Mac Mini
by Martin Schultz · 12/27/2006 (6:08 am) · 18 comments
The day before christmas my old DVD player got broken while playing my Magnum P.I. season 4 discs. The very first moment I was angry at the DVD player because it didn't last very long, this sucky little player. But then I quickly realized the huge opportunity behind this... let the big masterplan became reality... :-) ...replace my DVD/VCR & hifi stuff by a new Mac Mini and make the Mini the default "media center" in our living room.
Luckily I don't live very far away from Hamburg Downtown so it was only a 10 minutes ride to the next Apple store where I bought a Mac Mini (1.66 GHz), wireless keyboard and wireless Mighty Mouse plus the DVI-2-TV adapter. Back home I plugged the stuff in and it worked out of the box on my TV within minutes. Guess what, within minutes I converted to an Apple fan. This stuff simply works out of the box and beside that, it looks damn stylish. :-)
After a few moments of playing with the Front Row remote and all this nice OS-X stuff I downloaded the TGE 1.4.2 SDK and gave it a try (over the TV!). Hell this Mac Mini runs fast. Fast for a computer without a dedicated graphics card. It really surprised me that the onboard graphics chipset is so fast that the 1.4.2 demos ran very smoothly. Next step will be to install subversion and try to compile my own stuff on the Mac.
BTW: Is it worth updating to TGE 1.5 regarding all the Mac updates that went into 1.5? I have no experience on the Mac so maybe someone with a Mac and 1.5 might answer this.
Anyway, I think Apple got a new (and long time) customer and I can't await the results of my own compilation experience.
Martin
P.S. If you wonder why I wrote this blog, it's not only because I got a Mac Mini, it's because I searched for experiences other people had with the Mac Mini & Torque and there were only very few results here on GG (except the MoM report).
Luckily I don't live very far away from Hamburg Downtown so it was only a 10 minutes ride to the next Apple store where I bought a Mac Mini (1.66 GHz), wireless keyboard and wireless Mighty Mouse plus the DVI-2-TV adapter. Back home I plugged the stuff in and it worked out of the box on my TV within minutes. Guess what, within minutes I converted to an Apple fan. This stuff simply works out of the box and beside that, it looks damn stylish. :-)
After a few moments of playing with the Front Row remote and all this nice OS-X stuff I downloaded the TGE 1.4.2 SDK and gave it a try (over the TV!). Hell this Mac Mini runs fast. Fast for a computer without a dedicated graphics card. It really surprised me that the onboard graphics chipset is so fast that the 1.4.2 demos ran very smoothly. Next step will be to install subversion and try to compile my own stuff on the Mac.
BTW: Is it worth updating to TGE 1.5 regarding all the Mac updates that went into 1.5? I have no experience on the Mac so maybe someone with a Mac and 1.5 might answer this.
Anyway, I think Apple got a new (and long time) customer and I can't await the results of my own compilation experience.
Martin
P.S. If you wonder why I wrote this blog, it's not only because I got a Mac Mini, it's because I searched for experiences other people had with the Mac Mini & Torque and there were only very few results here on GG (except the MoM report).
#2
12/27/2006 (7:18 am)
I suppose that depends on if Kork looks human enough :P
#3
Yes, they are really talking about this! The magic keyword here is "Killergames" (although nobody currently knows what a killergame exactly is...). Even (most) of the press here is saying that it doesn't stop violence and that those kind of discussion does not lead to anything, but the politicans seem to see violent games as the source of all evil (some of them at least). Very crazy dicussion.
A couple of weeks ago we had here in germany the third school kid that committed suicide after killing/violating some other kids in school. And all of those 3 kids were counter strike players and the last one had planned his amok run through a counter strike school model that he made himself. So it was easy for the politicans to find out, that this game - and all other violent games - lead our kids into amok runs.
Initially driven was the discussion by the very catholic prime minister of bavaria (south germany). Funny to see is that the game studio guys from Crytek that made the Cry Engine are located within bavaria. One of the leaders of Crytek already stated that they would leave germany (together with hundreds of jobs they created) if this dicussion leads to new laws against violent games and game makers.
