USB Ports

The Mac mini has two external Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports for connecting a keyboard, mouse, or additional I/O devices such as printers, scanners, and storage devices. The USB 2.0 ports are connected to a discrete USB 2.0 controller chip. The optional Bluetooth module is connected to the Intrepid ASIC via an internal USB 1.1 connection. See USB Interface for reference information.

For more information about USB on Macintosh computers, please refer to sources listed in USB Interface.

USB Connectors

The USB ports use USB Type A connectors, which have four pins each. Two of the pins are used for power and two for data. Figure 3-1 is an illustration of a Type A port; Table 3-1 shows the signals and pin assignments.

Table 3-1  Signals on the USB port

Pin	Signal name	Description
1	VCC	+5 VDC
2	D–	Data –
3	D+	Data +
4	GND	Ground

The Mac mini provides 5 volt power to the USB ports. The maximum current available is 500 mA on each port.

The external USB 2.0 ports support low-speed (1.5 Mbps), full-speed (12 Mbps), and high-speed (480 Mbps) data transfers. High-speed operation requires the use of shielded cables.

The Macintosh system software supports all four data transfer types defined in the USB specification.

FireWire 400 Port

The Mac mini has one external FireWire 400 IEEE 1394a port. The features of the FireWire port are:

• Support serial I/O at 100, 200, and 400 Mbps (megabits per second)

• Up to 8 watts of power when the computer system is on

• Support up to 62 devices

• The FireWire port receives power whenever the system is plugged in.

The FireWire hardware and software provided with the Mac mini are capable of all asynchronous and isochronous transfers defined by the IEEE 1394a standard.

FireWire 400 Connector

The FireWire 400 connector has six contacts, as shown in Figure 3-2. The connector signals and pin assignments are shown in Table 3-2.

Table 3-2  Signals on the FireWire 400 connector

Pin	Signal name	Description
1	Power	unregulated DC; 17-24 V no load
2	Ground	Ground return for power and inner cable shield
3	TPB–	Twisted-pair B, differential signals
4	TPB+	Twisted-pair B, differential signals
5	TPA–	Twisted-pair A, differential signals
6	TPA+	Twisted-pair A, differential signals
Shell	—	Outer cable shield

When the computer is on, the power pin provides a maximum voltage of 18.5 V (no load) and up to 8 W total power.

The FireWire PHY is powered as long as the computer is connected to AC power.

Pin 2 of the 6-pin FireWire connector is ground for both power and inner cable shield. If a 4-pin connector is used on the other end of the FireWire cable, its shell should be connected to the wire from pin 2.

The signal pairs are crossed in the cable itself so that pins 5 and 6 at one end of the cable connect with pins 3 and 4 at the other end. When transmitting, pins 3 and 4 carry data and pins 5 and 6 carry clock; when receiving, the reverse is true.

For additional information about the FireWire interface and the Apple APIs for FireWire device control, developers should refer to the resources listed in FireWire Interface.

Ethernet Port

The Mac mini has a built-in 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port. The user can connect it to either a 10Base-T or a 100Base-T hub; the port will automatically sense which type of hub is connected.

The connector for the Ethernet port is a an RJ-45 connector located on the I/O panel. Table 3-3 shows the signals and pin assignments on the connector.

The Ethernet interface in the Mac mini conforms to the ISO/IEC 802.3 specification, where applicable.

Internal Modem

Except for the education configurations, the Mac mini has an internal, fax modem. The telephone connector for the modem is an RJ-11 connector on the I/O panel. A telephone cable is included with the computer.

The internal modem has the following features:

• modem bit rates up to 56 Kbps (supports V.92 and K56 flex modem standards)

• Group 3 fax modem bit rates up to 14.4 Kbps

The internal modem is an I2S device that responds to typical AT commands. The modem delivers audio to the host where it is converted to analog for call progress monitoring. The modem also supports the “Wake up on Ring” feature.

AirPort Extreme Card

The Mac mini supports the AirPort Extreme Card, an internal wireless LAN module connected to the PCI bus. The AirPort Extreme Card is available as a build-to-order option or as an Apple Authorized Service Provider upgrade.

By communicating wirelessly with a base station, the AirPort Extreme Card can be used for Internet access, email access, and file exchange. A base station provides the connection to the Internet or the bridge between the wireless signals and a wired LAN or both. The AirPort Extreme Base Station has connectors for a wired LAN or WAN, a DSL or cable modem, and a standard telephone line using the built-in 56 Kbps modem that is available on some base station configurations.

AirPort Extreme transmits and receives data at speeds up to 54 Mbps, comparable to wired networking speeds. AirPort Extreme is compatible with earlier AirPort systems as well as other devices that conform to the IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g standards, including PCs. For more information about Wi-Fi and compatibility, see the reference at Wireless Networks.

