vanburen
New Member
The last phase of the install was adding the Mac Mini. Here is the gear ready to go:
A quick review of what goes where showed that my Audio Out (red box in previous picture) couldn't connect to the Clarion (female - female). Off to Radio Shack:
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The Red Box has both RCA in and Out. This allowed me to hook the Out to the Clarion, and my Ipod plug to the In. Thus, the Mac functions like a dual input switch - sending either Ipod, or Mac music to the Clarion. Works like a champ, so far.
My Panel Mount USB was the main frustration. The hole was drilled perfectly. However, the mount is as deep as the panel is thick - so no room for exposed threads to screw the cover to. I SHOULD have drilled a larger hole on the backside to thin the panel to 3/8s or so. Then finished the actual hole all the way through. But I missed that one, so the trusty utility knife helped chamfer the back side enough to let the threads engage.
The Mac was held down with more velcro. Still not sure what the final panel will look like - this is temporary while I get things running smoothly.
The movie is "The Last Waltz" for those fans of The Band.
The mac in default mode has several outputs that can be used one at a time. I learned this after listening to my movie from the tiny mac speaker. The HDMI was not taking audio to the TV. However, in Preferences / Sounds you can change the output between internal, HDMI (for TV), or USB (the Red Box - for music). I am working on a method to create a hybrid output device using the last two, so I won't have to mess with selecting ever again.
The wireless keyboard, trackpad, and connecting bar are really cool. The next steps are going to be focused on getting the computer up set up for better networking. Our marina has Annapolis Wireless accounts for slip holders, but we have to log in on a web page. I need to find a way to make that work seamlessly. More to follow - it was a full day today!
A quick review of what goes where showed that my Audio Out (red box in previous picture) couldn't connect to the Clarion (female - female). Off to Radio Shack:
The Red Box has both RCA in and Out. This allowed me to hook the Out to the Clarion, and my Ipod plug to the In. Thus, the Mac functions like a dual input switch - sending either Ipod, or Mac music to the Clarion. Works like a champ, so far.
My Panel Mount USB was the main frustration. The hole was drilled perfectly. However, the mount is as deep as the panel is thick - so no room for exposed threads to screw the cover to. I SHOULD have drilled a larger hole on the backside to thin the panel to 3/8s or so. Then finished the actual hole all the way through. But I missed that one, so the trusty utility knife helped chamfer the back side enough to let the threads engage.
The Mac was held down with more velcro. Still not sure what the final panel will look like - this is temporary while I get things running smoothly.
The movie is "The Last Waltz" for those fans of The Band.
The mac in default mode has several outputs that can be used one at a time. I learned this after listening to my movie from the tiny mac speaker. The HDMI was not taking audio to the TV. However, in Preferences / Sounds you can change the output between internal, HDMI (for TV), or USB (the Red Box - for music). I am working on a method to create a hybrid output device using the last two, so I won't have to mess with selecting ever again.
The wireless keyboard, trackpad, and connecting bar are really cool. The next steps are going to be focused on getting the computer up set up for better networking. Our marina has Annapolis Wireless accounts for slip holders, but we have to log in on a web page. I need to find a way to make that work seamlessly. More to follow - it was a full day today!