It's a crazy world. Even the whack-a-mole example from the TGB demos would be forbidden then so that GarageGames would get law-suited for providing such a violent game on the german market if you take the words serious. Isn't that crazy and stupid? I just read somewhere that this discussion has found its way now into the European parliament and they discuss it now on a european level.
Well, anyway, so far nothing has been decided yet. Let's see if this discussion really leads to a law or if it is only "hot air" those politicans produce.
But to answer your question: If they would decide on the law like discussed, yes, you would be a criminial.
12/27/2006 (7:41 am)
@Anton: Yes, they are really talking about this! The magic keyword here is "Killergames" (although nobody currently knows what a killergame exactly is...). Even (most) of the press here is saying that it doesn't stop violence and that those kind of discussion does not lead to anything, but the politicans seem to see violent games as the source of all evil (some of them at least). Very crazy dicussion.
A couple of weeks ago we had here in germany the third school kid that committed suicide after killing/violating some other kids in school. And all of those 3 kids were counter strike players and the last one had planned his amok run through a counter strike school model that he made himself. So it was easy for the politicans to find out, that this game - and all other violent games - lead our kids into amok runs.
Initially driven was the discussion by the very catholic prime minister of bavaria (south germany). Funny to see is that the game studio guys from Crytek that made the Cry Engine are located within bavaria. One of the leaders of Crytek already stated that they would leave germany (together with hundreds of jobs they created) if this dicussion leads to new laws against violent games and game makers.
It's a crazy world. Even the whack-a-mole example from the TGB demos would be forbidden then so that GarageGames would get law-suited for providing such a violent game on the german market if you take the words serious. Isn't that crazy and stupid? I just read somewhere that this discussion has found its way now into the European parliament and they discuss it now on a european level.
Well, anyway, so far nothing has been decided yet. Let's see if this discussion really leads to a law or if it is only "hot air" those politicans produce.
But to answer your question: If they would decide on the law like discussed, yes, you would be a criminial.
#4
12/27/2006 (7:59 am)
wow. that's really fucked up. boy, i guess that means that the blackmarket video games industry will get a big boost in Germany. since there's no way in hell that a law is going to stop people from playing anymore than it's stops people from having premaritial sex, doing illegal drugs or listening to rock n roll. 
#5
Installing Boot Camp was super easy and it prompted me to insert a blank CD-R so that it could create a driver disk with windows drivers for all of the hardware. Everything works, even the built in Microphone and Camera.
After having so much success with its performance and since it runs both Windows XP Pro and Mac OSX I happily sold my desktop PC.
12/27/2006 (8:02 am)
I purchased a 20 inch LCD iMac 2-3 weeks ago with the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor. I installed Apple's "Boot Camp" on it and then set it up to dual boot Windows XP Pro and OSX. So essentially I have a Mac and a PC in the same box.Installing Boot Camp was super easy and it prompted me to insert a blank CD-R so that it could create a driver disk with windows drivers for all of the hardware. Everything works, even the built in Microphone and Camera.
After having so much success with its performance and since it runs both Windows XP Pro and Mac OSX I happily sold my desktop PC.
#6
After living in Hannover for a while, I've learned that there is a big cultural difference between Germany and USA in the arena of violent entertainment. In the USA, a PG-13 Movie can include violent action and some mild profanity - but it takes an R (mature) rating to show nudity. Whereas in Germany, its basically reversed... a PG Movie can show full nudity - but it takes an R rating to show any violence. The same pretty much holds for television shows.
I think in america, a 10 year old child has seen plenty of carnage (from Terminator or other 'Action' films) whereas a 10 year old German child has not. I think it's a bit extreme, but it starts to make sense why the German government is trying hard to protect their youth. I thought the existing restrictions (no gore allowed, not allowed to shoot 'humanoid shaped characters', etc) were already enough. But in the end its just politics. Germany is pretty well known for having very strict laws that make it nearly impossible to own, operate, or conduct any sort of business.