Bluetooth Technology

Available as a fully-integrated, build-to-order option, Bluetooth is an open specification that enables short-range wireless connections between desktop and laptop computers and a host of other peripheral devices. Bluetooth support is built into Mac OS X and compliant with Bluetooth specification v1.1. It operates on a globally available 2.4 GHz frequency band (ISM band) for worldwide compatibility and has a maximum throughput of 3 Mbps.

The Bluetooth technology supports the following profiles:

• serial port (SPP) —provides a wireless serial connection to other Bluetooth devices

• dial-up networking (DUN) — enables a mobile phone to act as a modem

• object push (OPP) —enables the transfer of files between Bluetooth devices

• human interface device (HID) — enables the use of Bluetooth input devices (keyboards and mice)

• Bluetooth file transfer profile (FTP) — enables browsing of the file system of other Bluetooth devices which support Bluetooth FTP

• hardcopy cable replacement profiler (HCRP) — describes how to send rendered data over a Bluetooth link to a device, such as a printer. Although other profiles can be used for printing, the HCRP is specially designed to support hardcopy applications.

• headset profile (HSP) — enables the use of Bluetooth-enabled wireless headsets for applications such as iChat. This profile does not enable use of Apple Speech Recognition due to the fact that it is a low-precision audio channel.

Bluetooth is available as a build-to-order option or as an Apple Authorized Service Provider upgrade, which is installed as a fully integrated module. Accessing the Bluetooth capabilities without purchasing the integrated module will require a third-party USB device.

When the Bluetooth option is installed, the antenna is located in the computer’s internal frame.

For more information on Bluetooth technology, refer to Bluetooth.

Hard Disk Drive

The Mac mini has an internal hard disk drive storage capacity of 40 GB or 80 GB with a build-to-order option of 80 GB. The internal hard disk drive operates at ATA-100 and conforms to the ATA/ATAPI-6 standard. It is set as device 0 on the host’s ATA port.

The software that supports the internal hard disk is similar to that in previous Macintosh models and includes DMA support. To obtain information about that software and about the ANSI standard for the Ultra DMA ATA interface, see ATA Devices.

Combo Drive

The Mac mini has a slot-loading combination DVD-ROM and CD-RW drive. The Combo drive reads and writes CD media and reads DVD media as shown in Table 3-4.

Digital audio signals from the Combo drive can be played through the sound outputs under the control of System Preferences.

The Combo drive is cable-select as device 1 on the ATA port. The device is capable of Multiword DMA Mode 2, which is a maximum of 16 megabytes per second. This interface is compatible with ANSI-NCITS industry standard ATA/ATAPI-6.

SuperDrive

The Mac mini is available with an optional slot-loading SuperDrive. The drive can read and write CD and DVD media as shown in Table 3-5.

Digital audio signals from the SuperDrive can be played through the sound outputs under the control of System Preferences.

The SuperDrive is cable-select as device 1 on the ATA port. The device is capable of Multiword DMA Mode 2, which is a maximum of 16 megabytes per second. This interface is compatible with ANSI-NCITS industry standard ATA/ATAPI-6.

DVI Port

The Mac mini has a DVI-I (DVI with analog) port. Figure 3-3 shows the contact configuration for the DVI connector. Table 3-6 lists the signals and pin assignments.

The graphics data sent to the digital monitor use transition minimized differential signaling (TMDS). TMDS uses an encoding algorithm to convert bytes of graphics data into characters that are transition-minimized to reduce EMI with copper cables and DC balanced for transmission over fiber optic cables. The TMDS algorithm also provides robust clock recovery for greater skew tolerance with longer cables or low-cost short cables.

The Mac mini supports DVI video output for digital resolutions up to 1920x1200 with a maximum pixel clock of 154MHz coherent TMDS or 135MHz non-coherent TMDS. The Mac mini fully supports both the 23-inch Apple Cinema HD display and 20-inch Apple Cinema display.

For information about TMDS, see the reference listed in Digital Visual Interface.

DVI to Video Adapter

The Mac mini supports an optional DVI to S-video/composite adapter that provides S-video and composite output to an NTSC or PAL (default is NTSC) video monitor or VCR. When a display is connected by way of the video adapter, the computer detects the type of adapter and enables the composite and S-video outputs. The settings for the resolutions and standards (NTSC or PAL) are then selectable in the System Preferences Displays pane.

The video output connector is a 7-pin S-video connector. Figure 3-4 shows the arrangement of the pins and Table 3-7 shows the pin assignments on the composite out and S-video connector.

The Mac mini provides video output at desktop sizes and frame rates compatible with the NTSC and PAL standards; the desktop sizes are listed in Table 3-8. Those desktop sizes produce under-scanned displays on standard monitors.

Sound System

The sound system provides output through the built-in speaker and the headphone/audio line-out jack.

To maintain the highest level of fidelity, all signals within the computer, including audio CD playback, are maintained in digital form before being sent to the internal speaker or the headphone jack.

The sound system’s input, output, and CODEC are described in the following pages.