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Offline RMK305Topic starter

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Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« on: June 30, 2010, 07:08:12 PM »
For some odd reason I started actually looking indepth at the morph os site and others. I was amazed to read that I can run 68k software on it without UAE so long as it doesn't bang the Amiga hardware, am I taking this in right?

....So I started looking around and thinking and am toying with the idea of buying a Mac Mini G4 to try it out on and so have a few questions.

1. Is there much of a difference in actual performace between the 1.25GHz andf 1.5GHz models when actually using Morph OS?

2. What amount of RAM is recommended for it?

3. What Keyboard and mouse do I use? Is this just a standard USB 2 button mouse and standard keyboard or do I need to use the Mac items?

4. Is there Joystick support for classic games? Again, what kinds are supported?

5. How good are the web browsers? Do they have Flash support for things like youtube?

6. What screen modes does it support and what are recommended resolutions?

I think that's all for now.

Thanks,

Robert
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Offline Piru

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2010, 07:16:16 PM »
Quote from: RMK305;568232
For some odd reason I started actually looking indepth at the morph os site and others. I was amazed to read that I can run 68k software on it without UAE so long as it doesn't bang the Amiga hardware, am I taking this in right?
Yes.

Quote
1. Is there much of a difference in actual performace between the 1.25GHz andf 1.5GHz models when actually using Morph OS?
CPU performance difference is 20%. Any CPU bound task is 20% faster on the 1.5GHz model.

What however is also significant is that the real "silent upgrade" 1.5GHz model has 64MB video memory (rather than the 32MB available in the other models). The 64MB video memory allows some more eye candy for instance.

Quote
2. What amount of RAM is recommended for it?
I'd say 512MB keeps you covered for anything I can think of, but 256MB will do for most tasks as well.

Quote
3. What Keyboard and mouse do I use? Is this just a standard USB 2 button mouse and standard keyboard or do I need to use the Mac items?
You can use normal USB 2 mice and keyboards, as well as Apple items. Normal two button mouse is recommended though as MorphOS is much easier to handle with it.

Quote
4. Is there Joystick support for classic games? Again, what kinds are supported?
Hmm I'm no expert in this area, I guess someone else can reply this one. :)
My understanding is however, that you should be able to use USB joystick with E-UAE.

Quote
5. How good are the web browsers?
OWB is really good.
Quote
Do they have Flash support for things like youtube?
Yes there's a flash plugin for OWB. Youtube's flash is a bit heavy, so as fast system as possible is recommended for it. Luckily OWB also supports html5 which you can enable for youtube (see: http://www.youtube.com/html5/ )

Here's a nice video showing OWB 1.8 & html5 youtube in action (running on Mac Mini G4 1.25GHz):
[youtube]IfARQsDQjWI[/youtube]

Quote
6. What screen modes does it support and what are recommended resolutions?
Anything you can monitor can support, up to 1920 x 1200. Note that with 32MB video memory systems you won't be able to use all the eye candy in this resolution.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2010, 07:24:53 PM by Piru »
 

Offline RMK305Topic starter

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2010, 07:22:33 PM »
Thanks for the detailed reply. A few more questions that just came to mind.

1. Can I use an old CRT monitor on the mini to save having to but a flat screen at first?

2. Is there any point in getting one of the later models with wireless built in? Does Morph os support wireless and if not, will it?

Thanks all for now.

Cheers.
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Offline Piru

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2010, 07:36:49 PM »
Quote
1. Can I use an old CRT monitor on the mini to save having to but a flat screen at first?
CRTs work just fine, but very old ones (pre EDID) require manual configuration by using the System Settings / Monitors (much like old ModeEdit in CGX).

Quote
2. Is there any point in getting one of the later models with wireless built in? Does Morph os support wireless and if not, will it?
Wireless or bluetooth aren't supported by MorphOS and there are currently no plans to support them. Obviously if you set up a dual or triple booting (Mac OS X, Linux?) then the wireless and bluetooth might come handy.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2010, 07:56:17 PM by Piru »
 

Offline Crumb

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2010, 07:50:17 PM »
Quote from: RMK305;568232
For some odd reason I started actually looking indepth at the morph os site and others. I was amazed to read that I can run 68k software on it without UAE so long as it doesn't bang the Amiga hardware, am I taking this in right?


yes, system friendly software will usually run without problems.

Quote

1. Is there much of a difference in actual performace between the 1.25GHz andf 1.5GHz models when actually using Morph OS?


Probably not although like Piru said having 64MB of gfx ram may be handy.

Quote

2. What amount of RAM is recommended for it?


RAM is cheap. Fit 1GB if you can.

