Chapter 4 — Bootable Is Apparently a Relative Term

Having rescued the Mac mini from its cardboard death row, we now needed to give it an operating system.

The Mini was built in 2012.

The latest version of macOS it officially supported was Catalina, released in 2019.

ChatGPT assured me this would be a perfectly suitable choice.

I found that reassuring, especially considering Catalina was released three years before ChatGPT was introduced to the public.

Our technical team now consisted of a fourteen-year-old computer, a seven-year-old operating system, and an AI assistant whose principal qualification appeared to be an extraordinary level of self-confidence.

What could possibly go wrong?

First, we needed a bootable USB installer.

ChatGPT walked me through creating one.

We plugged it into the Mini.

We attempted to boot from it.

Nothing.

Apparently, the term bootable is more of an aspiration than a guarantee.

ChatGPT began offering suggestions.

Check the USB drive.

Check the installer.

Try again.

Maybe the drive wasn't prepared correctly.

Maybe the computer wasn't recognizing it.

Maybe we should start over.

Eventually, we discovered that the original wireless keyboard wasn't cooperating with the startup selection process.

This was a particularly unhelpful development because selecting the USB installer was the entire point of the exercise.

We could have had the finest installation USB drive in the history of computing, but without a keyboard willing to tell the Mini to use it, we weren't going anywhere.

Enter a brand-new keyboard.

Fresh out of the box.

Eager to make a good first impression.

And, unlike its predecessor, willing to participate in the startup process.

Suddenly, the USB installer appeared.

We selected it.

Catalina began installing.

Success!

The Little Mini was coming back to life.

After years of sitting forgotten on a garage shelf, the computer had a fresh operating system and a new purpose.

We even named its drive Mini HD.

A proud moment.

The Mac mini had survived fourteen years, several threats of disposal, and an operating-system installation supervised by artificial intelligence.

Unfortunately, the brand-new keyboard apparently believed its responsibilities ended once the installation was complete.

During ordinary use, it began intermittently refusing to respond.

Not permanently.

That would have been too easy to diagnose.

Just occasionally.

Enough to make you question whether the computer had frozen, the keyboard had disconnected, or the universe was conducting some sort of experiment.

ChatGPT, naturally, had suggestions.

It always had suggestions.

And to be fair, some of them were even helpful.

But the important thing was that Catalina was installed.

The Mini was alive.

The drive had a name.

And we were ready to move on to networking.

Which, as it turned out, was where the project would begin to develop a personality of its own.