Ask TUAW: home routers, S-video on the unibody MacBooks, a Mac as monitor, setting up a headless Mac mini and more

In this edition of Ask TUAW we've got questions about routers, S-Video / composite out from a new unibody MacBook Pro, using a second Mac as a second monitor, setting up a Mac mini without a display and more

As always, your suggestions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!

Scott asks

I have a simple home network/switching question. I have one Intel iMac, running Leopard, and a DSL modem. Sometimes I need to plug in my work (PC) laptop and use my DSL connection, and I do this by unplugging the iMac from the DSL modem, and plugging in the Ethernet cable from the laptop. Soon I'm going to get a TiVo HD, which can run wireless or wired Ethernet. I'm trying to figure out if I need an Airport Extreme, with 3 wired Ethernet ports, or if I can use a simple network switch of some kind. I don't want to slow down my internet connection on my iMac, so I don't think I want that to be wireless. Also, if I go all-wireless with a basic Airport Express, I no longer have the ability to plug in my work PC when I need it (it won't do wireless at all, for security reasons) without disconnecting both the iMac and the TiVo. I'm willing to buy an Airport Extreme and use it strictly to manage a wired network, for the ease of use. Unless a simple $30 network switch can do what I need. Any advice?

A switch, by itself, will not work; you need a router. However, it sounds like you don't care about wireless at all, in which case you can simply get a wired router. You can definitely use an Airport Extreme, but you don't really need it if you're trying to save money. A simple wired-only router like this one from Linksys will do what you want for ~$45. Of course, you can also get a non-Apple wireless router for about the same money and just turn the wireless off (the wired ethernet ports will still function).

One thing about these cheaper routers is that they'll likely only provide the older 10/100 Ethernet speeds, while the Airport Extreme will use Gigabit Ethernet. It's unlikely that that will actually matter much unless you want to move large files between devices, which doesn't sound like something you want to do.

Barkin asks

I have a brand new MacBook Pro (15" unibody) which I bought to replace my old 15" Powerbook G4. The Powerbook had an S-Video port that allowed me to easily connect the laptop to a television. (It even came with a handy S-Video to RCA-video adapter.) The MacBook Pro's only video-out option is a Mini DisplayPort. I'm wondering if there's any way of getting it to connect to a television. I know that I can use Apple's DVI adapter (and, when necessary, a DVI to HDMI cable/adapter) to connect the Mac to a high-end HDTV. But what about analog video via S-Video or RCA-Video?

Unfortunately, the new MacBooks no longer support composite or S-Video out, even with an adapter. So if you really want to do this you're going to need a two part solution. First you'll need Apple's $29 Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter plus a separate VGA to composite converter. This convertor isn't simply an adapter; rather it contains electronics to convert the VGA signal to composite.

On this thread at Apple Support Discussions, one user reported success using the Grandtec USA PC to Video EZ convertor GEZ-1000 which can be found online for about $35. So that means you're looking at ~$64 total.

Josh asks sequentially

1) I have a very large library of movies and was wondering if there was an app that let me easily organize by genre (multiple genre tagging would be great), actor, director, producer, studio, etc. and let me play the video either in that program or by opening up the video in Quicktime through the app.

As another user suggested, I'd take a look at KavaMovies ($35) from KavaSoft. I think it has many of the organizational features you're looking for.

2) I own two white MacBooks (One that I bought and one that I got from my school). I'd like to use one as a second monitor when I am working in Photoshop and After Effects. Is there a way to do this? Alternatively, would it be possible to control both MacBooks with the same mouse (my MX Revolution)?

It is possible to use the second Mac as a second screen with ScreenRecycler (€19.99), but I wouldn't expect the performance to be that great. It will probably be good enough for tool palettes, etc. It does this by using VNC, and includes support for using the same mouse on both Macs.

If you just want to use the same mouse and keyboard on both, without the screen-sharing, have a look at teleport (donations requested) from abyssoft. Teleport is a virtual KM switch similar to the cross-platform Synergy but which, in my experience, works better in an all-Mac environment.

dave asks

I am having a problem with email. I am currently running a project for my Dad's company that requires me to post all of the documentation onto a cloud drive. I am the main point of contact and I would like to post all of the emails that I receive into a folder on that cloud drive (so everyone can see all the correspondence) but I cannot figure out how to easily copy all of the emails from a specific folder in Mail and post them to another folder in my dropbox drive. I am running OS 10.5

Your best bet is probably to use Mail.app's "Save As..." function. Select the appropriate messages in your inbox then go to File Save As.... It will allow you to select the format, including Rich Text. You should be able to save them directly to the folder in your Dropbox. Especially if you save as Rich Text that should allow anybody to read the messages on either a PC or Mac.

GlennAC asks

I'm considering getting one of the new Mac Minis to serve as a headless media server in the home. Currently, we only have MacBooks and MacBook Pros in the home and no stand alone monitors, keyboards, or mice. I intend on managing the MIni via Back-to-My-Mac or Logmein.com from my MacBook Pro. However, these routes require prior configuration on the Mini's side. How do I initially get into the Mini to configure it without a monitor, keyboard, or mouse?

This is a fascinating question! The only way I can think of doing something like this is to start the Mac mini in FireWire target disk mode (for which you will have to have a USB keyboard and hold down the 't' key while starting the mini). Then, using SuperDuper! or CarbonCopyCloner, clone a bootable OS X partition with screen sharing turned on from one of your existing Intel Mac's to the mini's internal drive. Now when you reboot the mini it should start up and allow you to access it with Screen Sharing.

Needless to say, I have no way to test this. I would really recommend just finding a friend with a display and keyboard and going over to their place to set up the mini. Otherwise, you'll basically have no way to really figure out what's going on if something goes wrong.