What do you use macOS for?

[squarepipe]

I have a Mac mini collecting dust. Initially wanted to use it as a VPN server for my cousin and apple decide to sh*t on my plans by removing functionality...

Heard some people use it for music production, programming etc any other ideas on what can I do with it? Shame for it to be unused.

 

[davidktw]

I have a Mac mini collecting dust. Initially wanted to use it as a VPN server for my cousin and apple decide to sh*t on my plans by removing functionality...

Heard some people use it for music production, programming etc any other ideas on what can I do with it? Shame for it to be unused.

You can still use it as a OpenVPN server.
https://tunnelblick.net/cServer.html

I would think you can also run a DNS resolver, DHCP server, LDAP server, Radius Server, Home Media Server, iTunes Media Server, AirServer, Wired/Wireless Router, NAS, Hypervisor using Parallels Desktop/VMWare Fusion/Oracle VirtualBox.

There are still a lot of functionalities I may not have listed....

With a Linux VM guest running in it, you can do most server based functionality you expect from a Linux box.

 

[rvyne7]

its instant media streamer honestly... its better than apple tv which massive hd if you have 1tb.

 

[[[ForeverAlone]]]

You can still use it as a OpenVPN server.
https://tunnelblick.net/cServer.html

I would think you can also run a DNS resolver, DHCP server, LDAP server, Radius Server, Home Media Server, iTunes Media Server, AirServer, Wired/Wireless Router, NAS, Hypervisor using Parallels Desktop/VMWare Fusion/Oracle VirtualBox.

There are still a lot of functionalities I may not have listed....

With a Linux VM guest running in it, you can do most server based functionality you expect from a Linux box.

Not expert on network , side note if I remember wanna set up VPN server your computer MUST always on 24h , 365 days right since it become use as server.

 

[davidktw]

Not expert on network , side note if I remember wanna set up VPN server your computer MUST always on 24h , 365 days right since it become use as server.

Well not necessarily, but the norm. You can always have a VPN server which start only during office hours, if that is what you want. But for business purpose, they are normally run 24x7.

 

[szeli]

VPN server? I wud just run it from e router. use e Mac mini as a TV/media/emulator box.

 

[davidktw]

VPN server? I wud just run it from e router. use e Mac mini as a TV/media/emulator box.

It's a system, why not have it multi-purpose ?

 

[williamgohsg]

It's a system tho. You might mean to ask another thing about Mac?

 

[dryteletubby]

macOS has several types of users

1) final cut users. As it's a Mac proprietary software, you have to use it on a mac. It's userbase getting smaller as time goes by. Some of my friends have migrated from final cut to Adobe premiere/after effects and eventually even swap to a windows machine. Personally I prefer davinci resolve for its speed.

Apple used to have a much larger selection of creative software like aperture. But much of those are depreciated

2)Audio production. I am completely unfamiliar with that sort of work but from what I hear macOS offers a latency advantage compared to windows but software ability is getting better on Windows. Linux has a low latency kernel option as well but not sure about software.

3) Developers. Not sure why alot of people are supprised to hear that I use Linux while not being a developer. From the few developers I know, most of them if they are on a mac spin up a Linux distro probably Ubuntu to do their work. Only a few will install Linux directly on their machine.

4)hipsters. Back in the Mac Vs pc days,apple got quite a cult following who believe that Macs are superior due to the ease of use, lack of virus etc. The original Mac enthusiast probably didn't like it's new unsavvy userbase. These days quite alot of those people migrated to iPads and ms surface tablets as per my survey of Starbucks tells me

Probably still got quite alot of niche users I missed out. Feel free to add to the list

 

[squarepipe]

macOS has several types of users

1) final cut users. As it's a Mac proprietary software, you have to use it on a mac. It's userbase getting smaller as time goes by. Some of my friends have migrated from final cut to Adobe premiere/after effects and eventually even swap to a windows machine. Personally I prefer davinci resolve for its speed.

Apple used to have a much larger selection of creative software like aperture. But much of those are depreciated

2)Audio production. I am completely unfamiliar with that sort of work but from what I hear macOS offers a latency advantage compared to windows but software ability is getting better on Windows. Linux has a low latency kernel option as well but not sure about software.

3) Developers. Not sure why alot of people are supprised to hear that I use Linux while not being a developer. From the few developers I know, most of them if they are on a mac spin up a Linux distro probably Ubuntu to do their work. Only a few will install Linux directly on their machine.

4)hipsters. Back in the Mac Vs pc days,apple got quite a cult following who believe that Macs are superior due to the ease of use, lack of virus etc. The original Mac enthusiast probably didn't like it's new unsavvy userbase. These days quite alot of those people migrated to iPads and ms surface tablets as per my survey of Starbucks tells me

Probably still got quite alot of niche users I missed out. Feel free to add to the list

Welp,seems I am not made for a Mac

 

[davidktw]

Welp,seems I am not made for a Mac

If there is only Mac around, what you are made for?

 

[squarepipe]

If there is only Mac around, what you are made for?

Maybe I should install Ubuntu on the Mac mini and call it a day

 

[xiaofan]

I have a Mac mini collecting dust.

What is your Mac Mini model?

I was mainly using my Mac Mini 2011 at home from early 2012 to early this year when it died. It is the lowest model with Core i5/ 2GB RAM/500GB HDD. The only upgraded was the 8GB RAM update (2 x 4GB DDR3 kit). I was using mainly Linux before that along with Windows and some other OS. With the Mac I can do most of the things I want to do at home.

You can do most of the common things under Mac as under Windows. And you have terminal access with full suite of Unix command line tools and development tools (using Homebrew) which is on par with Linux and way better than MinGW/Cygwin under Windows.

I even ran Ubuntu Linux/Windows 7/NetBSD/OpenBSD/etc VMs on top to test some cross-platform open-source projects and the performance is pretty decent.

Hopefully Apple can have another Mac Mini soon -- last model is 2014.

 

[xiaofan]

Maybe I should install Ubuntu on the Mac mini and call it a day

I like Ubuntu -- using it since 2005 and I consider myself to be a power user of Windows as well. But I still feel macOS to be smoother to work with.

 

[PetPet]

Surf the web.
My work.
Emails.

Basically everything, at this point of time. I’m sick and tired of troubleshooting windows to make sure updates doesn’t break things.

The most important function that worked for me is how seamlessly any Bluetooth mouse can work with my Mac and it doesn’t have this power saving mode issue where you need to shake the mouse a couple of times to “wake up” the cursor. And a feature everyone probably takes for granted is sleep. My Macs are actually able to sleep and wake flawlessly without crashing.

Coming from Windows, the Macintosh has everything thought out, there are definitely flaws. But I have AppleCare to turn to whenever I have issues.