12/27/2006 (10:18 am)
Who's pushing for this... CDU or SPD?After living in Hannover for a while, I've learned that there is a big cultural difference between Germany and USA in the arena of violent entertainment. In the USA, a PG-13 Movie can include violent action and some mild profanity - but it takes an R (mature) rating to show nudity. Whereas in Germany, its basically reversed... a PG Movie can show full nudity - but it takes an R rating to show any violence. The same pretty much holds for television shows.
I think in america, a 10 year old child has seen plenty of carnage (from Terminator or other 'Action' films) whereas a 10 year old German child has not. I think it's a bit extreme, but it starts to make sense why the German government is trying hard to protect their youth. I thought the existing restrictions (no gore allowed, not allowed to shoot 'humanoid shaped characters', etc) were already enough. But in the end its just politics. Germany is pretty well known for having very strict laws that make it nearly impossible to own, operate, or conduct any sort of business.
#7
Yeah, that's all real odd. But it's like John K. said, nudity is no problem all over the country here, naked people in ads, in TV, in magazines, but don't ever kill someone with pixel blood... :-)
@John: Politicans from both parties.
About our complicated law stuff: Someone made a statistic about all tax laws in the world. If you sum up all tax laws in the world, the german part of the tax laws would make up about 75% of all tax laws in the world... :-)
12/27/2006 (11:46 am)
@Anton:Yeah, that's all real odd. But it's like John K. said, nudity is no problem all over the country here, naked people in ads, in TV, in magazines, but don't ever kill someone with pixel blood... :-)
@John: Politicans from both parties.
About our complicated law stuff: Someone made a statistic about all tax laws in the world. If you sum up all tax laws in the world, the german part of the tax laws would make up about 75% of all tax laws in the world... :-)
#8
I see a point to the legislation, I just think its a little harsh... and it would never work in the United States. And the downside to Germany is that it will just be cutout of the global market for games... starting with no more localization and sales of games... next step will be heavier censorship of film and television. In fact, since the Mac Mini is capable of playing violent games, maybe Apple should be held accountable too ;)
12/27/2006 (12:32 pm)
That's amazing! I definitely miss living in Germany - the only problem is that the country has very generous and giving social system - especially to immigrants. But it is all at the expense of its citizens and businesses... those taxes are really really high. Then, the country gets shafted with the conversion to the Euro. I was there during the changeover and most stores didn't convert the currency, they just switched the symbol (resulting in a nearly double increase in price).I see a point to the legislation, I just think its a little harsh... and it would never work in the United States. And the downside to Germany is that it will just be cutout of the global market for games... starting with no more localization and sales of games... next step will be heavier censorship of film and television. In fact, since the Mac Mini is capable of playing violent games, maybe Apple should be held accountable too ;)
#9
Thanks for the info. Does your Mac have a seperate graphics card? Is it the one with the ATI card inside? Have you had troubles with the build of your game with the Mac?
12/27/2006 (12:52 pm)
@Matt: Thanks for the info. Does your Mac have a seperate graphics card? Is it the one with the ATI card inside? Have you had troubles with the build of your game with the Mac?
#10
Hopefully that discussion about the new laws does not finish or that our president Mr. Host K
12/27/2006 (12:57 pm)
@John: Yes, the price increase of factor 2 through the Euro was a horror. Still incredible that the people didn't go on the streets to demonstrate.Hopefully that discussion about the new laws does not finish or that our president Mr. Host K
#11
Even though I really, really want to I haven't yet taken my iMac apart (for obvious reasons), but from what I can tell based off the hardware that shows up in the device manager under windows the iMac is essentially a laptop with built into an LCD screen. It is using an intel mobile chipset and the graphics card is an ATI X1600.
Graphics preformance is top notch even when running 3d games at the native resoluton of the LCD screen (1680 x 1050). Im pretty sure that the graphics is built into the board so there is no possibility of upgrading it, but for the here and now it runs everything I have thrown at it wonderfully.
