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Mac OS X in a Nutshell
The Gist The book is quite well structured, and organized into into 5 parts. The first is a quick overview of the Macintosh GUI. The second part, "System Configuration," is mainly devoted to getting the system running well (covering preferences, networking, the file system and Java). The third section, "System and Network Administration," is a good guide to several lower-level tasks, including an excellent chapter on directory services and NetInfo. The fourth is about development, including Apple's IDE "Project Builder" and CVS. The final part covers the Unix underpinnings of OS X and X Windows. This includes a Unix command reference of over 200 pages.
The Good The book is also well written, with light, easily understood prose and some good screen dumps, tables and diagrams to make some of the more complex points easily understood. I appreciate the detailed contents section, good quality index and black chapter tabs at the side of each page for finding the information I need.
Everything seems to be covered, though you may sometimes find yourself needing to go elsewhere for more depth, but this is really only to expected in a book that is trying more for breadth across an entire operating system than depth in one particular area.
Despite having used and developed on a Mac for over 15 years and OS X since the late beta stage I still found myself discovering something new and useful every few pages in the book.
The Bad The section of the book I appreciated least was the Unix Command Reference. 200 pages, most of which are adequately covered by the online man pages or a quick 'command --help'. Not that it isn't useful having this information on paper, and not that this section isn't more complete than the man pages and less error-ridden. It's just that my favourite operating system has a large number of commands that are hard to find by name alone. Online, I tend to rely on apropos to find what I need. Back when you paid a large amount of money for a Unix license they came with hard copy manuals that included a permuted word index of the same top slug that apropos searches, which made them infinitely more useful. O'Reilly could improve the heck out of this book by giving us the same thing for what I felt was otherwise an almost totally wasted 200 pages (though I admit that the combination of the chapter on NetInfo and the command references for nicl and niutil etc. actually have me now understanding and using NetInfo well.)
Once again O'Reilly have provided a web page for the book that is mostly marketing material -- though in this case the Errata page is useful. At the bottom of the page they have a number of links to "Related O'Reilly Articles" but have only listed three by the authors of the book, leaving out, for example, X11 and Open Office on Mac OS X by Wei-Meng Lee and Configuring sendmail On Jaguar by James Duncan Davidson to name two MacDevCenter articles I've found incredibly helpful.
Conclusion
This book is not quite in the "must buy" category. If you do want a book to help you with the more technical aspects of OS X or to help you move to OS X from Unix or Windows hacking then this one is worth a serious look. It certainly better covers the technical aspects than OS X Bible and others of that style (such as the Missing Manual or Robin Williams' Little Mac OS X Book.) The only other volume that really compares is OS X Unleashed and it has way too much coverage of the simple stuff and the various applications, is not as well structured and has a wordier, less terse and technical style. It's also more expensive and twice the size and weight.
You can purchase Mac OS X in a Nutshell from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
But Macs are shaped nothing like nutshells.... although, it might be cool if they were!
One of the better ones in fact.
Mac OS X in a Nutshell
I thought companies were moving away from software boxes and to cheaper, downloadable formats, Putting software in a nutshell is outrageous!
i wonder how much of this will remain true once Panther rolls out (sept?)
This is the first O'Reilly Review I can remember without a mention of the Sample Chapter O'Reilly is known to provide.
(Blatant Kerma whoring, but I immediately "dug" to find is, so I thought I'd post it.)
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
power user = user who knows just enough to be way more dangerous than a normal user.
it's been said here before I think, but this is a great site with tons of usefull (also sometimes stupid) osx info.
Some really funky applescript stuff, some lame bash scripts & much gui tweaks, but I've found a lot of fixes for problems that no apple docs could help me with.
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
The problem with many of these books, though, is that they aren't where the masses will find them. I go into my local B&N and there may be a dozen or two titles tops that relate to the Mac, compared with the hundreds for Windows and other stuff.
And probably, the only people going to O'Reillys are people that probably don't need the book.
I think the Apple Store needs to go into the book-selling business as well and promote books like this on their site, or on the Switch site to that the masses who could use this type of information will know that it is out there.
Happiness is like peeing yourself. Everybody can see it but only you can feel its warmth.
I haven't read the discussion of the Legacy Free PCs (just the article) and I find it ironic that I came straight here. From where someone is making a big deal out of getting rid of the BIOS, to an OS geared to something the Macs did ages ago to drop the BIOS (Open Firmware).
I am, and always will be, an idiot. Karma: Coma (mostly effected by
I thought that Apple had just announced a new product range or colour. Then again technology is getting smaller by the day.
_____________
cheap web site hosting in a nutshell
You can't have a business model based on supporting old hardware. That's what linux is for. It doesn't mean you're forced to upgrade. If you bought a G3, you should have bought it because you found it useful, not on the promise of future support. If after all these years of Apple ditching legacy hardware you haven't yet figured out the pattern, then spelling it out to you is probably a waste of time.
If you want a new system buy a new system. If you don't want one, stick with what you've got.
I have been buying fewer books of this type recently. In the past, a good O'Reilly book was the best way to get on top of a subject. But, with a few google searches, I can find most everything I need about common topics, like MacOS X.
