Thinking of buying a Mac Mini for Morph OS - Questions

[zylesea]

...questions...

If you *like* Amiga, chances are high you will actually *love* MorphOS.

If you're currently rather short on cash I would also recomment to try out MorphOS on an eMac (note though, that only the 1.25 GHZ eMac models are supportet yet). They are changing hands for really little mony (at least for 50 US$ you should be able to find one with a little patience on searching). If you then disover you actually like MorphOS you are either done w/o big costs or you can decide then to resell the eMac again (for a probably similar amount) and grab a mini (and b4 someone asks, I am *definitely* not selling mine ;-) ) for a little more.

The eMacs offer really a lot for the money, but the CRTs are debatable. A CRT does not only have disadvantages, but I wouldn't like to change back from my IPS-panel and PVA-panel to CRT again.

About RAM: Usually you're good off with 256 MB already, 512 MB is very convenient, 1 GB (or more) is really plenty and rather luxury. 128 MB, like with Efika 5200B, is rather a little too few (works, but shouln't squander with RAM consuming apps then).

[zylesea]

Thanks for all the information. I'm going to keep my eyes peeled on Mac Mini's and go from there. I figure I can buy one, try out the OS and if I decide I don't like it can sell the Mini and get back I paid. Nothing to lose really.

Precisely. The free trial version is 100% identical to the reg'd version, but slows down 30 min after each boot up. Reboot then (very quick) or eventually register (111.11 EUR).

Can you drag screens like in the Amiga?

No. Sceendragging does not work out of the box on MorphOS 2.x. However, there is a 3rd party utility adding a screen dragging option. But it is a bit limited and I (as most others I guess) tried it out, smiled for a moment and then moved on again w/o that utility.
 

Turns out oficial Mac keyboards are only £29. I was shocked, I expected them to be a lot more.

While I liked my flat aluminium Apple keyboard I eventually gave it to my gf for her iBook and use a bog standard kbd now. On Apple kbds there is no "delete" key. Sure, I could (and had) assigned that functionality to another key, but I think it was a bit annoying. But those apple kbds are fancy, the integrated hub is handy (but I have one integrated in my monitor already) and te typing experience is not bad.

Good news is, if you happen to have any usb kbd, you can just use it and exchange that one for a particular one (be it Apple or #?) at any time.

[zylesea]

I am so tempted to go the MorphOS route myself!! I love OSX, I went there after Amiga 3.5 And it looks like it will do just about everything I want. DROOL!!!

Well, if you have few bucks left to spare and a little real estate on yor desktop/lining room/hobby room/#? room (in case of a mini only 256 cm² are required) to waste then you know what is to do next...