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O'Reilly Publishing Mac OS X for Unix Geeks
vi-rocks writes "A new O'Reilly book is due for release in October: Mac OS X for Unix Geeks. Brian Jepson and Ernest Rothman are the authors. Details about the book (including a sample chapter) are available on the website. Note the sash on the top right hand of the cover reads 'Switching to Mac OS X.' They say you can't judge a book by it cover -- HUMBUG!, I've already pre-ordered :)" The sample chapter information on NetInfo has helped me already.
I guess the people at O'Reilly are finally realizing what they are: geeks.
Jonahweb.com has stuff.
Just marking it [pdf] would be a big help, for minimal effort. (See my other recent replies for similar style suggestions.)
I am helping my folks setup their new iMac and I have found Apple's switch site to be rather light on the detail. I don't have time to wait for a book. Are there any good, technical websites for helping people switch Windows to Mac - and use both at the same time?
For example, I want to share a non-poscript printer connected to a Windows machine, with the Mac. I am assuming that it must be possible since OSX is based on Unix and Unix can do it. I know that I probably need to install Ghostscript but I don't know what to do after that. Any suggestions?
if apple gave us free mac hardware :)
Does have a CD of the OS included?
Money! That's all I ever hear from you idiots when anyone talks about any operating system! How much money does it cost? Oh, sure, Linux is completely unusable to the average human being, but that just gives us a reason to mock them for being idiots!
I have to wonder if, back when cars were first being introduced as a consumer product, mechanics sat around and did this.
"Starters? REAL motorists know how to crank the engine BY HAND!"
"If you don't know how to mix your oil and gasoline yourself, get off the road."
"You don't NEED an automatic transmission. Why are we wasting time talking about this instead of advancing clutch technology."
Salon is a wonderful gathering place for all kinds of tech news. Keep up the good work.
--
Evan (no reference)
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
I think it's interesting that the sash on Amazon's site (particularly in the larger image) is different than the link in this post.
Instead of "Switching to MacOS X", Amazon reads "A UNIX Hackers Guide". Weird.
I wonder what that's all about.
-Alex
Those lil' checkboxes are there in the preferences for a reason. Feel free to use 'em.
First off, Its not a software hack, its built into the os.
Secondly, get over it.
"However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation."
what is a "key" ?... could it perhaps be "a button"
So you're suggesting that it's a "hack" to make a button act like a... button?...
Ummm... It's an article about an O'Reilly book. That's an advert for O'Reilly really.
'sides, like the reply above me, this *is* the Apple section. Don't visit a Ford dealership if you're looking for a Chevy.
Incase you've been in a cave, on Mars, with your eyes closes, and you fingers in your ears, Mac OS X has become an OS that many geeks are interested in.
Because of this, there have been a hell of a lot of Mac OS X related stories on Slashdot lately? Why? Because Slashdot covers "News For Nerds".
However, it is understandable that not everyone is interested in Mac OS X, Apple, or anything at all related. That's why Slashdot has stories put into sections, and you can then change your preferences to not show sections you're not interested in.
Now, if you can't even figure out how to change your preferences not to show Apple related stories, you're probably not capable of using most of the software that is talked about on Slashdot.
So, get into your preferences, and check the following boxes:
Apple
Desktops (Apple)
iMac (Apple)
Media (Apple)
Networking (Apple)
OS 9 (Apple)
OS X (Apple)
Portables (Apple)
Technology (Apple)
Utilities (Apple)
Wireless (Apple)
Those topics cover every single Apple related story on Slashdot, and with them checked you should never see them again.
And, before you ask why there are so many Apple related sections, it is because there is a lot of stories in the Apple section of Slashdot that cover all of those topics. To keep people like you that don't want to see Apple related stories happy, while still not giving each story a generic Apple icon, new topics were added with (Apple) appended. This was done so people like you could exclude them.
Now, you've been empowered. Use this knowledge well. With any luck, we'll never see you post in an Apple story ever again. And if we do, we'll know you're doing it by choice...
Is there any way on the MacOS X PDF reader, or Acrobat for that matter, to display the document as a single scrolling page of text?
