes. You have 2 options in iTunes to manage your iPod, manual sync or auto sync. Auto sync means that anytime you dock your iPod to the computer, any new content in itunes will be automatically synced to the iPod. Manual, you will have to drag & drop new content from iTunes to the iPod. The iPod tutorials sound like something you should review.
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod101/

A really basic question from a medic who has no place on this forum!

Hi
I am writing to beg your indulgence as to my lack of knowledge and to ask for help with what I think is a simple problem, but I am sure has a complicated solution!
I have created a self contained flash program on prescribing to help doctors improve their skills and to make less errors.
I did this in powepoint and used a program call PPT to flash by wondershare to create the flash programme.
Now that the restriction has been eased, I would love to convert this programme to an iphone / ipad app, as well as for other portable pay mediums.
Is it possible to do this with what I have created? What I mean is, would I need to create and code from scratch to then package as an iphone app, or can it be ripped from what I have already created?
If this is possible, what software do I need to purchase to do this?
thanks so much for all your help
Morris

Since no one has answered you, I thought I would chime in in case any of it is useful. I am not 100% certain of what I say here, but it's probably the case.
I have not used any PPT to SWF software like you mention and am not familiar with it. But from my knowledge, if it is published to a FlashPlayer 10.x SWF (which I doubt - because many of these swf decompiler programs use older Flashplayer versions) then yes, in theory you should be able to do it.
If that is the case you would need:
1) an Apple iPhone Developer's account that you buy and get accepted for
2) Flash CS5
3) iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad as a testing device
4) iTunes synced to your device
and then you could run the Packager with the appropriate DRM signing (from your Apple Dev acct) and turn the SWF into an IPA. Then you use iTunes to sync the app to the device and install it.
That all being said, if your original app was done in something (forgive me for saying this) as clunky as Powerpoint (it's not exactly a great rich interactive development tool) then it could easily be redone natively in Flash itself - coding it in ActionScript 3 and then create a SWF itself and then export that to the iOS devices. That way you have one less translation occuring. It seems like you are asking for trouble to convert PPT to SWF and then to IPA, and I would guess depending on what you've done, either easy enough to do natively in flash, or possibly even if the double-porting you suggest *does* work then it is unlikely Apple would approve it for the app store if it doesn't meet the new app approval criteria.
You probably need to find a local Flash developer to help you with this.
Hope that helps

Very basic question from beginner

Hello,
In Photoshop Elements I can only save a slide show as wmv or
pdf file. Is it possible to export/convert the photoshop slide show
directly to flash (swf) format? If not, how should I proceed in
order to get the slide show as a flash file (swf)?
I have downloaded Flash Media Server 3 from Adobe.
I would need some very detailed advice, because I'm a TOTAL
beginner! Thanks in advance!

Well I think since you saved the file. Open up Flash and then
click file new. Then click file>import>to library> and
then import your file from there.

Basic question from a neophyte re Audigy 2 ZS notebook and speak

I just purchased a new notebook, my first. I included an Audigy 2 ZS with the order because the sales person?led me to believe?that I could get superior sound from the notebook when I plugged a couple of external speakers to the card. I thought I would eventually run down to Fry's and get a couple of speakers. I finally got around to opening the Audigy package and installing the software and drivers. The sound through the accompanying earpieces is great, but when I read the minimal documentation regarding how to hook up speakers, I came to the sinking realization that I didn't really know what the heck I had purchased. It appears, at least from the Quick Start diagrams, that you can't just plug a couple of speakers into the card and, wholla!, have this great sound. You have to plug the card into an?powered ?sound system or home theater in order to enjoy external speakers. After all that, I guess my question is this. Is there a set of small speakers of some kind that you can plug directly into the 2 ZS?I wanted portability, something I could travel with. ?I have looked over the diagrams and Knowledge Base speaker stuff and it doesn't even cover such an approach. Thanks for any enlightenment you might be able to provide this confused newbie.

? A soundfont cannot contain alle drumkits, and it is not nessecary at all. I dont know a soundfont bank wich contains a complete set of drumkits, too. There are only some soundfonts like the crysis soundfont (to big for its "bad" quality) wich have some dummy-drumkits/ entrys or slightly modified sounds for each than usual. If all drumnkits would be stored in high-quality, the soundfont would be huge... Every synth i know uses the standard drumkit, if the chosen one is not existent. This is not optimal, but it will guarantee, that the the MIDI file or Program/ game will work. The KXDrivers wont do this. SO they are not useable for General MIDI. Only for MIDIs and soundfonts fitting together. But thats not the point of General MIDI. CMSS isnt working with these drivers, too. Dolby decoding/ encoding isnt possible with them, either. These drivers are not bad, but if you want a completely working card, KXdrivers are worthless.

Basic question from a beginner

I am looking for a solution to this problem: I wish to record some classical piano for an audition DVD. I have a video camera, but the dynamic range and fidelity of the microphone are not very good. I'd like to simply strip out the audio and replace it with input from a good microphone. (I have a good microphone and USB input for it.) The audio/video syncing has to be seamless. In the past I've recorded audio using GarageBand, and I've used iMovie from camera input (A&V) for separate projects. I hear the problem is that GarageBand samples at 44 kHz (and cannot be adjusted) while video is normally recorded a 48 kHz. What do I need in terms of software to do this job? Would you recommend FC Express, strip out the audio, and find some audio recording software that can sample at 48 kHz? Any recommendations? An economical solution would be nice. I appreciate the help in getting me started.
Message was edited by: joelmg

Does your camera allow use of an external mic? That would be the simplest solution.
If you need to record the audio separately, you can use the QuickTime Player to convert the sample rate to match that of your Final Cut Sequence, though lots of folks have used 44.1kHz audio successfully in FCE. (I think you need QT Pro in order to have the sample rate conversion capability.)
As you begin recording, include a clap or some big sound to aid you in synching the two audio sources. Once you get everything recorded, I'd bring the video into your Timeline with the camera's audio, then import the external audio, synch up the audio sources, then unlink the camera audio from the video and delete that audio.

MacMini - basic questions from an aspiring pc convert

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for