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Resolved Is it possible to a Mac Mini without a monitor and Back to My Mac?

D

darcyvoutt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 3, 2014
3
0
Right now I have an old MacBook Pro 2010 model that nearing the end of it's life cycle. I've been thinking of setting up some kind of media server to do all my torrenting and so forth, potentially also some dev work but not sure.

I am using Back to My Mac a lot to screen share, download and unpack torrents. Was wondering if I could do the same with my Mac Mini even if it wasn't connected to a monitor.

I really like Back to My Mac as I start torrents when I'm out of the house but have it all being done at home where I have fiber-optic. :D

Will this work? Is there a better implementation I'm not thinking of?
 
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drsox

drsox

macrumors 68000
Apr 29, 2011
1,706
201
Xhystos
darcyvoutt said:
Right now I have an old MacBook Pro 2010 model that nearing the end of it's life cycle. I've been thinking of setting up some kind of media server to do all my torrenting and so forth, potentially also some dev work but not sure.

I am using Back to My Mac a lot to screen share, download and unpack torrents. Was wondering if I could do the same with my Mac Mini even if it wasn't connected to a monitor.

I really like Back to My Mac as I start torrents when I'm out of the house but have it all being done at home where I have fiber-optic. :D

Will this work? Is there a better implementation I'm not thinking of?
Click to expand...

Be aware of the "Black Screen" issue. See : https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1683058/
You may have to add a dongle/resistor to fool the GPU.

I would also vote for VNC (I use this free one : https://www.realvnc.com). I can also use my iPhone/iPad to control my Macs with VNC,
 
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A

Alrescha

macrumors 68020
Jan 1, 2008
2,156
317
drsox said:
VNC allows iPad/iPhone to Mac links.
Click to expand...

While nice, does not offer any advantage when communicating Mac to Mac. Screen Sharing brings drag and drop file transfer and a shared clipboard. Your move. :)

A.
 
drsox

drsox

macrumors 68000
Apr 29, 2011
1,706
201
Xhystos
Alrescha said:
While nice, does not offer any advantage when communicating Mac to Mac. Screen Sharing brings drag and drop file transfer and a shared clipboard. Your move. :)

A.
Click to expand...

Yes, but it does allow control from the iPxxx. I set up my Mini to do stuff (top floor) and control it from the iPxxx (bottom floor). 30:15.
 
ActionableMango

ActionableMango

macrumors G3
Sep 21, 2010
9,612
6,907
darcyvoutt said:
Will this work?
Click to expand...

Yes it will work. Unfortunately without a monitor connected, OS X detects this and turns a bunch of video-related services off. You will experience laggy screen updates and large areas that are simply black, as drsox already mentioned. This is fixed with an EDID emulator, which makes OS X think a monitor is connected.

For whatever reason most EDID emulators are $60 or even a hundred or more. But I use the $15 Fit Headless on my Mac Mini and it works fine. It is a little monitor-emulating dongle that plugs into the HDMI port. Amazon is out of stock until the 19th.
 
D

darcyvoutt

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 3, 2014
3
0
ActionableMango said:
Yes it will work. Unfortunately without a monitor connected, OS X detects this and turns a bunch of video-related services off. You will experience laggy screen updates and large areas that are simply black, as drsox already mentioned. This is fixed with an EDID emulator, which makes OS X think a monitor is connected.

For whatever reason most EDID emulators are $60 or even a hundred or more. But I use the $15 Fit Headless on my Mac Mini and it works fine. It is a little monitor-emulating dongle that plugs into the HDMI port. Amazon is out of stock until the 19th.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this information, it is really helpful. This will probably be my option, unless my needs change.

As per drsox and Alrescha, your back and forthe debate was quite entertaining. To help close this out, I don't see an immediate need for the use of iPad or iPhone since the goal is simply to manage torrenting better.

My goals may change by the time I actually make a purpose and this machine. Regardless, this has been a really great starting point for more information to research!
 
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