It drives me nuts to browse by paper page, since inevitablby my screen is just a shade shorter than a complete page, and so I have to scroll down to the rest of page 1 and then move to page 2. It's an incredibly akward way to read.
Anyone find a decent solution to this?
D
Don't visit a Ford dealership if you're looking for a Chevy
Or alternatively don't visit either if you're looking for a decent car. Mopar baby!
Mac OS X has those old OS 9 people running scared. ;)
They know that the evil command line and a swag of unixy software is under the hood - but they don't want to mess with it. That's why they want lovely gui installs for stuff like PHP and MySQL
But do you teach them emacs or vi?
People who know unix can quickly come to grips with OS X. Its only a matter of figuring out what wierd directory stuff goes into. What they will get confused with is Microsoft Office X.
Also seeing a gui environment running all the time will surprise them.
I just wish that Terminal.app wouldn't unexpectedly quit on me (with the old error message style that will allow os 9 users to fell at home).
Surely they could have picked a better cover animal than a hunting dog (with the "this old dog won't hunt" association, maybe?).
I'm not sure what to propose as an alternative, though. Clarus is clearly old-school Mac OS, and a jaguar would be too specific to 10.2. Ideas, anyone?
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
Another whiny post by Perdo. What's up, did Steve Jobs kill your dog?
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
In Acrobat Reader, select 'View->Continuous' on the menu bar. Preview on OS X has a similar setting in a similar place.
Or did you mean something else?
Anyone too stupid to be unable to adjust to a keyboard with the control key somewhere else deserves nothing but contempt for being an inflexible fool.
And whining about a keyboard layout as a reason not to switch computers merely shows how truly pathetic you must be.
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
In an on-going email exchange I am having with an Apple employee (whom I won't name) in their marketing department,
First of all, the vast majority of Apple employees have no idea what is going on in the company at large. And Apple historically regards its marketing people as little more than a necessary nuisance; marketing people are often the last to find out about anything.
Unless it comes from an engineer, be very skeptical. Otherwise just be reasonably skeptical.
the Apple marketing person directly stated to me that Apple was catering to their historic Mac customers, and is purposely ignoring the Unix market.
Apple probably figures Unix users are resourceful enough to fill their own needs, instead of stomping their feet and complaining.
Apple has about 20 or so million users who still haven't upgraded to OS X. It is simply good business sense to get the majority of the user base migrated before staking out new territory. And your anonymous Apple employee got it wrong. Apple is not just catering to their own users; they're trying to woo Windows users too. Even a small percentage of this market could mean millions of new Apple customers. It is good business (hey, there's that phrase again) to begin making overtures to the Windows market and to leave the Unix market, which is a much savvier and more self-reliant (not to mention smaller) class of users, to itself for now.
He also claimed that Apple would soon start paying more attention to the Unix market. I won't hold my breath.
So all that effort to update the BSD layer and add gcc 3.1 was just to make Windows users jealous?
Apple has been ignoring Unix users for more than 12 years.
Apple didn't have a proper Unix-based OS until 2001. Apple was shrewd enough to figure that most Unix-heads weren't going to be migrating in droves to System 7, and so concentrated on the markets where it was strong: publishing and multimedia.
Also note that my Apple contact indicated that Macs would never ship with a 3-button mouse
Apple could be ready to ship a 3-button mouse next week and your contact wouldn't know a thing. See above.
I can't believe people still insist on making an issue of the freakin' mouse. Even if Apple never ships one (which I don't consider a certainty, as the system requirements for Shake include a 3-buttoner), you can buy one for under $30. Or just plug in the one you're currently using; OS X will recognize it without any additional drivers.
And not to be churlish, but it seems like a lot of users have successfully transitioned to OS X even in spite of the bad ol' CTRL button.
If you run the console.app it'll grab stack traces of things that crash. Doesn't really help as I lack the source to terminal.app, but it is vaguely consoleing.
(-50,000, pun)
-Yarn - Rio Karma: Excellent
> Apple laptops are effectively unusable for unix users.
:-) As a vi user, and a user of Apple laptops, I don't have any problem with the placement of the Control key.
Not all Unix users use emacs!