iMac Thunderbolt

[Bill]

OK, moving on from an argument I was having here about Mac vs PC, I do appreciate that I am the blind leading the blind.

I've been trying to help this friend who has bought an iMac with a 3.06 i3 processor, 4 usb ports and 2 Thunderbolt ports. It was sold to him as refurbished and came with what he describes as a cheap and nasty keyboard, which he has replaced.

I've linked up with him via Teamviewer a few times and we now seem to have got the keyboard into the correct country mode and working, and set things up so that he can work on his writing etc and his emails work.

I have no idea why he has moved from his well sorted out, fast and reliable W10 machine with SSD plus internal 2TB HD to this much older and slower iMac with just a 500GB HD, and he has only said that he always wanted one.

He has now started to move his various external drives across and has run out of usb ports. His external usb hub works, but he keeps asking me whether he can get Thunderbolt to usb adapters to reduce the clutter on the desk. He bought one, but says it "doesn't fit". I have advised caution and told him not to try to get a firewire to usb adapter.

He thinks the machine is a 2011, I suspect from the spec it might be

2010. He can't find a model number, just a serial number. I assume it might be Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2, not Thunderbolt 3. He has asked the supplier who has just told him to plug his external drive into a usb port.

As I understand it, KB and mouse use 2 usb, his 4TB and 2TB external backup and source drives use the other two, and he wants to be able to leave another video drive connected, and plug usb sticks in.

How does one find out whether or not the Thunderbolt port can be adapted to usb?

[Tim Streater]

Dear oh dear, you should really be asking these questions on a Mac ng such as uk.comp.sys.mac.

It's all easy enough to find out. Click on the Apple Menu, choose the first item "About this Mac ...". Among the info there is a model description e.g. mine says "Mac mini (late 2012)". These descriptions are complete.

The layout of "About this Mac ..." panel has changed a bit but if you click around a bit in the panel you can find out complete info about the computer (including a model identifier) and all installed software.

No, you plug the mouse into the keyboard and then the keyboard into the machine.

Ask on uk.comp.sys.mac. Doing it here is a fool's errand.

[Bill]

In message <240220191918256347% [e-mail], Tim Streater [e-mail] writes

As far as I can tell, he has been digging a hole with keyboards. It appears to have come with a cheap PC keyboard, and separate mouse, so he then used a better PC keyboard that he had. Then he ordered a Mac keyboard, rang me up and we discovered it was a US keyboard.

The two pieces of info you gave are just what I needed.

I suppose I'll have to look at a Mac newsgroup.

[Theo]

If it's 2011-2016, it'll have Thunderbolt 1 or 2, which use the miniDisplayPort connector. If it's 2010 it won't have Thunderbolt at all, only mDP video.

You can do Thunderbolt to USB, but that requires a Thunderbolt docking station. However those are comparatively expensive. There are some TB1/2 docks, but the more recent ones are Thunderbolt 3 - those should work, but will need Apple's TB2<->3 adaptor - also expensive.

It appears USB 3.0 arrived in 2012, so a 2011 iMac will have USB 2 - otherwise I would have suggested a USB 3 hub. In this instance a TB2 docking station with USB 3 would give best performance. I've used this one:

many people are upgrading to newer machines, I'd look out for a used bargain on ebay. Note that Thunderbolt uses its own (expensive) cables - these are not the same as MiniDisplayPort or USB-C cables.

If it's a 2010 iMac, you have neither USB 3 nor Thunderbolt, so your only option is a USB hub, but you'll be limited by USB 2 speeds.

In any situation, if you don't care about speeds a USB hub is the way to go.

Theo

[dennis]

Isn't thunderbolt USB type C? So a USB C hub should allow thunderbolt to connect to USB peripherals. Or is it only thunderbolt 3 that is compatible with USB 3?

[Theo]

Thunderbolt 3 on optional protocol which can be carried via USB Type C connectors. It is not the same as USB, and a USB hub will not carry it.

Thunderbolt 1 and 2 are carried via miniDisplayPort connectors and have nothing to do with USB. Although you can plug in a docking station that has a TB (actually PCIe) to USB chip at the other end, which will give you more USB ports.

