After a third-party seller fiasco on Amazon, I have finally secured a refurbished 2014 Mac Mini desktop. Of course her new name is simply “Minnie.”

Let’s hope that Apple will support this outdated operating system for a few more years

Minnie will have a renewed purpose in life as a file and media server which includes these functions:

• store and serve photo, music and video files to access remotely for friends and family
• external hard drive for backups
• Time Machine backups
• host and support this website as well as the FoxCast audio files
• serve as a normal desktop for me and the significant other

With a hard wired ethernet cable to the 5G modem, a static IP address I can call up files even when I am away from home, which is more frequent lately.

After purchasing a new monitor, keyboard, mouse, ethernet and HDMI cables, she now has a head and input devices to interact with.

This will serve as my ultimate backup and storage solution for years to come. I’ve been wanting to do this forever and finally have the opportunity to do it.

A recent trend going around the fediverse and blogosphere is showing off what your default software tools are so now it is my turn. In the past, I would try the latest shiny software to see if I could incorporate it into my daily digital workflow. But that got exhausting because there was always a shiny new toy later. Over time, however, I’ve settled on what works and to limit my subscription dollars going out. Therefore, I find that for the most part, Apple’s default software applications are good enough.

What works for you doesn’t always work for me, so don’t come at me with “what about ?” I won’t hear it.

📨 Mail Client: Apple’s Mail on both Mac and iOS.

📮 Mail Server: iCloud.

📝 Notes: I use an home-grown database for everything which I call “FoxOS.” Formerly known as “Grey Matter” and “Pensieve.” Apple’s Notes for collaborating with the missus.

✅ To-Do: Apple’s Reminderd

📷 iPhone Photo Shooting: Apple’s Camera app, usually with ProRAW enabled.

🟦 Photo Management: Apple’s Photos app, and editing in Lightroom

📆 Calendar: Apple Calendar

📁 Cloud File Storage: iCloud Drive

📖 RSS: Feedbin

🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts: Apple Contacts

🌐 Browser: Safari on iOS and Mac.

💬 Chat: iMessage

💁🏻‍♂️Social: N/A

🔖 Bookmarks: Safari

📑 Read It Later: Feedbin and Matter.

📜 Word Processing: The aforementioned FoxOS

📈 Spreadsheets: Numbers. 

📊 Presentations: N/A

🛒 Shopping Lists: Apple Reminders

📰 News: RSS and Apple News

🎵 Music: Apple Music

🎤 Podcasts: Apple Podcasts

🔐 Password Management: Apple KeyChain

The Point Of All This

Apple’s apps are pretty darn good for everything I want to accomplish. I’m also a bit of a purist, so I tend to default to defaults, even if they aren’t quite as robust as other options. There was a time in my life when I was a bit more adventurous, but I largely cannot be arsed.