Slightly Remarkable

I don’t know if it’s common knowledge, but I thought I’d share anyway. Several years ago, as Apple was gaining steam in the industry, Steve Jobs presented a keynote speech and cycled through his presentation slides using a small iPod-like device. It sparked a great deal of interest, and if nothing else, the biggest buzz after that keynote was “Will Apple be selling those little iPod remotes?” Of course, the answer turned out to be “Yes.”

Now they’re standard-issue. Apple introduced FrontRow, a sort of full-screen media browser for your Mac. In addition, this program was designed to be operated entirely using the Apple Remote — no mouse, keyboard, or other interface device necessary. It was (and still is) really cool.

Recently, I ordered a brand, spanking new MacBook Pro. (I am incredibly pleased, incidentally, with my $3200 purchase that included the Design Premium edition of Adobe CS4.) When purchasing my MacBook Pro, among many customization options (you know me, going for top-of-the-line stuff, as usual) was the Apple Remote. I chose not to include an Apple Remote with my purchase. My reasoning for this was simply because I could not justify the $20 price tag. Additionally, I didn’t think it would be necessary, since I was purchasing a laptop, not a desktop for multimedia purposes. And it’s only a 15″ screen.

In any case, I am glad I chose not to purchase the Apple Remote. As the owner of a Mac Mini, I already owned an Apple Remote. I know you can pair the Apple Remote with your computer, but what I didn’t realize was that the Apple Remote can operate multiple Macs simultaneously. In other words, I can maintain the same volume ratio on both my laptop and Mac Mini by using one Apple Remote to adjust volume. It’s really convenient to have the Apple Remote functioning on both computers.

I would complain that the Apple Remote is unreasonably expensive, but it seems that under normal circumstances, it’s only a one-time purchase anyway. Thanks again, Apple.

Let me explain the typical setup. The Xbox (360) has a built-in network adapter, but if you want to buy a wireless one, it costs $100. Obviously, that’s out of the question. I soon discovered that I could connect a crossover cable to the Xbox and my laptop, share the wireless connection on my laptop, and get Internet to the Xbox.

I traveled to Galveston last weekend, meaning no Internet for the Xbox while I was gone, since I had taken my laptop. However, since I recently acquired a Mac Mini, I decided I should give using the Mac Mini for a shared connection a shot, instead of exclusively using my laptop. An interesting but, thankfully, successful plight ensued. I’ll now outline the steps by which I obtained Internet for my Xbox via my Mac.

• First off, get all the hardware setup. This is probably the easiest part. Take the cable that comes with your Xbox (or any network cable that fits) and connect it to the back of your Xbox and your Mac. Turn on the Mac and the Xbox (not necessarily simultaneously; probably turn on your Mac first). When your Xbox is on, head to the Xbox dashboard.
• On your Mac, head over to the System Preferences and click on “Network.” From the “Show” menu, select “Built-in Ethernet” and set “Configure IPv4″ to “Off.” Now head back to System Preferences (click “Show All”) and then go to “Sharing.” Click on the “Internet” button and check the box next to “Built-in Ethernet.” Make sure “Share your connection from: Airport” is selected as well.
• Open Terminal (if you can’t find it, just type “Terminal” in Spotlight) and type in the following exactly: ifconfig en0. Hit enter, and it should return something like inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255. If the first IP is something other than 192.168.2.1 make note of it, and don’t close Terminal.
• Now, turn around and grab your Xbox controller. Go to the Network settings, and set the IP Configuration to Manual, the IP to 192.168.2.2, the Mask to 255.255.255.0, and the router/gateway to 192.168.2.1 (the IP that I told you to make note of earlier — if yours is different, input that IP instead).
• Get back on your Mac, go to Terminal, and type in dig and hit enter. There will be a lot of data, but you need to pay attention to only one line. Near the end of the output, a line will begin with SERVER. That’s the line you need to look at. Find the IP address in that line, and highlight it.
• Go to the Xbox and go to DNS Configuration. Set it to Manual, and input the IP that you just found in Terminal as the primary DNS server. Set your PPPoE settings to Off and your Advanced to Automatic.
• Test your Xbox Live connection. Provided you followed all the steps properly, you should have a connection.

And that, folks, is all there is to it! I haven’t tried this on an original Xbox (just my 360), but I believe it works the same way. Credit goes to perrin of the Mac OS X Hints forums for providing insight on how to get this thing setup. Also, I have noticed a slight drop in performance since I began to connect to Xbox Live via my Mac, but I am not sure if there is a relation there or if it is simply a minor hiccup that my ISP is experiencing.

By the way, anyone who wants to hit me up on Halo 2 can do so by sending a friend request to Sir Jona (I know, a corny name, but “Jona” was taken and I wasn’t about to go with something other than my practically-trademarked “Jona” title!).

Update (1/24/2009): This seems to be my most popular post. There have been many questions, and I don’t think that the steps I outlined above are sufficient. If this post has helped you, but has not gotten you all the way through this process, please feel free to email me (jona at slightlyremarkable dot com). If I get enough positive feedback, I may create an updated post about connecting to Xbox Live via a Mac, possibly with a video tutorial and some troubleshooting steps. Sound good? Remember: email is your friend. (I reply to comments, but I think that a lot of people post a question in a comment and never come back to find their answer!)

It’s great, I’ve checked various sites in various Mac-only or Mac-versioned browsers, and I’m proud of the results for the most part. The whole Mac experience has been very enjoyable and enlightening, from conversations with Mac Geniuses (they call them “geniuses” instead of “technicians” — awesome, isn’t it?) to the use of software that comes with the Mac such as GarageBand, iMovie HD, the Dashboard, Safari, and all the cool visual stuff that this thing does. It’s just awesome. Plus, it came with one of those iRemotes that Steve Jobs uses in his keynotes. I’m sitting here on my laptop, about 3 feet from my Mac, and can control the music that comes out of my sound system. I just finished transferring my 6GB+ iTunes music library to my Mac, which gives my laptop more space for other work. I haven’t attempted to install Photoshop yet, but I’m confident it’ll work a charm. In any case, I just wanted to update everyone, and brag to those of you who are Macless. :)

As to where I have been for the past week, well, I took a one-week late spring break, helped my brother move into a new home (stayed up for about 36 hours doing that, for the ensuing 48 hours I was pooped), and turned seventeen on the 31st. I was treated to my Mac Mini and, in addition, to the theater where I saw Ice Age: The Meltdown. The movie’s funny, the Mac’s great, school still sucks, and this weekend I’ll be out of town doing a competition with my good personal friend Ryan Gabbard.

Really, what’s worth more, a smaller size or 2GB that are practically free considering the price difference? While I can see that a smaller size would make it cost more for Apple to make the iPod Nano, I can’t see what Apple has given us for the additional $50. I’d have to say that getting an iPod Mini would be the better deal, but maybe I don’t really know what’s new…

On a slightly off-topic note, what happened to the iPod Mini page? Looks like Apple won’t be selling Minis anymore, in favour of the Nano. That can’t be good. If you want an iPod Mini, I suppose now would be the best time to get it…

What makes the iPod Nano better than the iPod Mini?