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 3 of 17)
Radu Dutzan said 11:01PM on 10-24-2005
Yeah, i tried it aand it works amazingly!!! Ttansitions and animations go smooth as silk on my iMac G4 700 w/ 384MB of RAM, and I figured you had to launch iTunes before Front Row to make it work. Now it works just GREAT!!!
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Gregory Pierce said 11:00PM on 10-24-2005
I grabbed the torrent, installed the .app in the two locations, but I found a BevelServices.framework in my 10.4.2 install so I didn't install the new one. I then ran the application with no reboot, pressed escape down for 5 seconds and up came front row. I tested everything except the DVD but it all worked just fine.
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Caleb Dewberry said 11:01PM on 10-24-2005
enano275 you are awesome
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Adam said 11:18PM on 10-24-2005
Where can I download it from?!?!?
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Chad Branlty said 12:04AM on 10-25-2005
I wrote a little applescript to activate Front Row. Using some 3rd party software (http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18713) you can assign a function key to run the applescript and activate Front Row. Here is the script:
tell application "System Events"
tell application "Front Row" to activate
key code 53 using command down
end tell
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chase said 11:22PM on 10-24-2005
It won't install the Xkeys package, and sometimes comes up with a Stuffit error.
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NET said 11:39PM on 10-24-2005
download it here :
http://www.thefifthrule.com/T5R/FrontRow838036.Demonoid.com.torrent
its a torrent
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adam said 11:38PM on 10-24-2005
Anyone checked this with Panther? I have tried, and it won't work for me-even if I try to open iTunes first. Mac mini:1.25 GHz 512mb RAM OS: 10.3.9
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NET said 11:40PM on 10-24-2005
here are the instructions too:
http://thefifthrule.com/T5R/
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Eric said 11:45PM on 10-24-2005
I tried the how-to from the post (via digg) and enano275's method. The posted howto got it working, but I couldn't get iTunes to work at all. enano275's method worked great. At first the video I have ran pretty choppily (1.25ghz mac mini with a GB of ram), but it seems to working pretty well. I haven't tried a DVD yet. It's kinda slow, but that's almost definitely because of my hardware. Anybody try this on a faster mac mini? I'd love to put one of these in my living room. Better yet, I'd like to see a G5 mac mini come out with front row pre-installed.
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Adam said 11:48PM on 10-24-2005
I don't know if I am doing anything wrong. Followed the instructions. Everything is very choppy (with itunes, iphoto open).
Can't get music to play (same error as noted before).
Photos work, just slowly.
DVD did not work at all (DVD player opened in background)
Have not tried movie.
Help!
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Hee Haw said 11:56PM on 10-24-2005
Thought I was watching the Rubber Johnny video there for a minute
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/flash/rubberjohnny.html
so. scared.....
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Axe said 11:59PM on 10-24-2005
Good work, guys!
I've got it working very well on my PowerBook 1.67GHz and 1GB RAM. Relatively smooth transitions, tunes load up well, photos work great, and the movie trailers look very good. Of course it could be faster, but this is clearly not a G5.
The only problem I've run into so far is that the DVD player has outright refused to work. I tried two different discs, and both have caused my system to crash. Like Gregory I didn't overwrite my BevelServices.framework folder, so perhaps that has something to do with it? Call me weak, but I get very nervous when I start messing around with the System folder.
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Eric said 12:06AM on 10-25-2005
Just make an archive of the file (right click and create archive). No worries mate!
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Adam said 12:10AM on 10-25-2005
Figured out part of the problem for everyone....Do Not replace the Bezel file....that fixed everything besides the DVD
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Jaws said 12:49AM on 10-25-2005
I got it working on both my old iBook and G4, albeit with problems. Is anyone else experiencing the problem of the "titles" in Front Row (like Music, Photos, etc.) showing up upside down? It's happening on both my Macs, and I'm not sure why or how to fix it.
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Nolan said 12:15AM on 10-25-2005
Now where is the torrent for photobooth?
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Jaws said 12:49AM on 10-25-2005
I got it working on both my old iBook and G4, albeit with problems. Is anyone else experiencing the problem of the "titles" in Front Row (like Music, Photos, etc.) showing up upside down? It's happening on both my Macs, and I'm not sure why or how to fix it.
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Wheels said 12:24AM on 10-25-2005
Dude, Zeno sounds like me when he laughs/giggles. The poor guy!
This is all very cool. Can't wait until Apple legitimately releases this for the Mini. C'mon, we all know they will. They had to release it for the iMac first, since the iMac is the top of their consumer computing hierarchy (Note I said consumer, I think PowerMacs are considered to be above consumer).
And yes, I can confirm that Divx now works with Quicktime. This happened sometime between last Wednesday and a week from last Wednesday.
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mike said 2:34AM on 10-25-2005
Yeah, and he is going to wake up to Apple legal calling him
---
Singing telegram from Cupertino, sir.
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