Filed under: Software, Video, Hacks, How-tos
Reader video: Front Row on a Mac mini
TUAW reader, Zeno, wrote in tonight from Switzerland, having just managed to get Front Row running on his Mac mini with a few "tweaks" (it is currently only included with and supported on new iMacs).
He recorded a video as proof of his success, and included the following notes: "Details: - Front Row transition effects run smooooth on the Mac mini (keep in mind there's no G5 in the mini and it only has 32MB of vram). First time you launch it, you'll be blown away, that's for sure. - Front Row can be controlled from the keyboard (4 arrow keys, space bar and escape) - As you can see in the video, I managed to remote-control Front Row from my SonyEricsson K700 via Bluetooth: using one of the built-in Bluetooth HID profile (no Salling Clicker needed, even if, of course, you could do that with Salling Clicker too) - Because of those 'tweaks' (ok, call them 'hacks') Front Row on the Mac mini is not working 100% properly (Videos and Photos were ok, but had some problems with DVD and Music)"
Pretty cool. The video is awesome, as you can really tell how completely stoked Zeno is about the whole thing. We like it so much, that we decided to host it for him. You can grab your copy here (13MBs).
Thanks, Zeno! You rule!
Update: Here's a Flickr set of another Mac mini running Front Row. Thanks, Matthew!
Update again:
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 17)
reg said 5:13AM on 11-01-2005
Hi,
For those that are using 10.4.3 with Frontrow and the Cocoa app, simply hit F8 as normal, wait a moment then hit Esc.
For all Frontrow users with 10.4.3, you may need to install the DVD player files again - 10.4.3 seems to be 'downgrading' some peoples' DVD player again :(
For those that downloaded v5.1 of the crack, please can you seed it as a torrent - the torrent file is already out there, but there aren't any seeds.
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Cyberwhore said 6:40AM on 11-01-2005
halo5 we could move this discussion to http://discussions.info.apple.com/
I have sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't stay up there too long though.
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halo5 said 8:20AM on 11-01-2005
hehe... I think you're right! I noticed they didn't have a "Hacks" category in the Apple forums section. In leu of that, possibly we could use the "Mac Apps" section of byodkm.net, where they already have a discussion going on about FR.
Just about anything is better than here. I hate having to do email confirmations for each post. Especially when it sends you 4-5 emails for every post! This is why some ppl's posts are on here multiple times (including mine)!
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Nick said 9:21AM on 11-01-2005
I got this working on my G4 PowerBook. Working just fine. However, beware of the latest Mac OS update (10.4.3). It will DISABLE FrontRow from running unless you update your Open FrontRow Apple Script app.
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reg said 10:40AM on 11-01-2005
What we need is a wiki, not a forum. MacWiki might be a possibility unless anyone has a better alternative.
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halo5 said 11:05AM on 11-01-2005
You mean this site?
http://www.macwiki.net/index.php/Main_Page
I've never really done Wiki before. What's the advantage of this over a forum? Also, can we create our own category under "Apple Software"?
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halo5 said 12:07PM on 11-01-2005
I've set up a category for Front Row on the macwiki site. Go here for the FR wiki page:
http://www.macwiki.net/index.php/Front_Row
and here for discussion on the page:
http://www.macwiki.net/index.php/Talk:Front_Row
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halo5 said 3:57PM on 11-01-2005
Here is a discussion forum to go along with the Wiki:
http://www.macwiki.net/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=news;action=display;num=1130873954
Please, no posting of illegal files! If you want to find that sort of thing, just search piratebay.org or some other BT site for "Front Row" and they will have a torrent for anything you need.
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George said 4:28PM on 11-01-2005
Does anyone know what do we have to do to put Front Row back to work after 10.4.3? It was working kind-of okay with 10.4.2 but after the upgrade Front Row doesn't launch. It seems to be running in the background, but it's just it doesn't "engage", doesn't start. Once you start if from your keyboard you can operate it from afar with your bluetooth mobile phone.
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Michael Hernandez said 9:57AM on 11-02-2005
How do you do the whole cel phone remote thing? Will I be able to use my Moto Razr?
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Zeno said 7:17PM on 11-01-2005
WOW, over 300 comments, I can't believe it! :-)
Speaking of wiki... another appropriate place to continue this discussion could be the wiki I'm hosting at: http://www.macminicenter.com ....just a thought... If you guys are interested I can create an account for you (or I could make the registration process public) and set up a page dedicated to Front Row (which btw I had already planned to do since the day I shot that video ;-)
let me know
bye
zeno
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halo5 said 7:27PM on 11-01-2005
George, go here for the fix for 10.4.3:
http://www.macwiki.net/index.php/OSX_Update
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halo5 said 7:38PM on 11-01-2005
I like the idea of a wiki that's controlled by one of the original posters (and one who is interested in FR). However, the good thing about the macwiki site is that it also has a phpNuke-type site for discussions as well. I think this is important, because wiki seems klunky to me when it comes to this type of anonymous back-and-forth conversation. OTOH, we would have better control over filetypes for uploading, etc. Also, we had our own phpNuke site, we could even create a dedicated Front Row category. Does anyone have a phpNuke-type BBS site that we could use with zeno's wiki site?
Definitely worth considering...
--halo5
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Pheuvnig said 11:09PM on 11-02-2005
can your psp be used as an alternate remote when using the front row software on the old g5 imac
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Scott said 8:36AM on 11-02-2005
Great postings.
However, is there anywhere online with the definitive notes on how to get Front Row working with the latest recommended downloads?
I have looked through all of the posts, where things have been fixed, as the thread has developed, however, it would be great if there was a definitive step by step guide.
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Zeno said 9:04AM on 11-02-2005
Ok, I set up a dedicated page on the macminicenter wiki:macminicenter.com' with your full name.
http://www.macminicenter.com/wiki/index.php?title=Front_Row
I also posted a couple of GORGEOUS hi-res screenshots (for the users who haven't had the change yet to play with Front Row on their Mac).
And yes, let's do the "definitive step by step guide": don't be afraid to ask for an account to edit that page: just send an short email to 'accounts
bye
-- zeno
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Zeno said 9:06AM on 11-02-2005
ops, the above email address is: accounts-at-macminicenter.com
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halo5 said 1:38PM on 11-02-2005
OK, let's make this official. We've moved all of the Front Row content to the macminicenter.com wiki. All new FR content will go here, including a definitive how-to guide for running FR on non-iMacs. There is also a lot more info on Front Row in general posted here. Here is the link:
http://www.macminicenter.com/wiki/index.php?title=Front_Row
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C.K. Sample, III said 1:40PM on 11-02-2005
Well, now that it's official, I'm closing comments on this post. Check the comments above for where you can find more info on all this. Cheers!
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fra said 9:26PM on 10-24-2005
I was waiting for this!
Huzzah!
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