[ANSWERED] Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

Posted on
Fri Mar 14, 2014 4:16 pm
edwjmcgrath offline
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[ANSWERED] Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

I've been lurking here for a while and decided that Indigo is a good solution for our new home in construction.
Our last home had an HAI/Omni system with X-10 devices that did the job, but we're an all Apple household now so this seems a better choice.

Anyway, it seems like the mac mini is the computer of choice. I don't own one, we have all MacBooks, so I'd have to buy one. Ideally, I'd like to put it in a small area with all of the other related components. I don't mind buying a keyboard, but I'd hate to have to buy a monitor just for the first time setup. How have other people dealt with this?

Posted on
Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:05 pm
ckeyes888 offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

I use an iPad app called VNC Viewer. Takes a little getting used to but I use it now
for most all my programming.

Carl

Posted on
Fri Mar 14, 2014 5:48 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

You don't need to connect either a keyboard/mouse or monitor - the mini will boot "headless". Then you can just use the built-in screen sharing to configure the Mac (and Indigo). And you can install the Indigo Mac client on any of your remote Macs and it can connect to the server running on the mini (Indigo Pro required for that).

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Sat Mar 15, 2014 6:28 am
Seeker offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

I've been running mine headless for a while. I did this with a dongle to help with some video refresh issues when there's no load on the monitor input:

http://blog.macminicolo.net/post/338396 ... s-mac-mini

Posted on
Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:50 am
edwjmcgrath offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

Thanks Jay, that may be a good solution. Does the mini come with screen sharing enabled by default or will I need a kbd/monitor to set it up?

Posted on
Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:07 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

When you first power up any Mac, you have to go through some steps (set up user account, select keyboard layout, etc.) so you'll need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse attached for that. Once it's all set up and you log in, you'll want to make sure you have screen sharing enabled in the Sharing preference.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:00 pm
midd offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

I run my indigo/security spy setup on a mac mini with no monitor and keyboard. I use Apple Remote Desktop and share my iMac's screen as a monitor for the mac mini.


As mentioned in this thread, VNC Viewer works well.


If you want to use your iPad as a monitor get the app LogMeIn. It's free. You need to load some files onto the mini in order to get the app to control your mini.

Indigo 7, Monterey (12.1) on a 2009 Mac Pro..

Posted on
Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:10 pm
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

I was running Indigo on a Mac Mini (mid-2010) with no keyboard or mouse, but hooked up to a 42" display. I also had a Plex server (along with a Plex client) running on the same machine along with running a whole-house Crashplan server.. Worked well (until the Mini hardware gave up the ghost.)

I accessed it either by using built-in screen sharing, LogMeIn (which is no longer free for casual use) and by using the Touchpad App on iOS.

I now have Indigo running on an iMac 21" desktop model, but am considering a move to another Mini.
Dave

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Posted on
Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:41 pm
Seeker offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

Screen Sharing app is built in and free, of course. I guess it is VNC, because when i load VNC on my phone it sees the mini and lets me log in Ion my lan).

I also use team viewer free if I need to login from outside my lan.

Posted on
Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:04 pm
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

I've switched from LogMeIn to TeamViewer too.

I came here to drink milk and kick ass....and I've just finished my milk.

[My Plugins] - [My Forums]

Posted on
Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:46 pm
jay (support) offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

Right - the built-in screen sharing is VNC so any VNC client should work. I use iTeleport on my iPad/iPhone.

Theoretically, you could use back to my Mac when you're outside your local network, but I've never actually done that so I have no idea how well that works.

Jay (Indigo Support)
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Posted on
Mon Mar 17, 2014 4:57 am
jalves offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

jay (support) wrote:
Theoretically, you could use back to my Mac when you're outside your local network, but I've never actually done that so I have no idea how well that works.


I have done that and once you get "Back to my Mac" set up correctly it works just fine. I've had some difficulty at times with BTMM getting through to my network before. Never did figure it out but it appears to be related to one of the recent Mavericks updates. Haven't yet tried it in the new house.

Running Indigo 2023.2 on a 24" iMac M1), OS X 14.4
Jeff

Posted on
Mon Mar 17, 2014 8:10 am
kw123 offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

My experience:
- used mostly logmein until they were starting to charge .. was the best solution, ALWAYS worked.
- also using teamviewer (until they start charging) looks very stable had no issues for ~ 2 year, but not as easy as logmein
- as for back to my mac: it some times (~ 50% ) works. It believe it is because of to many "NAT"s i.e. network mapping done by router, cable modem etc. Once I establish a connection with team viewer of logmein it mostly works.

Karl

Posted on
Mon Apr 07, 2014 5:16 pm
gadgetnut offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

Just wanted to add: if you are starting up a new Mac Mini with OS X Server for the first time, you don't need to connect a keyboard or display, even before you've set it up! Just connect the Mac Mini Server to your network and start it up. You should see it appear in the Shared Computer list of the Finder Sidebar. Double click it and choose "Share Screen." In the authentication window, leave the user name blank and use the Mac Mini Server's hardware serial number as password, and you're in! Using screen sharing you can now move through the setup assistant panes and install Indigo and LogMeIn, having never connected a display.

Posted on
Mon Apr 07, 2014 5:36 pm
matt (support) offline
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Re: Mac Mini without Monitor/Kbd?

Oh, that is pretty cool. I didn't know they had default authentication setup like that.

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