MacMini Setup as a media server

randombar

Hi Lads,
Trying to set this up at the moment and I've a couple of issues:

1 - Can you only create a WEP when you "Share Internet Connection" am I missing something? Wanted to basically set up the mac mini as a WPA wireless router, it would use my 3G usb in as the broadband provider and spit it out over it's airport express?????

2 - It keeps shutting down, hibernating etc, I tried switching off screen saver or something but it's still sleeping??

3 - I also have the airport express which I would like to link into this to stream music etc.

4 - Photos, Music, Movies, Iphone synching, should I just copy all of that over to the mini or what advice would ye have?

Thanks for any and all advice.

//Gary

J-blk

GaryCocs wrote: »

1 - Can you only create a WEP when you "Share Internet Connection" am I missing something? Wanted to basically set up the mac mini as a WPA wireless router, it would use my 3G usb in as the broadband provider and spit it out over it's airport express?????

Yep, the ad-hoc network options only seem to provide WEP encryption only - not sure of a way around it but I only use it when I need to get online using my phone so I wouldn't have it running 24/7 like you are planning to...

GaryCocs wrote: »

2 - It keeps shutting down, hibernating etc, I tried switching off screen saver or something but it's still sleeping??

You need to set energy options in System Preferences to never sleep/hibernate or whatever you want - screen saver won't affect your energy options... Or you could download InsomniaX to prevent it from sleeping/hibernating only when you want (it leaves a menu bar icon running, making it easy to enable/disable the various energy saving options as needed):

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/30315

GaryCocs wrote: »

3 - I also have the airport express which I would like to link into this to stream music etc.

Very easy to set up and works great with iTunes. If you want to stream any audio from applications outside of iTunes (or all system audio), then you need to get a copy of AirFoil:

http://www.rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/mac/

GaryCocs wrote: »

4 - Photos, Music, Movies, Iphone synching, should I just copy all of that over to the mini or what advice would ye have?

If you plan to use the Mini as a media server to stream content around the house, then yes, I'd get a nice big HDD and connect it up, keeping all media there and you can share it out/stream it as needed, rather than having media on different systems across the network.

randombar

J-blk wrote: »

Yep, the ad-hoc network options only seem to provide WEP encryption only - not sure of a way around it but I only use it when I need to get online using my phone so I wouldn't have it running 24/7 like you are planning to...

Does that mean the mac mini cant be used at all as a WPA network?? BOOO

J-blk

Not just the Mini, all current Macs seem to have the limitation (it's an OS thing I think) - I could be wrong so anyone who knows more about it feel free to chime in, but it does seem that when you create an ad-hoc network, WEP (and very basic WEP at that) is all that you can enable...

randombar

Christ that's very unsecure???

Is there a way I could set up the airport express as a WPA Wireless Net and then send the 3G bb to the express?

J-blk

I'm not sure that's possible but I'll be trying something similar myself in the next couple of months, as I'll need to move to using midband (O2 or Vodafone) for awhile... I don't think it's possible to get an AirPort Express or Extreme to set up a WPA network and then share out the 3G connection from the Mac, but that's just a guess right now. But I'm definitely leaning towards "no, it won't work" - you'd probably need a 3G router to do what you want.

The ad hoc network is indeed pretty insecure and I think that's one of the reasons why the network itself is not persistent by design - reboot/shutdown and you need to re-create the network each time...

randombar

That's a bit of a balls all right, really wanna get it set up.

Was thinking then that maybe I could limit it to Mac addresses but it won't even do that.

Does anyone have any solutions??

I was thinking if I could set up a WPA network with the airport extreme, connect the mac mini to the WPA network and transmit the internet connection that way, but can't seem to figure that out yet!

Type 17

If you have an Airport Extreme (or Express), wouldn't it work to set up a WPA network on the Extreme and connect the Mini to it through Ethernet and share the Mini's internet connection through its Ethernet port?

randombar

Ya I was hoping to get away without the extra plug but I guess I don't have options, frustrating that they are both airports and one only does WPA!

Type 17

The Mini does do WPA, but only as a client of a basestation, not when sharing its Wi-Fi connection.

(I know that's no help to your situation, but it's worth clarifying for others reading this later.)

randombar

Ya incoming WPA is fine, hopefully with updated sw it might do outgoing but then that might reduce sales of the airport extreme etc.

Type 17

GaryCocs wrote: »

...that might reduce sales of the airport extreme etc.

That's what I was thinking...

Red Alert

I think nowadays very few people do ad-hoc networks, so maybe they just never bothered to integrate the functionality. I only tend to use them to quickly transfer a file between two computers if I'm not at home or work.

J-blk

Red Alert wrote: »

I think nowadays very few people do ad-hoc networks, so maybe they just never bothered to integrate the functionality.

It's great for tethering your Mac to your iPhone 3G... so I miss the extra security there (as that's what I use it for) - still, since tethering is only possible with jailbroken phones currently, it's not like Apple would care, so I guess you have a valid point there, it's kind of a neglected feature in Mac OS X...