Theo

[Brian Gaff]

I think he needs to actually ask himself why am I even bothering with an out of date heap of rubbish in the first place for my main work machine? Brian

[Bill]

In message <q50avh$b3q$ [e-mail], Brian Gaff [e-mail]> writes

Well, I can't ask him because he is a really good friend and we chat on the phone about all sorts of interesting things while I Teamviewer in and work with him on trying to sort out what he is doing. He is by far the most interesting of the ex-colleagues and contacts that I "support" technically as a friend.

I believe one of his publishers is a Mac fanatic and has been lobbying. I've probably contributed by moaning about Windows 10, particularly in its early days when it kept blowing my carefully set up specialist drivers away and replacing them by non-working "updates". He is still at the stage of loving his "new" Mac and telling me how marvellous it is that he can load his old Windows writings on to it and edit them. He says it looks so much better than his Windows machine when they are both switched off. His work, at his age, is just a paid enjoyable hobby. Sadly, we are both too old to chase girls.

I'm quite happy about dipping a toe in the Mac water and getting a bit of hands on experience with it without spending any money but, of course, as I'm not at the machine, I haven't seen what a Thunderbolt port looks like.

I do notice that Teamviewer, when used Windows to Windows lets us "share" the mouse cursor, so that he or I can wiggle the cursor to say "look at this". With Windows to Mac, I see my cursor on his screen, but I can't see his cursor when he moves it.

[Tim Streater]

It may not be a Thunderbolt port, it may in fact be a miniDisplayport. I know not much about either.

[Rob Morley]

That's pointless - either use a hub to run them both from one port, or get something like the Logitech wireless devices that share a dongle, or a keyboard that has an internal hub for the mouse.

[whisky-dave]

To ID which Mac he has :-

from the Apple icon at the top left hand side of the screen do about this Mac.

Mine's a mid 2011 .

That will give you most of the info on hardware and software on that mac.

There's a useful util called mactracker.

That can give even more info and compare models.

It might not have thunderbolt but it might be a mini display port on earlier versions upto 2011.

[Bill]

In message <20190225155348.4e691482@Mars>, Rob Morley [e-mail] writes

Imo, the whole operation is pointless, but he is persisting because he has been told that Macs are better. I have told him that he will run out of space before he finishes transferring the contents of his 2TB drive to the 500GB of the Mac, which also contains the OS. His response to this was to ask whether I could fit a 500GB ssd plus a big HD into the iMac. I've told him I don't know and wouldn't want to, but he wants me to ask around about that, too.

He has been using his usb hub, but wants to remove it to keep the iMac looking good and not surrounded by cables, he says.

Thanks to all for the replies. Tomorrow I'll talk him through all this.

He is, at least partly, a journalist. Anyone who has dealt with journos for most of their working life will know what they are like. They believe what they read and often get it slightly wrong.

[Tim Streater]

Yes, you can trivially get complete info about your Mac, hardware and software, including serial number.

You could go to:

and enter the serial number, that will give you the model description and the date it was built.

Perhaps the OP's mate should have gone here:

where he could have got a refurb iMac and known what he was getting.

[whisky-dave]

The wired apple keyboards have two USB ports one at each end, one can be used for the mouse (well that's what I do) so you have an extra USB port not fewer.

Of course the imacs usualy come with wireless KB & mouse which don't take up any USB ports.

Like the Apple ones do.

[Bill]

Thanks, all, for the info.

I rang him yesterday and asked if his US Apple keyboard had a usb port. He confirmed it had, he plugged the mouse in and got it working. He then told me he is left handed and the port is at the wrong side of the kb.

He has just emailed to say he is delighted and it's all working. I have no idea whether he has found a second port.

[Bob Eager]

We have a rule. No food or drink in the office, or the workshop. Other computers belong to sons and they can do what they like near those.

Both sons have this really ingrained. When they learned to walk, they knew to (and did!) leave their bottles outside the office door.

[Tim Streater]

In the early 90s when still in the US of A, a friend contacted me in a panic as she'd upended her tin of coke all over her laptop. She was a bit surprised when I took the battery out, dismantled the rest, washed it all in tepid water, left it in her airing cupboard to dry overnight, remantled it and handed it back in working order.

[Bill]

In message <260220192249528926% [e-mail], Tim Streater [e-mail] writes

With hot Lemsip, you have to be very quick. I speak from experience.

[Bill]

In message <260220192228503210% [e-mail], Tim Streater [e-mail] writes

With the older Lenovo keyboards, my problem is falling hairs getting under the keys. Luckily the source is rapidly receding.

[Tim+]

With dog pee, the damage is almost instant...

Tim