New MacMini as dedicated music server - share mouse & keyboard with existing imac?

[stellablues]

Bill,

 

I don't think it makes a lot of difference. A month or two back I had a 10.6 MacBookPro remoted into a 10.5 G4, remoted into a 10.9 Mac Mini. All done with basic Mac screen sharing and no special sauce Easy and fun.

 

In that example were they only using internet sharing between the computers for connections or did they have wifi turned on?

 

With regard to the switch, I think superdad said that a switch was audible in his system and removing it made a nice difference. I want to try and get it working without if possible.

 

I have tried the direct VNC://192.168.2.2 approach even trying the different ports to no avail.

 

I agree the desktop mac mini is acting as the firewall keeping traffic on port 5900 from flowing to the music mini. internet sharing works because that setting on the desktop unit passes traffic through port 80 (or whatever that port is). Apple needs to give us some simple port forwarding as an option within internet sharing...

 

Or hopefully superdad can tell me how he got it working as I thought he was using this same config

 

Here's my install.

 

System: internet -> router -> wifi -> desktopmini / FW800 musicdrive -> ethernet (internet sharing) -> musicmini (boot from SD, wifi off)

 

Remote: laptop (screen sharing), ipad (remotervnc)

 

Issues: laptop & ipac can vnc to desktopmini. all 3 cannot vnc to musicmini. Turning on musicmini wifi allows me to see and connect from all 3.

 

If someone can point me to a tutorial on setting up SSH port forwarding to internet sharing machines that would be appreciated.

[wgscott]

I tunnel my vnc connections via ssh, using port 22. Try that.

[Paul R]

In that example were they only using internet sharing between the computers for connections or did they have wifi turned on?

 

With regard to the switch, I think superdad said that a switch was audible in his system and removing it made a nice difference. I want to try and get it working without if possible.

 

I have tried the direct VNC://192.168.2.2 approach even trying the different ports to no avail.

 

I agree the desktop mac mini is acting as the firewall keeping traffic on port 5900 from flowing to the music mini. internet sharing works because that setting on the desktop unit passes traffic through port 80 (or whatever that port is). Apple needs to give us some simple port forwarding as an option within internet sharing...

 

Or hopefully superdad can tell me how he got it working as I thought he was using this same config

 

Here's my install.

 

System: internet -> router -> wifi -> desktopmini / FW800 musicdrive -> ethernet (internet sharing) -> musicmini (boot from SD, wifi off)

 

Remote: laptop (screen sharing), ipad (remotervnc)

 

Issues: laptop & ipac can vnc to desktopmini. all 3 cannot vnc to musicmini. Turning on musicmini wifi allows me to see and connect from all 3.

 

If someone can point me to a tutorial on setting up SSH port forwarding to internet sharing machines that would be appreciated.

 

 

Ad ad hoc networking, which is what you are setting up, is terribly unstable.

 

I understand Alex hears a difference with an Ethernet switch in his system. I do not, and strongly recommend you do not takesmy word or anyone else's word for it- go and listen for yourself.

 

Then decide if the hassle of not using a switch is sonically worth it- for *you*.

[Vitor]

Just to not open another "which mac mini thread" and since the discussion is about mac mini, can any of you tell me if this configuration is "good enough" as my main music server: "Mac mini - Quad-core i7 2.3GHz, 4GB, 1TB, HD Graphics"

Also, the HDD of mac mini are "swapable"? Can i install an SSD later on the road (or even pre-installed)?

[Cycleman]

Just to not open another "which mac mini thread" and since the discussion is about mac mini, can any of you tell me if this configuration is "good enough" as my main music server: "Mac mini - Quad-core i7 2.3GHz, 4GB, 1TB, HD Graphics"

Also, the HDD of mac mini are "swapable"? Can i install an SSD later on the road (or even pre-installed)?

 

Basically good enough, but I'd install at least 8GB memory, or go to 16GB if the slight extra price is no problem for you.

 

Say if you use a music player like Audirvana Plus. As excellent as that app is for several elements of playing music, I've found that it's a bit of a memory hog and that over time -- say several hours playing, or even just sitting there with A+ running, it gobbles up memory.

 

So that's why I suggest that upgrade.

[kumakuma]

Basically good enough, but I'd install at least 8GB memory, or go to 16GB if the slight extra price is no problem for you.

 

Say if you use a music player like Audirvana Plus. As excellent as that app is for several elements of playing music, I've found that it's a bit of a memory hog and that over time -- say several hours playing, or even just sitting there with A+ running, it gobbles up memory.

 

So that's why I suggest that upgrade.

 

+1

 

More memory = more better

[Mike Pinkerton]

Say if you use a music player like Audirvana Plus. As excellent as that app is for several elements of playing music, I've found that it's a bit of a memory hog and that over time -- say several hours playing, or even just sitting there with A+ running, it gobbles up memory.

 

I assume this is because of the in-memory buffering of the next track(s), not because A+ is somehow poorly engineered or leaking memory. If memory is an issue, you can reduce the memory cache size in the preferences.

[Cycleman]

I assume this is because of the in-memory buffering of the next track(s), not because A+ is somehow poorly engineered or leaking memory. If memory is an issue, you can reduce the memory cache size in the preferences.

 

Maybe that is because of A+'s memory cache.

 

However, I just looked at the memory usage on my MAIN ALT system, which has A+ and iTunes running, but has been idle for about 6 hours.

 

And Activity Monitor shows 7GB of memory used.

[kumakuma]

Maybe that is because of A+'s memory cache.

 

However, I just looked at the memory usage on my MAIN ALT system, which has A+ and iTunes running, but has been idle for about 6 hours.

 

And Activity Monitor shows 7GB of memory used.

 

How high is the "Active" value?

[Daudio]

stella,

 

Originally Posted by Daudio

"I don't think it makes a lot of difference. A month or two back I had a 10.6 MacBookPro remoted into a 10.5 G4, remoted into a 10.9 Mac Mini. All done with basic Mac screen sharing and no special sauce..."

 

Originally Posted by stellablues

In that example were they only using internet sharing between the computers for connections or did they have wifi turned on?

 

 

The host macBook Pro was wired to my router, the other two were connected by WiFi (G). I may have had a cat6a cable between the G4 and MacMini, which would have preempted WiFi for the finial hop, but I can't recall if it was in place yet ??

 

Regardless, that was strictly an experiment in control, and has nothing to do with sound quality, or how I control things now