The argument for disconnected access with books is a bit tougher with a 750page book.. Not really a mobile tool.
at slashdot
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
"I think the Apple Store needs to go into the book-selling business as well and promote books like this on their site, or on the Switch site to that the masses who could use this type of information will know that it is out there."
Yes, but. Will that not destroy the "Ease of use" illusion? Here's your computer, and here's this thick book to read.
If you can get 768 pages into a nutshell, you've got to be talking about some pretty big nuts...
If you are indeed a Unix geek, go to macosxhints.com and you'll find a lot more useful information there for free.
Okay, as a word of warning, my comments are based on looking through the book at a local bookstore, and confirming my conclusions by reading the review. I agree with the "Bad."
In aiming a book at the power user for Mac OS X, it's safe to omit almost everything about the GUI. It's not too difficult to learn the GUI in the first place (after all, it's supposed to be intuitive). I think what would most interest the power user is the UNIX underneath.
Now, the so-called "power user" really comes in two forms: one, power users coming from the old Mac OS, and two, UNIX power users. Both of these groups could benefit from a book that concentrates on how OS X's UNIX works. (Note, I'm not talking about an introduction to UNIX, covering grep and piping one command into another, and so forth.)
Besides on essentially wasting so many pages on the GUI (in my opinion), the book falls short in just the way the reviewer noted: namely, thin documentation of the UNIX base and how it differs from others. There is some good coverage; but what is needed is more than a "nutshell"; what is needed is a fuller explanation of the commands.
What is needed is more than what goes only slightly beyond being printed manpages.
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
It seems to me that the Apple section and the main page aren't talking to each other. The "sections" sidebar incorrectly says it hasn't been updated since April 2, and this story didn't even make it into the Apple section! Is CowboyNeal sleeping at the switch?
This is not the case with this particular review. Both good and bad aspects were covered. As well as a conclusion that compares this book with others of the same ilk.
Also, it's very interesting that OS X gets so much attention from the publishing industry. Coincidence? I think not.
I'm usually in agreement - I find that google is nearly always the best reference for everthing...except computer how-to. Usually, what I find, is my searches turn up 1000 people with the same/related question as me, but usually, either no one answered, or the advice sucked. It takes me usually a lot of searching through google to find someone who had the exact problem adequately answered.
By then, with a good book, I have found the answer far sooner. Of course, the main advantage of google is it's free, so I end up repeating the above process a lot...
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
O'Reilly's Definitive Guide to OSX is being delayed by hnical difficulties: the finished book keeps collapsing into a black hole.
I mean, if a nutshell guide is over 700 pages...
Sig:Why copyright isn't a fundamental human right
Heck, there was a /. story a few weeks back about a server in a housefly. That's much smaller than a nutshell.
They had at least 15 copies of this on prominent display at the Waldenbooks here, and we're in the middle of BFE.
i always thought that os x's preemptive multitasking, buffered memory and journaled filesystem were pretty gay myself. the SMP thing sounds a little willy-nilly to me too, two processors working together, doing everything in unison...pretty gay you are right.
Astounding! What next? A beowulf cluster in a hair follicle? A massive compute grid installed in CowboyNeal's left buttock?
The mind doth indeed boggle, like a large boggley thing.
I pre-ordered this book from amazon. I am a network admin and about half the machines I support are MacOSX. This book has provided me with alot of usful hints and tips that I now use on a regular basis. Although this book is NOT *must-read*, it did provide me with some good info and I would recommend it to anyone that uses OSX on a regular basis.
"Power User = Someone who has power accidents"
Plugging a 120 Volt computer into a 220 outlet.
My quadra 650 has slowed to a crawl. Figured it was a Mobo problem bc for years now the scsi port hasn't worked, I've had numerous hard drives die in it (maybe it wasnt the drives, after all). Maybe it is something simple, but I'm replacing the board with a 7100AV board. It used to be fast, now it is like an SE/30 Puzzled me. not that that helps you, but I thought I'd chime in
Is there any OS X book out there that is a must read for someone coming from a linux background?
I was going to get OS X for unix geeks but everyone is saying it's lame. Any suggestions?
~mindlace
... thought the Openfirmware was something similar to the Bios in the PC world. What is the difference? OpenFirmWare is still there anyway.
If the book is *only* 750 pages, I suggest we change the name from "Mac OS X in a Nutshell" to "Mac OS X in a Bombshell", since it will fit better there.
If you are not familiar with OpenFirmware let me just say this, the PC BIOS is to OpenFirmware as a Model A is to an Infiniti G35 Coupe. I.e. the BIOS is ancient and extremely limited in it's functionality.
The meme police, They live inside of my head
Mac OS X says: Help! I'm in a nutshell! How did I get into this nutshell?! Aaaa!
Must be from the folks who brought us a webserver in a fly and a network switch in a teddy bear.
(For background, I come from experience of Linux command line/desktop [KDE, mainly] and Windows [for a greater period of time].)
