Creating a FreeBSD Machine from an Old Mac Mini

I had an old Mac Mini that had been sitting around. I think I bought it around 2014. It was a fine machine for a while, but as Mac OS X kept getting updated, eventually the OS became too heavy to run on it.

I think this is planned obsolescence by Apple because, if you look around, Linux and BSD would be totally sufficient for this machine. The only reason Apple adds more features to hog more memory and CPU resources is that they want you to buy a new machine.

Anyway, I did consider getting a new Mac as well, especially since my Lenovo laptop recently broke. I needed a new machine that I could use for my personal projects.

I tried installing Hugo on my Raspberry Pi 3B. I could make it work, but it was too underpowered to compile my image-heavy photography website.

Before buying a new computer, I thought I would try to see if I could make my Mac Mini into a viable machine for website building and perhaps for other tasks.

I tried installing various Linux distributions on the Mac Mini with no avail, but eventually I was able to install FreeBSD. I am writing this manuscript on my FreeBSD machine via SSH. The machine currently sits on top of my dresser in our bedroom because that’s where our router is. I haven’t figured out how to enable WiFi on this computer, so it is wired through a good old LAN cable. I might keep it that way because not only is it simple, but the Mac Mini is small and doesn’t take up space anyway.

It is rather refreshing to use FreeBSD again. I used to run a home server with FreeBSD from my apartment in Ann Arbor, and later from Maryland. I used it as a music server, and it was a rather useful little machine.

Anyway, I’m glad it is running on my Mac again, and my current plan is to use it as my website building machine. However, I might also try to use it as a file server and music server.