Hi there, I stumbled on this post a bit too late, it seems, but wanted to comment on the use of Target Disk Mode to set up the Mac Mini. If the mini is plugged in to power, has a keyboard (temporarily) plugged into it, and is turned on while you hold the "t" key (for about 10-15 seconds after the chime), then the mini will start up in Target Disk Mode. Next, connect the mini to another Mac (iMac, for example) via a FireWire cable. While starting up the iMac, hold the "option" (or "alt") key, and you will be presented with a listing of available startup drives from which you can boot the iMac. Simply select the orange FireWire drive to the right and press enter/return.
I'm a Mac Genius at an Apple store and we use this nice trick all the time to let people start their computers that have damaged displays or for other reasons.
Chris