1) There is no 'Menu' button. I do not want to have to run an Application to get a list of programs which I then have to click through. Mouse-over opening menus is nice. It doesn't have to be called Start, or 'K', or anything fancy but a button that has menus and sub-menus listing my appications would be a start.
2) I want the windows to store my settings. If I list applications by details, rather than as naff, huge icons, unless there is an option that I can find to tell it to store my settings, I expect it to be done automatically.
3) I want to be able to tab through all my Windows. Not just '1' of each application. If I have a terminal up and 2 Mozilla windows (not 1 window with tabs), I want the Apple key + Tab to be able to go through all 3.
4) I want it to tell me -- without requiring me to search in depth, and spend about 20 minutes -- what these shortcut keys are. I can't be the only one used to Linux/Windows, surely?
5) I want to be able to change settings in the 'Control Centre' without having to go back to the menu of options at each stage. This is just usability. If I want to go from one option to the next, I have to click one, which redraws my window, make changes, then click the button to show all the options. I can't a) look at more than one and b) have a list of options in the background (if you're changing something in every category it's handy to see where you're upto).
6) I want the maximise button (the +) to fscking well maximise. I don't mean 'get bigger' - I WILL DRAG THE WINDOW IF I WANT THAT. I WANT YOU TO MAXIMISE.
7) I want to be able to tell OSX what I want click events to do -- I want the double click on the title bar to MAXIMISE. NOT MINISE. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO TELL IT THIS.
8) I want the terminal to run faster than my P200 running Linux. If I run the default shell, or even more so bash, it crawls. I use the terminal to do things more quickly (maybe Apple knows this and deliberately sabotage it?).
9) I don't want to wait 10 minutes to boot up, which it sometimes feels like I have to.
10) When I put in the install CD after having formatted my disk, I'd like it to tell me it's not doing anything. I don't want to wait an hour, only to check online and realise that it doesn't do anything until I hold down some random combination of keys (which it doesn't say on screen) and go into debug mode that automatically starts the installer.
11) Why does my battery get chewed so badly? I get 3-3.5 hours in Linux, with an optical mouse plugged in but only 2 in OSX, with nothing in.
12) Why does my DVD/CD spin up randomly? This wastes battery life and is particularly annoying when I haven't tried to access anything on the CD/DVD or run anything that would need it.
13) Why can I not set power options directly after an install until rebooting? I've reinstalled twice and this annoys me. It doesn't say anything, I just can't unlock it until reboot. Why?
14) Why doesn't the manual tell me about what Mac thinks are executables? About what disk images are too Macs, etc? I now have undeletable shortcuts on my desktop.
15) Why are there lots of links in Finder to 'Applications' or 'Scripts' that WON'T RUN?
16) Why is it called 'Finder' in the first place?
17) Is it possible to navigate to root directory in 'Finder'? If so, it's got me stumped.
18) Why will it not auto update Stuff-It Expander in the OSX updates thing? How come when Stuff-It runs, it detectes there's an update, I click 'Not now', and it crashes? And this was trying to extract the update for itself. Prey tell how I'm meant to update it.
19) Give me an option to remove the desktop menu. I don't want a desktop menu at the top. I'm happy with my non-permanent ones. Really, I don't want it.
20) Why can I not drag files onto the CD-RW, or edit one that has some fi
I also agree I felt really cheated. There are a ton of topics regarding OSX from a Unix users's perspective I'd like to see covered and this book had about 5% of them. There is good information in the book its just not indexed well enough and there isn't anywhere near enough book to justify the title. Its more like a dozen good articles than a book.
1) Get fruit menu it does exactly what you want in terms of a "start menu" for OSX
.DS_Store. That's where mac's store information regarding finder preferences.
2) Shart cut keys are pretty universal across mac applications. Learn them once in general. Its not like Unix or Windows
3) If you want to understand file formats go to the developer website on www.apple.com. The file system is fairly complicated since its a compromise between the old apple unix, next and OS9 file system. However there is no such thing as a
4) In terms of the finder do a websearch on
5) If you have links to files in applicatiosn that won't run something is wrong
6) Macs boot up faster than windows or linux machines so if its taking 10 minutes do a verbose boot and see what is going wrong.
Among other helpfull things is a detailed explanation of OSX startup items (startup is totally different than other *NIX), A list of all the root folders and what OSX uses them for, and some caveats about symlinks and the finder.
Sigs are out of style, so I'm not going to use one...oh wait..
I read "Mac in a Nutshell" and thought "Here's another innovative design..."
Jason McIntosh has done many Cool Things (tm), including co-authoring Perl and XML and defining ComicsXML. He worked at O'Reilly for awhile in the now defunct Tools group, helping to build programs to convert author manuscripts into a formats amenable to the Production workflow. When not hacking code, jmac finds and plays obscure games from impolitely named companies. Buy his book and encourage him to write a second edition about Panther.
Just when you couldn't think APPLE could get any more gay.
Wow, OS X with its "lickable" interface and "Cocoa" center, put in a nutshell! This is the greatest advancement of the confectionary industry in years!
What? What do you mean, "It's an operating system" ?