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Luna Display lets iPad Pro be your primary Mac mini touchscreen display

Wow, pretty cool. I like the idea a lot and could easily see having a mac mini in my home office for desk use and then disconnecting for my iPad on the go. It's almost too obvious that it makes it strange why Apple wouldn't do this (besides money).
 
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Looks great, would need to have an external monitor handy for initial setup and any restarts, but I like where this is heading.
 
Been doing this ever since I received my LUNA from their Kickstarter campaign.
 
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As soon as I read this news I ordered the Luna.

I was hoping this would be a possibility, and was following Luna and Duet display, but both needed an extra screen at boot up,
With Luna this makes it almost like OSX for iPad :)
 
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Headless computers. They have been around for a while

Also something to consider. The dongle is simply a 'dummy' monitor adapter that mimics a monitor. It doesn't really do anything. There are lots of these on Amazon for about $10, but I haven't seen one with USB-C, and also there's software integration to consider. It has gotten complicated since Apple pushed Airplay (which ruined programs like Duet Display, etc), so if this Luna 'just works' I'm all for it. Duet Display has been horribly broken for a while (although it might work now...who knows).

$80 is a bit much, but wtf.

People want OSX on their iPad. Sad we have to resort to this. If you plan on going the headless route, be advised it is not a glitch free experience. A laptop is infinitely better (although, perhaps not so exotic, and in spite of the pen interface, which can be had with a variety of HDMI graphics tablets for much less money).

Not to say this isn't a way cool thing. I will buy the Luna myself. Perhaps it's not as glitchy as some others.
 
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BeatCrazy said:
How is this any different than Duet Display?
Click to expand...

Hard to say. It has this monitor plug, that creates a virtual second screen, but Duet (and others) use to be able to do that.
People like this Luna solution, but I wonder how many of them know about apps such as Duet, or exactly what's going on.
Luna is also a hardware add-on for their Astropad app, which is an artist tool apparently. That app is popular, so there's some credibility to the developers. i just think $50 would be more rational, but that's just me :D
 
BeatCrazy said:
How is this any different than Duet Display?
Click to expand...

The Duet option can be used wired (length of cable) or wireless, has some more lag.
the Luna option is wireless with a significant less amount of lag, bit still a little bit, and works with a wireless dongle,

Duet only gives the option of mirrored or extended screen, the luna also gives that option, but with an added bonus, with the new MacMini you can set it up as a main screen, not needing (after setup) for a attached monitor.
and that works even after a reboot of the Mini.
 
Macalway said:
Hard to say. It has this monitor plug, that creates a virtual second screen, but Duet (and others) use to be able to do that.
People like this Luna solution, but I wonder how many of them know about apps such as Duet, or exactly what's going on.
Luna is also a hardware add-on for their Astropad app, which is an artist tool apparently. That app is popular, so there's some credibility to the developers. i just think $50 would be more rational, but that's just me :D
Click to expand...

Absrnd said:
The Duet option can be used wired (length of cable) or wireless, has some more lag.
the Luna option is wireless with a significant less amount of lag, bit still a little bit, and works with a wireless dongle,

Duet only gives the option of mirrored or extended screen, the luna also gives that option, but with an added bonus, with the new MacMini you can set it up as a main screen, not needing (after setup) for a attached monitor.
and that works even after a reboot of the Mini.
Click to expand...


OK. But Duet Display + this $8 fit-Headless adapter still seems to work the exact same - iPad can be used as a main monitor, even after reboot.

I’m genuinely curious, as I use the above combo with my Mac mini, and it works as advertised.
 
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BeatCrazy said:
OK. But Duet Display + this $8 fit-Headless adapter still seems to work the exact same - iPad can be used as a main monitor, even after reboot.

I’m genuinely curious, as I use the above combo with my Mac mini, and it works as advertised.
Click to expand...

I obviously can't use the Luna as I have a Hackintosh, so keen on perhaps trying this setup.
 
