So, time for new hardware to be added to the collection!

Well, 'new to me', rather than actually new-new. The hardware in
question is actually getting on in years, as it dates back to 2018. A
friend graciously donated their old MacMini to me. It's a Core i3 with
8GB. They knew I've a soft spot for those machines.

It's not that I'm a big fan of Macs, but the MacMini computers always
served me well; I've been using them as my local file-servers for
years. Small, quiet and not using much electricity, I just keep them
stashed in the corner of the room where they dutifully serve as a
central repository for all my data. Not that I'm actually using them
as Macs, of course. Not that there's anything wrong with the OS; it's
just not to my liking. Even back when they were running PowerPC chips,
I installed Linux on the things, and that got only easier after Mac
briefly transitioned to x86.

The 2018 MacMini was one of the last Intel-Macs before the company
transitioned to Apple Silicon. It's no gaming powerhouse but for the
use I intend for it, its processor is more than capable.
Unfortunately, a number of other decisions made by Apple make it
/less/ useful; the lack of built-in USB ports, and soldered-in RAM and
SSD mean it's a difficult machine to upgrade. As such, I'm in no rush
to swap out my older MacMini (from 2011!) for this one.

Still, it's good to have it around as a back-up. Plus, new hardware is
always fun, regardless of its actual utility. And even if all it does
is sit and collect dust, it's not like it's going to take a lot of
space doing that.

Welcome to the family, new mini-PC!




--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 19:52 this Saturday (GMT):

So, time for new hardware to be added to the collection!

Well, 'new to me', rather than actually new-new. The hardware in
question is actually getting on in years, as it dates back to 2018. A
friend graciously donated their old MacMini to me. It's a Core i3 with
8GB. They knew I've a soft spot for those machines.

It's not that I'm a big fan of Macs, but the MacMini computers always
served me well; I've been using them as my local file-servers for
years. Small, quiet and not using much electricity, I just keep them
stashed in the corner of the room where they dutifully serve as a
central repository for all my data. Not that I'm actually using them
as Macs, of course. Not that there's anything wrong with the OS; it's
just not to my liking. Even back when they were running PowerPC chips,
I installed Linux on the things, and that got only easier after Mac
briefly transitioned to x86.

The 2018 MacMini was one of the last Intel-Macs before the company transitioned to Apple Silicon. It's no gaming powerhouse but for the
use I intend for it, its processor is more than capable.
Unfortunately, a number of other decisions made by Apple make it
/less/ useful; the lack of built-in USB ports, and soldered-in RAM and
SSD mean it's a difficult machine to upgrade. As such, I'm in no rush
to swap out my older MacMini (from 2011!) for this one.

Still, it's good to have it around as a back-up. Plus, new hardware is
always fun, regardless of its actual utility. And even if all it does
is sit and collect dust, it's not like it's going to take a lot of
space doing that.

Welcome to the family, new mini-PC!

I thought Mac Mini's were out of stock because of dumb AI guys?
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:20:07 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 <candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> said this thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 19:52 this Saturday (GMT):

Welcome to the family, new mini-PC!

I thought Mac Mini's were out of stock because of dumb AI guys?

Well, as stated, this is an eight-year old model that still utilized
an Intel chipset (so at least two generations of silicon out of date).

But even before the AI gurus fixated on MacMini, it still had quite a
good reputation amongst techies; it's a well-designed system in a
relatively small footprint, and using it as a small server (or in
banks of servers) wasn't unheard of.

(it's not a real solution to 'proper' rack-mounted servers, mostly due
to the lack of throughput, redundancy*, and IO options. I mean, it
doesn't even have a serial port! But for smaller single-purpose
installations, it's actually a quite good solution. Or it was. I think
the increased cost of the devices nowadays is making it less useful in
that role)

They're neat little machines. I'm thrilled to have another one in the
herd, even if I won't ever be doing much direct work on it. I've a lot
of issues with Apple, but the Mac Mini was always one of their better
ideas.




* although it's cheap enough and small enough that you can just
consider the whole unit 'redundant' and swap it out for an entirely
new unit. That's more or less how I intend to use this newest MacMini;
when my old one fails, I'll just plug in the new one, do some config
tweaking to get it set up to my needs, and move on without too much interruption.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.14
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)