I just bought a $9.99 USB adapter for PS2 keyboard and mouse at Frys
(aka Outpost.com). The windows key becomes the Apple key. The reverse
it true as well. I have been using a Mac keyboard with my PC for a few
years now with a USB KVM, the Apple key becomes the Windows key. I
would recommend using a 2 button mouse w/ scroll wheel for Macs even
though the Apple standard is a lame 1 button mouse.

Macs have been using the standard PC monitor VGA connectors since '98
or '99 so you can use any VGA monitor or LCD.

For about $100 you can get a copy of Virtual PC (sans windows,
$200-300 with) and IIRC that has USB pass through. It should be
possible to set up a working PIC dev environment if you really wanted
to. I wouldn't use a text editor in emulation, but there are plenty of
good text editors like BBEdit (the only text editor worth paying for
IMHO).

FWIW, I do not consider myself an OS or platform extremist. I have 14
computers at home. About 8 see regular use. I never get rid of them
for some reason, it drives my wife nuts. They are almost evenly split
between Windows, Linux, and Macs. I use all 3 platforms on a daily
basis. I Work on the PC (job & contracts, PIC stuff), Live on the Mac
(web, email, photos, music, write), and Serve on Linux (file server,
cvs, telephony, web, etc).

- Ben

On Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:40:05 -0500, John Ferrell
<johnferrell@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > Given that the box is so small and relatively inexpensive, and I
> > already have a KVM on my desk, I'm very tempted to get one just to
> > play with OSX.
> 
> I have an open port on my KVM also.
> Is it really that simple?
> Does the MAC really use the same display/pointer/keyboard as the PC?
> 
> John Ferrell
> http://DixieNC.US
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Peter Johansson" <peter@elemental.org>
> To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 10:48 AM
> Subject: Re: [OT] Macs was 40-conductor vs. 80-conductor IDE cables?
> 
> > William Chops Westfield writes:
> >
> >> Actually, I was wondering if the Mac mini didn't make a cute little
> >> general purpose unix machine, completely ignoring all the stuff
> >> MacOS takes to the table.  At $500 for the basic unit, it's not as
> >> far off of the (similarly out-of-mainstream) super-small PC clones
> >> as most macs are, and it's ... cuter.
> >
> > Given that the box is so small and relatively inexpensive, and I
> > already have a KVM on my desk, I'm very tempted to get one just to
> > play with OSX.  I've used (and programmed) Macs in years past, but I
> > have yet to spent any time with OSX.
> >
> > The box has the potential to become a very slick media player as well.
> > Now that all of the big LCD TVs are coming with DVI input, this would
> > be the perfect thing to drive it with.  It's about the same price as a
> > decent scan convertor, and not even one that does DVI...
> >
> > -p.
> >
> > --
> > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
> > View/change your membership options at
> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
> >
> 
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