Use iPad as Mac Mini display

[Silly John Fatty]

I'd like to get myself a Mac Mini that I can take with me on travels and use my iPad Pro as the display. I've seen this thing called Luna Display that will allow you to use it this way.

It says however, that you will need a Wifi connection for it to work. I don't have any Wifi in my second and don't plan on taking an internet contract there, I'm just not often enough there. But I was wondering if it's enough if I have just some sort of Wifi router without any internet contract? If possible I would use the internet of my iPads Sim Card and use the Wifi router just to use the iPad Pro as the screen.

Does anyone know if that is how it works? If you know of better alternatives, let me know please.

 

[r6mile]

I'd like to get myself a Mac Mini that I can take with me on travels and use my iPad Pro as the display. I've seen this thing called Luna Display that will allow you to use it this way.

It says however, that you will need a Wifi connection for it to work. I don't have any Wifi in my second and don't plan on taking an internet contract there, I'm just not often enough there. But I was wondering if it's enough if I have just some sort of Wifi router without any internet contract? If possible I would use the internet of my iPads Sim Card and use the Wifi router just to use the iPad Pro as the screen.

Does anyone know if that is how it works? If you know of better alternatives, let me know please.

You could connect the Mac Mini and the iPad to each other using WiFi, but then I 'think' that would prevent you from using the iPad as a hotspot for the Mac Mini. Perhaps you could buy a 4G WiFi router (where you put a Sim Card, I used a Huawei B310 in the past), put in your iPad sim card in there, and that's your wifi/internet connection.

PS: I should say I don't know anything about the Luna Display, but I think this should work.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

You could connect the Mac Mini and the iPad to each other using WiFi, but then I 'think' that would prevent you from using the iPad as a hotspot for the Mac Mini. Perhaps you could buy a 4G WiFi router (where you put a Sim Card, I used a Huawei B310 in the past), put in your iPad sim card in there, and that's your wifi/internet connection.

PS: I should say I don't know anything about the Luna Display, but I think this should work.

I found out the Luna Display doesn't necessarily need Wifi but can also run over USB. So I'd use that, I believe it's faster/less lag. I wonder if I could still use the iPad as a hotspot for the Mac Mini in that case, so I can surf over the iPads internet.

 

[Puonti]

Remember to read the instructions for how to use an iPad as a display for an otherwise headless Mac mini. There's some pre-trip setup required, and you must disable FileVault:

Headless Mode — Setting up Luna Display - Knowledge Base

What is Headless Mode? What is Headless Mode? Using Luna Display in Headless Mode allows you to use your iPad or secondary Mac as the primary display for a Mac

help.astropad.com

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Remember to read the instructions for how to use an iPad as a display for an otherwise headless Mac mini. There's some pre-trip setup required, and you must disable FileVault:

Headless Mode — Setting up Luna Display - Knowledge Base

What is Headless Mode? What is Headless Mode? Using Luna Display in Headless Mode allows you to use your iPad or secondary Mac as the primary display for a Mac

help.astropad.com

I'm not sure I understand what headless mode is, is it basically using the iPad as the main/only display of the Mac?

That's too bad that you have to disable FileVault. Why would you have to do that?

 

[Puonti]

I'm not sure I understand what headless mode is, is it basically using the iPad as the main/only display of the Mac?

That's too bad that you have to disable FileVault. Why would you have to do that?

The term "headless" is generally used to refer to a computer that is running without a monitor. Traditionally you connect to them remotely from another computer with Remote Desktop or VNC, but apparently Luna also calls a setup where an iPad is your only monitor for a Mac mini "headless".

If you have FileVault enabled, fully powering down the Mac causes it to ask you for the FileVault password when you turn it back on again (could be just your user account password, which then uses Keychain to unlock FileVault).

The key thing is that before you enter the password, the Mac does not run any other applications, so the Luna desktop software is not running, hence no image is output to your iPad mini and you can't see what you're doing. For Luna to work "headlessly" you need to set up the Mac to not ask for any login credentials (including FileVault) when it starts up (so auto-login needs to be enabled).

I'm not sure if the FileVault password can be entered blindly, but I know I wouldn't want to fiddle with that if I was on the road.

Unfortunately no FileVault and auto-login enabled means any data on your Mac mini is super vulnerable, especially since you'll be travelling with it. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with that.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

The term "headless" is generally used to refer to a computer that is running without a monitor. Traditionally you connect to them remotely from another computer with Remote Desktop or VNC, but apparently Luna also calls a setup where an iPad is your only monitor for a Mac mini "headless".

If you have FileVault enabled, fully powering down the Mac causes it to ask you for the FileVault password when you turn it back on again (could be just your user account password, which then uses Keychain to unlock FileVault).

The key thing is that before you enter the password, the Mac does not run any other applications, so the Luna desktop software is not running, hence no image is output to your iPad mini and you can't see what you're doing. For Luna to work "headlessly" you need to set up the Mac to not ask for any login credentials (including FileVault) when it starts up (so auto-login needs to be enabled).

I'm not sure if the FileVault password can be entered blindly.

Hmmm I see, maybe it could be entered blindly like you say. Do you think it works with FileVault enabled if no password is asked? (auto-login)

I see why it needs FileVault disabled. It just seems so annoying to re-enable FileVault. I'm actually right now encrypting my hard drive with FV and it takes ages. I'm not sure if this is just the first time or if it will be like that when turning it on again.

 

[Puonti]

I believe encrypting the drive is going to be just as slow the second time around, unfortunately.

Auto-login is disabled while FileVault is turned on.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

I believe encrypting the drive is going to be just as slow the second time around, unfortunately.

Auto-login is disabled while FileVault is turned on.

Okay, I see. Thanks for your help.

 

[Puonti]

You're welcome!