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ginopiazza49 · Jul 8, 2009, 08:24 PM

I recently purchased an Mac mini. As you all know, the Mac mini has its power on button in the rear of the computer. Due to a stroke I am in a wheelchair and my right side is paralyzed. This means that I have to have my mother or brother turn on the Mac mini for me. Does anyone know of a push button type of device that I can use to power on, and off, my Mac mini? While "push button" would be nice, the powering on device can be a switch.

I fully realize that I can leave the Mac mini running 24/7 which I do very often. However, during thunder storms I like to shut the Mac mini off entirely. I do not want to take any chances. I know of a few people (including me with my old Power Mac) who left their computers on during a thunder storm and their computers got zapped.

I am hoping that one of you can help.

ghporter · Jul 8, 2009, 09:14 PM

You have brought up a very interesting issue. Getting at the back of the device is obviously something that could be a problem for a lot of people. I can picture mechanical adaptations very readily-though they wouldn't be necessarily easy to make or use. Frankly, there aren't any real "products" on the market that are intended to do what it sounds like you need, so you'd need something custom. Fortunately, that's not that difficult to come up with.

I think what you'd need is an external push button. Since the "power" button does not handle any real power, adding an external button on a pair of wires would be the simple and easy approach. I can "see" how to do it, but I don't have a Mini handy to try it out with. The real trick, as with just about anything involving the Mini, is to open it up-after that, it's pretty accessible.

Got someone who's handy with tools that can do a simple mod for you?

turtle777 · Jul 8, 2009, 11:52 PM

Well, I would recommend to get some sort of surge protection. It's a good idea to have that for all your major electronics. That way, you can leave your mini on, and put it to sleep when not needed.

Even better, I would get a cheap UPS (uninterruptible power supply). So even if there's a power outage for a couple of seconds, your mini will keep running w/o a hitch.

Some models also offer a USB port, and connect to your computer. Should there be a power outage, the UPS will notify the computer and force a shutdown after a set time period. That way, you get a controlled shutdown, should the outage last for a longer while

-t

CharlesS · Jul 9, 2009, 01:39 AM

Anyone know why Apple took the power button off the keyboard years ago?

ibook_steve · 02:05 AM

Perhaps a Bluetooth or IR remote (with receiver) would fit the bill. I can't think of any right now that have a power on option, but I don't think it would be hard to find one.

As for the removal of the power button from the old keyboards (another possible solution; don't know if it would work with the new machines), while Apple could dictate whatever they wanted with Apple Desktop Bus (ADB, the precursor to USB on Macs), USB is a standard that Apple has no control over. The standard, AFAIK, does not include anything about providing power to a switch when the bus is shut down (the machine is off). So power-on over USB was a kludge that they came up with. Apple may have removed them to comply with the standard. I don't know for sure.

Steve

CharlesS · Jul 9, 2009, 03:02 AM

Kludge or no, the power-on via USB worked fine for the short period of time Apple supported it. Unfortunately, it won't work with the newer machines - I tried it with the first G4 tower that didn't have that feature, and it didn't work. It certainly wouldn't work with the new Intel machines that have little in common with the old G3/G4-based machines that had this.

With that said, I miss the keyboard power button, and wish Apple would bring it back. Of course, these days Apple seems to be shifting its focus toward notebooks, which always have a power button near the keyboard anyway, so there's pretty much no way that it'd ever happen. Oh well.

Simon · Jul 9, 2009, 03:07 AM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Anyone know why Apple took the power button off the keyboard years ago?

IIRC it had to do with fully adhering to the USB standard - but I couldn't tell you which part of the standard was broken by having that functionality. The power button on Macs is not connected through USB either. It's a shame. It used to be really nice. It was just one of those "Mac things".

msuper69 · Jul 9, 2009, 05:54 AM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Anyone know why Apple took the power button off the keyboard years ago?

I'll take a guess.
Probably someone with the initials SJ decided he didn't like it.