12/27/2006 (1:36 pm)
@Martin:Even though I really, really want to I haven't yet taken my iMac apart (for obvious reasons), but from what I can tell based off the hardware that shows up in the device manager under windows the iMac is essentially a laptop with built into an LCD screen. It is using an intel mobile chipset and the graphics card is an ATI X1600.
Graphics preformance is top notch even when running 3d games at the native resoluton of the LCD screen (1680 x 1050). Im pretty sure that the graphics is built into the board so there is no possibility of upgrading it, but for the here and now it runs everything I have thrown at it wonderfully.
#12
As fas as I know there are a few glitches in TGE 1.5 on performances, but I haven't logged to the CVS for a while and don't know if there has been modifications to the code to improve that. It is planned by GG anyway 8-)
Welcome Martin to the Mac community!
not sure you would ever had a so warm welcome from Windows user... ;-)
STef
12/27/2006 (3:59 pm)
iMac are using laptop motherboard, so yes, Matt no chance to change anything in it. That's mostly Apple's philosophy: don't mess with the hardware we tuned it for you.As fas as I know there are a few glitches in TGE 1.5 on performances, but I haven't logged to the CVS for a while and don't know if there has been modifications to the code to improve that. It is planned by GG anyway 8-)
Welcome Martin to the Mac community!
not sure you would ever had a so warm welcome from Windows user... ;-)
STef
#13
http://tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/Torque/1.5/WhatsNew
12/28/2006 (2:18 am)
TGE 1.5 include so many improvments on the Mac code that it's really a must have.http://tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/Torque/1.5/WhatsNew
#14
but 1.5 is even worse on mac - crashes all the time - and a 1.5.1 is not coming in the near futur i am afraid!
i use 1.4.2 which at least is more stable!
so my advice, stay away from upgrading!
12/28/2006 (2:26 am)
yeah, that is what the announcement says and why i did the purchase!but 1.5 is even worse on mac - crashes all the time - and a 1.5.1 is not coming in the near futur i am afraid!
i use 1.4.2 which at least is more stable!
so my advice, stay away from upgrading!
#15
Rawi: Does the stock TGE 1.5 demo run on your Mac?
@Mathieu: Does TGE crash on your system like on rawi's?
@Stephen: Thanks for the warm welcome. Mac feels good! :-)
12/28/2006 (2:33 am)
@Mathieu, rawi: Thanks for the comments. The improvement list is super large. Rawi: Does the stock TGE 1.5 demo run on your Mac?
@Mathieu: Does TGE crash on your system like on rawi's?
@Stephen: Thanks for the warm welcome. Mac feels good! :-)
#16
There is the nasty 'F11' bug; that is known to crash the engine... I experienced it and, yeah, that's a bad one. 8-(
but it is random.
I haven't been extensively playing with TGE 1.5, Darkwind: War on Wheels is eating a lot of my time and it is TGE 1.3. I'm running the mission builder on CrossOver, the windows emulator for intel based Mac. 8-)
At this time, I have no crash to report other than 'F11'.
STef
12/28/2006 (4:00 am)
Hi agree with Mathieu, in my case integration of TLK was the big plus. Also, a $50 upgrade isn't expensive.There is the nasty 'F11' bug; that is known to crash the engine... I experienced it and, yeah, that's a bad one. 8-(
but it is random.
I haven't been extensively playing with TGE 1.5, Darkwind: War on Wheels is eating a lot of my time and it is TGE 1.3. I'm running the mission builder on CrossOver, the windows emulator for intel based Mac. 8-)
At this time, I have no crash to report other than 'F11'.
STef
#17
12/28/2006 (10:55 am)
Just bought me a mac mini too! Found me a very cheap second hand one (+eye tv) :) Haven't had a chance to play with it much... planning on using it to convert my TGB games for Mac.
#18
@Ward: He he, EyeTv is for me the next thing to buy! :-) Fantastic tv recording machine, the mac mini. It's really an awesome device.
12/28/2006 (1:31 pm)
Sounds good with the 1.5 update. Seems to make sense. @Ward: He he, EyeTv is for me the next thing to buy! :-) Fantastic tv recording machine, the mac mini. It's really an awesome device.
Torque Owner Anton Bursch