Troubles with Free Mac Mini intel version

Hey all,

I just have a quick question/problem I hope I can get some help with.
My son just got given a Mac mini the Intel based one 1.5 version from his school lab teacher. They are getting all new equipment so they are giving things away which is very cool. However I want to wipe the drive clean and start fresh for him I do not have the restore cds for the Mac mini I have the OS X 10.3 cd’s for my ibooks. I would be willing to buy leopard if I know i will be able to format the drive and install it. I know it’s usually hold in the “c” key and it will start the process (I have done this on my other Macs) I tried this with the osx 10.3 cds and it does not work. The problem is that I am using a pc keyboard because I have it setup with a KVM switch to switch between my pc and the mini right now and I do not have a Mac keyboard because the ones I own are laptops. Also when the Mac mini powers up it asks for a username and password which my son does not have and the school will not give me because I guess it has to do with their network security or something.

What can I do. Any help would be great.

Thanks again.

Leopard will let you format and install. The discs from your iBook are specific to that model. The Mini can't boot from them which is why you're having trouble.

Well the thing is i bought these disks from allmac.com for my ibooks and they worked so why wouldnt they work for the the mini. Or atleast start the process and say already registered to another computer. the problem lies in the fact that it doesnt even start the process. If i had leopard right now put it in and held down the c key im guessing it wouldnt work i think it has to do with the username and password. tell me if im wrong.

DWhitbeck said:

Well the thing is i bought these disks from allmac.com for my ibooks and they worked so why wouldnt they work for the the mini.

Click to expand...

A few reasons.

One, install discs are machine specific. An iBook disc works in an iBook. A Mini disc works in a Mini. You can't use them on a machine they weren't intended for.

Two, the iBook is a PPC Mac. The Mini you have is an Intel Mac.
Intel Macs use a modified version of OS X. A PPC version of OS X like the one on your iBook would never work on an Intel Mac.

Three, it is against the EULA to use a machine's restore/install discs on any other machine, no matter what version of the OS it contains.


Now, the retail version of Leopard is Universal and would work on both PPC and Intel Macs. It is not machine specific either, so it would work on any model.

OK thank you for clearing that up. I will purchase my copy and get it up and running thankyou

Since it's a 1.5Ghz Intel it must be the Intel Core Solo CPU. Just to be sure, does it have 4 USB ports in the back?

You need the retail version which is a black DVD. The gray coloured discs you have are the model specific ones which restore the machine to its as purchased set up.

It worked out ok. leopard installed perfectly and is running awesome