Big Mac · Jul 10, 2009, 03:05 AM

Yeah, the keyboard power button was a wonderful feature. I remember how delighted I was when my family got our Quadra, and one small but very nice reason why was keyboard power-on. Back in the old days, the original compact Macs and "cheap" Macs like the LC (our family's first Mac) did not have the feature. The more expensive Macs did, and it represented an informal class distinction in Mac hardware.

I heard a different reason why Apple removed the button when it came out with the first USB Pro keyboard. At the time someone authoritatively stated that it was because people were connecting their keyboards to unpowered USB hubs and then complaining that there computers wouldn't turn on by the keyboard. For a while Macs that came with the Pro Keyboards could power-on through the keyboard if an older Mac keyboard with the power key was used, but eventually Apple removed the circuitry that made that possible.

CharlesS · Jul 10, 2009, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

For a while Macs that came with the Pro Keyboards could power-on through the keyboard if an older Mac keyboard with the power key was used

No they didn't - I had one of the first G4 Macs with the Pro Keyboard, and this didn't work. I do remember reading somewhere about some sort of hardware hack to make it work - I think if you disconnected the hardware power button or some such thing, then the keyboard power button would work. But out of the box it didn't.

P · Jul 13, 2009, 05:29 AM

Some googling shows this product, that might be slightly overkill for what you need but worth a try.

I don't know why power on via USB is so hard to do, but I know that no OEM PCs have it either. Some third-party motherboards can enable it with a jumper, so the theory that it is something with the standard seems plausible. Power on works fine via PS/2 keyboards, and ACPI does allow it explicitly, so it has to be in USB somewhere.

CharlesS · Jul 13, 2009, 11:25 AM

Hey, I just remembered that Apple's old ADC monitors used to allow you to power on the machine from a button on the front of the monitor, even after Apple removed the power button from the keyboard (thus making me wonder if the change may originally have been meant to drive monitor sales). Does anyone know whether that still works with the newer Apple monitors that use DVI or MDP?

msuper69 · Jul 13, 2009, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Hey, I just remembered that Apple's old ADC monitors used to allow you to power on the machine from a button on the front of the monitor, even after Apple removed the power button from the keyboard (thus making me wonder if the change may originally have been meant to drive monitor sales). Does anyone know whether that still works with the newer Apple monitors that use DVI or MDP?

The new-ish 24" led display doesn't even have a power switch.

ibook_steve · Jul 13, 2009, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Hey, I just remembered that Apple's old ADC monitors used to allow you to power on the machine from a button on the front of the monitor, even after Apple removed the power button from the keyboard (thus making me wonder if the change may originally have been meant to drive monitor sales). Does anyone know whether that still works with the newer Apple monitors that use DVI or MDP?

That was a hardware kludge as well, this time added to ADC (remember that? Apple's original version of DVI) which really did not work well, especially since those "touch" buttons were *extremely* sensitive. I worked with that circuit (designed by someone else) in some of the G4 Powerbook days. I'm an EE, but I stared at it when I first discovered the circuit, and I still couldn't quite figure out what it was for or how it ever worked correctly. I'm sure people can provide stories about how the "restart, shutdown, sleep" dialog would appear randomly because this button was getting activated by someone breathing wrong or something.

So no, that "feature" is long gone.

Steve

CharlesS · Jul 13, 2009, 02:35 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

That was a hardware kludge as well, this time added to ADC (remember that? Apple's original version of DVI)

Gosh, no, I'd completely forgotten about ADC, despite having mentioned it in the first sentence of the post you quoted.

Too bad about the new monitors not having this (the new one doesn't have a power switch? How does that work?). I'm not sure what options are left for the OP...

ghporter · Jul 13, 2009, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by ibook_steve

I'm an EE, but I stared at it when I first discovered the circuit, and I still couldn't quite figure out what it was for or how it ever worked correctly.

That's a Really Bad Sign, right there. I can usually figure out a circuit's purpose from schematics, even after years off of the bench. But when an engineer scratches his head at something, that's never good...