Mac mini Sans Wires - Batteries Inside the Case

An anonymous reader writes "Running Debian (or Linux generally) on a Mac mini is old news. Silas installed rechargable batteries inside the case, delivering a couple of hours of runtime while retaining the small form factor. Although it runs fine without wires, he had to plug in the monitor to be able to show that it was really up."

Re:And the use would be?

[FunWithHeadlines]

"What exactly do you do with a Mac mini that you can't get any visual output from"

Bah! Real programmers don't need screens. Why, in my day we didn't even need keyboards to issue our commands. We merely bellowed at the computer and it whimpered off to do what we wanted. Honestly, the kids these days...

Thats nothing

[Timesprout]

wait till you see my gerbil powered mini. I'm having a small problem with it though, it runs just fine in my test harness but the power seems to tail off and then die shortly after I hermetically seal the case.

Huge new product line!

[dave_mcmillen]

Hey, this could be the start of something big! What if he were to also install a portable screen? Maybe it could, I dunno, fold down into the top of the machine, or something. Then you could carry the computer around and do stuff with it, wherever you went, while resting it on your knee. A sort of "knee-top" compiter, though maybe there's a better name someone can think of . . .

Re:And the use would be?

[Cecil]

It's a portable wireless hard drive for my laptop. Duh.

Re:Sans?

[chiark]

I (am || can speak) French, you inconsiderate clod!

Re:Sans?

[Anonymous Coward]

Illiterate clod.

Even better!

[Anonymous Coward]

Even better... try it with a PowerBook. The monitor and the batteries are already included!

Re:And the use would be?

[YomikoReadman]

When I saw this, it reminded me of a very old joke I saw once.. and compelled me to post it here.

Top 12 Things A Klingon Programmer Would Say

12. Specifications are for the weak and timid!

11. This machine is a piece of GAGH! I need dual processors if I am to do battle with this code!

10. You cannot really appreciate Dilbert unless you've read it in the original Klingon.

9. Indentation?! -- I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull!

8. What is this talk of 'release'? Klingons do not make software 'releases'. Our software 'escapes' leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality assurance people in its wake.

7. Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' -- they have 'arguments' -- and they ALWAYS WIN THEM.

6. Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak.

5. I have challenged the entire quality assurance team to a Bat-Leth contest. They will not concern us again.

4. A TRUE Klingon Warrior does not comment his code!

3. By filing this SCR you have challenged the honor of my family. Prepare to die!

2. You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand!

1. Our users will know fear and cower before our software. Ship it! Ship it, and let them flee like the dogs they are!

Seeing as how old school programmers think like klingon programmers, I believe that it can be reasonably assumed that all old programmers are klingon.

I'm holding out

[WormholeFiend]

for an Apple computer that runs on human blood [slashdot.org]!

Oh wait...

Re:Quiet Macs

[Anonymous Coward]

With a PC, just listen for the fan noise

That would only tell you that you've got enough power to run the fans.

Re:And the use would be?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yea? I bet you used a hard drive and an "operating system" too .. pfft.

In *my* day we used to edit inodes by hand on floppy disks with a magnet and a paperclip!

Re:Huge new product line!

[nine-times]

Bah... and what are you going to do for input? You can install a screen, but then you'd still have to carry around a keyboard and mouse. What, you're going to attach a keyboard and mouse to this whole setup? It's patently absurd.

Re:Sans?

[Reignking]

What's wrong with sans? It's a perfectly cromulent word.

Schrodinger's Mac

[mathmatt]

"Although it runs fine without wires, he had to plug in the monitor to be able to show that it was really up."

Actually, the mac is both dead and alive until the monitor is plugged in - at which time the mac's probablility wave instantaneously settles in at its definite and final value...that is until the batteries run out, then it's a $500 doorstop.

Re:12W

[Anonymous Coward]

Speak for yourself. I've got a pentium 2 with 128mb of ram sitting in my closet drawing *zero* watts.

Re:Yes, but

[shantanusharma]

Well, if these LiPos last long enough, I get a music player supporting all sorts of audio CDs and a 80 gig hard-disk: Mini-Shuffle!

Re:Darwin award soon

[brontus3927]

This is slashdot, we live to laugh at people catching themselves on fire because of thier own stupidity... just someone hurry and set up a camera, so we have pictures of it...

And then post the story to slashdot with a title like "MacMini's explode when plugged in"