Mac Mini and Philips Pronto ?

smartie

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Hi all,

Treated myself to a little £360 Mac Mini a few weeks ago to use in the lounge for iTunes though my hifi and general web surfing on my panny plasma. Its just great ! It starts up so much faster than my 2.8Ghz PC, its quieter than my sky+ box and yes I'm slightly embarrased to say this but it really is damm cute :blush:

Got a question about whether it's possible to control iTunes on it using my Philips Pronto RU940 remote control. Anyone out there doing this and how ?

Its the base model Mac Mini so no bluetooth unfortunately and i'm using it with a Windows cordless media keyboard which has all the play/pause/ff/rew media buttons on it. Dunno if its possible to get something that will "control" this keyboard if that would be cheaper?
 
You will need an infrared receiver for the mini, something with the appropriate plug - USB, presumably. The problem will be getting some software to work with the mini.

I assume that your keyboard is RF, not IR?
 
Hmm ... so could you get a keyspan to learn/action the remote codes from the IR remote for front row ?

J
 
Seems they already support FrontRow with a s/w update - press release. Not sure if that's entirely what you're after though - you wouldn't be able to use the actual Front Row remote with the (they Keyspan stuff can handle other remotes, but it's painful to do, and not well supported).

Have a spare one since I upgraded to the express remote - just shout if you want to give it a try.
 
I'd like to take you up on that ... PM me ...

thanks

J
 
Interesting device - I'd not heard of Keyspan before. Is it supported by Girder, or is the supplied software good enough so you don't need to use Girder?

I've got an IRMan receiver on one of my PCs, but it's a serial device. With serial ports disappearing from new PCs, maybe getting a Keyspan would be easier than using a serial to USB convertor.
 
Sorry Jont, I wasn't watching the thread. PM sent.

Can't help on the Girder stuff, I've neved used it. The supplied software is good enough to drive anything - you can map keys to buttons and all that. The only tricky part is that there aren't many buttons the remote, so you have a pretty restricted set of operations available - if you're one of these strange people who wants to control the whole shebang from the sofa, then it's not a good solution. If you just want simple transport controls and application switching (i.e. 90% of what you actually do, day-to-day), then it's more than good enough.
 
cwick said:
Sorry Jont, I wasn't watching the thread. PM sent.

Can't help on the Girder stuff, I've neved used it. The supplied software is good enough to drive anything - you can map keys to buttons and all that. The only tricky part is that there aren't many buttons the remote, so you have a pretty restricted set of operations available - if you're one of these strange people who wants to control the whole shebang from the sofa, then it's not a good solution. If you just want simple transport controls and application switching (i.e. 90% of what you actually do, day-to-day), then it's more than good enough.

Should be good enough for what I want. I could use some spare remotes to program the software, then learn those keys into my Pronto.
 
Thanks for the info guys,

I'll look into the Keyspan option. Also just discovered the Front Row app - seems like this would eventually be an ideal front end for itunes and photo browsing if it ever gets "officially" supported on the mini..... Seems a bit basic and limited at the moment however.
 
Apple released a new Mini last tuesday (basically the same but with Intel processors) with front row and built in IR receiver (and finally two ram slots!) They also claim it's 4-5 times faster than the old Mini

http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/

Price has gone up a bit tho :(
 
I think you can get frontrow to work on your old mini, and I think you can control it with a (cordless) keyboard. Or you can use Applescript with Keyspan or other remotes to do whatever you want with the remote.

I have a new mini (with remote), and I control it with a Harmony remote.

As regards Pronto, it should work.

Apple have even made it possible to pair remotes with minis, so you could control several minis with one Pronto!
 
ancientgeek said:
I think you can get frontrow to work on your old mini, and I think you can control it with a (cordless) keyboard. Or you can use Applescript with Keyspan or other remotes to do whatever you want with the remote.

I have a new mini (with remote), and I control it with a Harmony remote.

As regards Pronto, it should work.

Apple have even made it possible to pair remotes with minis, so you could control several minis with one Pronto!

Is the remote on the new mini IR or RF? I'd have thought that "pairing" would be tricky with IR, or does it use Bluetooth for that?
 
Ancientgeek - yes you can 'put' frontrow' on a mini and use a wireless keyboard or sailing clicker via a bluetooth phone ... not sure if the latest frontrow update IR check has been circumvented yet (cough)

Clockworks ... it is IR-based same as the others - v cheap to implement for Apple

Jon
 

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