Quote

3. What Keyboard and mouse do I use? Is this just a standard USB 2 button mouse and standard keyboard or do I need to use the Mac items?


Most USB keyboards and mice will work.

Quote

4. Is there Joystick support for classic games? Again, what kinds are supported?


you can run classic games using EUAE. USB configuration allows you to emulate keyboard presses using USB joypad.

Quote

5. How good are the web browsers? Do they have Flash support for things like youtube?


OWB is quite good, I use it as main browser and very rarely need to go to the PC. Youtube and other web sites use html5 so you don't really need flash for it. On the other hand there's a flash plugin that integrates perfectly with the browser.
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Offline pVC

Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2010, 07:51:00 PM »
Quote from: RMK305;568232

1. Is there much of a difference in actual performace between the 1.25GHz andf 1.5GHz models when actually using Morph OS?


I don't think you can notice difference in MorphOS itself, but in very cpu intensive tasks it might help. Like watching some HD video which is on the limit. And the most important thing is the vmem amount as told.

Quote
4. Is there Joystick support for classic games? Again, what kinds are supported?


At least standard (I guess HID compatible?) joysticks work fine. I have Competition Pro USB joystick and it works in MorphOS native games, old Amiga games run directly under MorphOS (like Payback) and in UAE.
Daily MorphOS user and Amiga active.
 

Offline Iggy

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2010, 10:51:03 PM »
Off topic, but you'd probably find a 1.25 Ghz Emac cheaper and it would have similar functionality.
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Offline bbond007

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2010, 01:05:40 AM »
Quote from: RMK305;568232

1. Is there much of a difference in actual performace between the 1.25GHz andf 1.5GHz models when actually using Morph OS?


The MorphOS license is not real straightforward to transfer, so get the best mac you can from the get-go. Don't skimp :)
 

Offline pVC

Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2010, 09:11:18 AM »
Quote from: Iggy;568279
Off topic, but you'd probably find a 1.25 Ghz Emac cheaper and it would have similar functionality.


But Mac mini is small and cute, it won't take much desk space and it's easy to take with. I was happy to pay little more of that ;)
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Offline XDelusion

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2010, 09:50:41 AM »
I got an eMac and have loved the experience thus far, all with only 512Mb or RAM, though I want to max that out so I can store more on my RAM drive, which I use A LOT!

My only resentment thus far is that my high quality videos and Youtube ALL play in slow motion, also I've noticed that some videos loose sync, where they do not on my, 1.6Ghz Netobook, 2.8 Ghz AMD system, or even my classic XBOX using XBOX Media Center.

As for Joystick support, eUAE is one of those few programs that seem to support it directly, and yes as stated above, you can remap your joystick buttons to Keyboard buttons via Poseidon, but thus far I'm having trouble finding documentation that tells me exactly how to go about this.

@Piru Where is this eye candy you speak about that I can't use on my eMac?

Also since the eMac uses shared RAM for it's video RAM, why can't the RAM just be allocated to the Fast RAM under MorphOS instead, leaving more GFX RAM free?
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Offline jacadcaps

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2010, 10:15:11 AM »
Quote from: XDelusion;568359

@Piru Where is this eye candy you speak about that I can't use on my eMac?

Also since the eMac uses shared RAM for it's video RAM, why can't the RAM just be allocated to the Fast RAM under MorphOS instead, leaving more GFX RAM free?


eMacs have dedicated RAM for the Radeon, you're mixing things up. What 32MB is not enough for is Enhanced Display at higher resolutions (then again, the CRT limits the max usable resolution anyway).
 

Offline Piru

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2010, 10:18:43 AM »
Quote from: XDelusion;568359
My only resentment thus far is that my high quality videos and Youtube ALL play in slow motion
Are you using youtube html5 mode to play them? html5 video playback is a lot faster than flash.
 

Offline pVC

Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2010, 10:33:38 AM »
Quote from: XDelusion;568359
My only resentment thus far is that my high quality videos and Youtube ALL play in slow motion, also I've noticed that some videos loose sync, where they do not on my, 1.6Ghz Netobook, 2.8 Ghz AMD system, or even my classic XBOX using XBOX Media Center.


HTML5 is much faster than Flash, as Piru said, but I'd recommend you to install GetVideo to get the best performance in video streaming. Videos are played with mplayer instead embedded in the browser, it uses much less cpu and you can even continue browsing on other pages instead of having to wait video on the same page! :)
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Offline XDelusion

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2010, 10:34:16 AM »
Youtube issues resolved.
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Offline koaftder

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Re: Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2010, 12:45:20 PM »
My eMac came with 256MiB of ram, last night I upgraded it to 1.5GiB of ram and I can't tell the difference.