2015-02-07, 16:05
I've recently got a Mac Mini to use for Kodi. It's an absolutely fantastic device for this use but it needs some tuning to turn into a proper kiosk/kodi device. The idea is to disable all of the rubbish we don't need and make Kodi run smoother.
I'm starting this thread for two reasons. The first is to keep track of all of the changes I've made so that when I purchase the second Mac Mini, I can come here and follow. The second is to get the inputs from the community of things they've changed.
So here it goes. Remember, it's a work in progress and I'll be updating it over time. I will also append this with any decent suggestions in reply to this thread.
Software Update
While this doesn't help the usability, it does help reduce your overall power usage and has marginal performance improvement.
Upgrade to yosetmite
Upgrade EFI & SMC Firmware (http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201518)
Automatically Start Kodi on startup and restart on crash
Create file '~/Library/LaunchAgents/user.launchkeep.kodi.plist' and paste in the following contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>user.launchkeep.kodi</string>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>Program</key>
<string>//Applications/Kodi.app/Contents/MacOS/Kodi</string>
</dict>
</plist>
Run the following command
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/user.launchkeep.kodi.plist
Disable unwanted services/programs
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.com.apple.CalendarAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.CalendarAgentLauncher.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.tccd.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.AddressBook.SourceSync.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.AddressBook.AssistantService.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.SocialPushAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.soagent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Dock.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.icloud.AOSNotificationAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.icloud.AOSNotificationLoginAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Spotlight.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.metadata.SpotlightNetHelper.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.AirPlayUIAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.gamed.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.cloudd.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.spindump.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CrashReporterSupportHelper.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.blued.plist
sudo mv /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.disabled
Disable Quit/Crash Notifications
defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none
Disable Menu Transparency
defaults write com.apple.universalaccess reduceTransparency -bool true (disable menu transparency)
I'm starting this thread for two reasons. The first is to keep track of all of the changes I've made so that when I purchase the second Mac Mini, I can come here and follow. The second is to get the inputs from the community of things they've changed.
So here it goes. Remember, it's a work in progress and I'll be updating it over time. I will also append this with any decent suggestions in reply to this thread.
Software Update
While this doesn't help the usability, it does help reduce your overall power usage and has marginal performance improvement.
Upgrade to yosetmite
Upgrade EFI & SMC Firmware (http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201518)
Automatically Start Kodi on startup and restart on crash
Create file '~/Library/LaunchAgents/user.launchkeep.kodi.plist' and paste in the following contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>user.launchkeep.kodi</string>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<true/>
<key>Program</key>
<string>//Applications/Kodi.app/Contents/MacOS/Kodi</string>
</dict>
</plist>
Run the following command
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/user.launchkeep.kodi.plist
Disable unwanted services/programs
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.com.apple.CalendarAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.CalendarAgentLauncher.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.tccd.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.AddressBook.SourceSync.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.AddressBook.AssistantService.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.SocialPushAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.soagent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Dock.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.icloud.AOSNotificationAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.icloud.AOSNotificationLoginAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.notificationcenterui.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Spotlight.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.metadata.SpotlightNetHelper.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.AirPlayUIAgent.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.gamed.plist
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.cloudd.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.spindump.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CrashReporterSupportHelper.plist
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.blued.plist
sudo mv /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper /Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.disabled
Disable Quit/Crash Notifications
defaults write com.apple.CrashReporter DialogType none
Disable Menu Transparency
defaults write com.apple.universalaccess reduceTransparency -bool true (disable menu transparency)