Here is one for you. I have been using iPhone Remote (Telekinesis) as a server for an iPod Touch/Various Laptops for a while now on my Mac Mini HTPC.

However my problem comes in DivX files which are obviously not playable on the iPhone/iPod Touch. I don't want to convert these files as lossy > lossy is a big no-no and I don't really want artifacts on my HDTV.

Right now I have it set up so DivX files use the DivX Web Player when the browser accesses the file, however that will not work on the iPhone.

That stated I want to know if there is a way to have VLC transcode on the fly to the iPod Touch/iPhone. Any ideas?

I've had a PPC MacMini running as a home theater for years now.

Initially I just used it to record TV and use front row. However now it meets many various needs that have arisen since podcasts and youtube have become more prevalent and I want to use the Mini as an actually computer.

For television shows instead of recording, I have switched to downloading shows. Many shows I buy on iTunes and I download the ones I can't using TVShows 0.3.4 and Transmission.

For video playback I obviously have Frontrow as well as VLC, MPlayer, Miro, etc.

But probably the most important aspect are my various interfaces. So far I have done the following:

Gyroscopic Mouse / Wireless Keyboard
Gamepad for Halo/Quake 3/Aleph One
Back-to-My Mac / VNC
Telekenesis (iPhone Remote)
Clutch (For Transmission)
Frontrow PHP backend for Mobile Safari and Nintendo DS
VLC HTTP interface customized for Mobile Safari

Ultimately the result is that I can access almost any aspect of the machine with whatever device I have on hand, be it my MacBook my aging Powerbook, iPhone/iPod Touch or even my Nintendo DS. All I need is an internet connection.

I can't believe it. I tried Verbose/Single User, I even tried to boot off the Install DVD, and I ended up booting in target disk mode and killing the system folder so I could restart. I spent 3 hours on the thing and you march in and make me look like an idiot.

Oh well 1 minute left on the install, and this time I will use the Combo Updater instead of that Software Update crap that has given me problems on it and the MacBook.

Yeah, that doesn't help those of us who had it reboot twice and then refuse to boot again safe mode or otherwise.

Apparently software update can't find it when the 10.5.2 update beachballs your mac mini indefinitely. Fortunately it only took 2 reboots to get 10.5.2 to install on the MacBook.

Oh, and a shipping date one wouldn't even be 2 years old.

How are you sending messages back from 2009? I would really like to know considering that an announce date MBP would be 2 years and 6 days old.

I'm sorry but it sounds like you have never used Time Machine or know what it does.

Sure, you can use it to backup an entire disk image periodically... like Windows or Software X; but it is really designed and marketed as a file revision(version)/deletion recoverer. For example, if I went through and used find and replace on a 25 page dissertation to replace every instance of the word "example" with "bacon"; all one would have to do is simply go back to yesterday and recover the file.

If Finder is unresponsive when dealing with an external drive it is better to let it be, and it usually works its crap out. If you must unmount you should use Spotlight (or Quicksilver) to launch Disk Utility and eject it from there. In the worst situations you can also force quit finder, usually with negligible effects and eject after it relaunches.

If you can use a HFS formatted drive, you would likely not experience this issue. (I have similar problems with my FAT32 backup drive for my Mame cabinet, but not with any of my HFS+ drives)

@6

The wording isn't good, but it says that if you don't know how frameworks work... stay out.