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BeatCrazy said:
OK. But Duet Display + this $8 fit-Headless adapter still seems to work the exact same - iPad can be used as a main monitor, even after reboot.

I’m genuinely curious, as I use the above combo with my Mac mini, and it works as advertised.
Click to expand...

But doesn't that adapter only works to get an extra screen to use on the ipad ?
The idea with Luna is to give you OSX from the Mini on your iPad as main screen.
 
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Absrnd said:
But doesn't that adapter only works to get an extra screen to use on the ipad ?
The idea with Luna is to give you OSX from the Mini on your iPad as main screen.
Click to expand...

No, when using that fit-Headless adapter, you can select "mirror" as your Duet Display output, and it runs/works just like Luna does, i.e. as your main/only display.
 
BeatCrazy said:
OK. But Duet Display + this $8 fit-Headless adapter still seems to work the exact same - iPad can be used as a main monitor, even after reboot.

I’m genuinely curious, as I use the above combo with my Mac mini, and it works as advertised.
Click to expand...

I have that same adapter

Problem is/was, it worked the first time I tried it (about two months ago) with an iPad 12.9 and Duet, but then it started behaving badly (with both the 10.5 and 12.9; glitchy performance, resolution problems, and this rather bizarre pop-up showing me how to activate Airplay, which is apparently needed). At that time Duet wasn't working at all without this adapter, so that's why I bought it.

It was wonky with this adapter, but maybe they fixed it with an update to Duet (which is not meant to run with any adapter, so who knows). The adapter did sort of fix it (for a while).

The problem was, Apple surprised everyone with some major changes to Airplay (without any warning fo some), with has caused all sorts of problems. This was a quite a while ago (don't hold me to any of this, i'm guessing, partially)

The Luna option at least has support with the software/ hardware solution. And it's USB-C, so you can avoid a dongle.

Should be $50 :)
 
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Have used both Luna and Duet, Luna is a bit better, less lag, and I prefer the wireless setup. Luna should be a little cheaper though.
 
I was hoping the iPad pro's smart connector would facilitate something like this. Introduce a headless keyboard mac folio thing, and allow an iPad pro to dock it. Instead we got a way overpriced 2018 mini.
 
BeatCrazy said:
No, when using that fit-Headless adapter, you can select "mirror" as your Duet Display output, and it runs/works just like Luna does, i.e. as your main/only display.
Click to expand...

Just want to make sure I read it all correctly :)
with Duet, it does mirror the display, but you can't disconnect that main display, and the macMini won't detect a display, and Duet won't function ?
 
Macalway said:
I have that same adapter

Problem is/was, it worked the first time I tried it (about two months ago) with an iPad 12.9 and Duet, but then it started behaving badly (with both the 10.5 and 12.9; glitchy performance, resolution problems, and this rather bizarre pop-up showing me how to activate Airplay, which is apparently needed). At that time Duet wasn't working at all without this adapter, so that's why I bought it.

It was wonky with this adapter, but maybe they fixed it with an update to Duet (which is not meant to run with any adapter, so who knows). The adapter did sort of fix it (for a while).

The problem was, Apple surprised everyone with some major changes to Airplay (without any warning fo some), with has caused all sorts of problems. This was a quite a while ago (don't hold me to any of this, i'm guessing, partially)

The Luna option at least has support with the software/ hardware solution. And it's USB-C, so you can avoid a dongle.

Should be $50 :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was a bit goofy with the AirPlay situation. I've started to use the macOS "screen share" function more so the iPad-as-a-display.

One tip - it sounds counterproductive, but I got a 7" 1280x800 HDMI monitor to connect via HDMI and it really works better than the "virtual" HDMI that fit-Headless provides, especially when you're doing a major software update, you can at least see what is going on before the OS loads. Because until the OS loads, you can use either Duet or Luna Display.
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Absrnd said:
Just want to make sure I read it all correctly :)
with Duet, it does mirror the display, but you can't disconnect that main display, and the macMini won't detect a display, and Duet won't function ?
Click to expand...

Correct, as long as you don't disconnect the fit-Headless.
 
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