OS X Hacks

honestpuck writes "'Mac OS X Hacks' is a good grab bag of tips and techniques for getting the most from your Mac. While the tips are not as universally appealing (even among Mac owners) as those in 'Google Hacks' most people will find some value in the selection; experienced users may find it a little thin." Read on for the rest of honestpuck's review. OS X Hacks author Rael Dornfest & Kevin Hemenway pages 380 publisher O'Reilly rating 7 - Good reviewer Tony Williams ISBN 0596004605 summary Good grab bag of tips and techniques for getting the most from your Mac

The book is split into 9 chapters; 'Files', 'Startup", 'Multimedia and the iApps', 'The User Interface', 'Unix and the Terminal', 'Networking', 'Email', 'The Web' and 'Databases'.

For my money the last chapter is a complete waste of space since it only covers installing MySQL and PostgresSQL, and if you can't figure out how to install them from the documentation then you aren't smart enough to use them. A number of the other tips would come close to that level, I feel their only use may be to encourage people who would otherwise stay away to make some use of the terminal and similar tools.

Over a dozen people have contributed 'hacks' to the book, among them some major geeks such as James Duncan Davidson (Tomcat author) and Jon Udell (well respected O'Reilly blogger.) This accounts for the wide number of areas covered by the hacks.

When I first started reviewing the book I would have complained about a large number of the tips being too application specific, too general or too low in skill level. Since then I've had a friend who wanted to edit a movie and we both found the chapter on iApps useful, one with a brand new Bluetooth phone who liked the couple of tips on Bluetooth and another who found the cross platform Windows-Mac stuff useful. so I have to say that while some of the tips might seem useless now you may come to appreciate them later.

Overall the book is well written, well laid out and well cross-referenced and covers a wide range of information. My one major beef is still that there are too many 'tips' that are well covered by other material. Since you shouldn't really get this book until you are at least Mac proficient and probably own a basic Mac book or two then perhaps a tenth of the hundred tips will be covered in most Mac books and perhaps another five to ten you will have discovered on your own.

While O'Reilly doesn't offer a sample chapter of this book online they do have a page at Hacks that lists all the hacks and allows you to read eight of them. There is also a page in the catalog with the Table of Contents, Index and Errata.

Reading over my notes I feel split between raving about how good the book is - well written with a bunch of useful tips and tricks for any Mac user - and complaining about the useless nature of some of the tips. After taking another look at 'Google Hacks' and my review I realised where the conflict lies -- in my level of experience on the Mac. If you already feel comfortable with getting your hands dirty on your Mac then this book may well not satisfy you. If, on the other hand, you still have some trepidation about hacking at your OS X Macintosh then you'll probably love this book.

You can purchase OS X Hacks from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Reminds me of Linux circa 1994

[JUSTONEMORELATTE]

The reviewer writes "if you can't figure out how to install them from the documentation then you aren't smart enough to use them."

And people wonder why geeks don't have more non-geek friends.

--

Re:Reminds me of Linux circa 1994

[OmniVector]

that's not elitism, it's true. if you can't figure out how to install a program as complex as mysql, which isn't that hard to install in osx, there's a good chance you can't use it.

Re:Reminds me of Linux circa 1994

[transient]

I vehemently oppose elitist geek attitudes (despite having a streak of it myself), but I have to agree with the reviewer on this point. MySQL and PostgreSQL aren't toys -- they take a certain level of expertise to use effectively. If you can't install them, it's not that you shouldn't use them, but you probably wont be able to. It's about capability, not status.

Re:Reminds me of Linux circa 1994

[gwernol]

that's not elitism, it's true. if you can't figure out how to install a program as complex as mysql, which isn't that hard to install in osx, there's a good chance you can't use it.

The reviewer said " if you can't figure out how to install them from the documentation then you aren't smart enough to use them" (emphasis added). That surely is elitism of the worst sort. You can be very smart and still not have the knowledge and experience necessary to use MySQL. The word "smart" is horribly elitist in this context. If he had chosen to say "arent' yet knowledgeable enought to..." then it woldn't be an issue.

If I were a non-geek reading that review I would be offended. Hell as a geek who happens not to have learnt that much about administering databases I'm offended.

Re:Reminds me of Linux circa 1994

[azav]

In my experience, ya need "getting up to speed" guides, not faqs

Everytime I dive into a new Director xtra (like valentina) I find that the author's mind has a whole lot more experience with it than I. And what is needed are training wheels before I can pedal on my own.

Just because you may not currently by smart enough to use it doesn't mean that you can learn how if given the right guide and direction.

Re:Reminds me of Linux circa 1994

[jat850]

I'm just not sure that I agree with you here. A good DBA may not need to know very much in terms of system administration, but can probably walk all over a good sysadmin in terms of database design and management. A sysadmin will probably not be as familiar with MySQL as a good DBA will.

It seems to me as though what you're saying is sysadmins, because they can install these programs, exhibit a "certain level of expertise" that a person unfamiliar to a UNIX command line might not. A good DBA can always fall back on his/her SQL standards-compliant syntax and feel right at home, regardless of whether or not he or she can set up MSSQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, DB2, or whatever.

Re:Reminds me of Linux circa 1994

[newsdee]

how is this brilliant user going to write code that utilizes said database?

He(she) won't. Sometimes you need to install a database to run something else, which, if scripted properly, doesn't need much hassle. I should not need to tamper with script files when the only thing I want to do is install a printer driver (unfortunately I had to, and under OS X!).

A good "ergonomic" program should not require documentation, except a reference for the advanced technical savvy user. Every computer user is not a programmer... so if there was more "exploratory" software, computers would be easier to use and more people would be on them.

But a good interface designer is very expensive, because he/she does not output code you can recompile and copy, but rather an "experience" (I'm not talking just making a skin here, but rather designing how all interactions works) that you can patent. Of course, that doesn't prevent MS from copying you... (see Apple, or Xerox).

Re:Reminds me of Linux circa 1994

[Otter]

Try it again, with different emphasis:

[I]t only covers installing MySQL and PostgresSQL, and if you can't figure out how to install them from the documentation then you aren't smart enough to use them.

I read it as "If you need to be told how to install them, you need to be told how to use them. How is simply giving installation instructions helpful?" I agree that phrasing it terms of "smart enough" is obnoxious, though.

In other words, RTFM, newbie.

[You Are A Dumbass]

For my money the last chapter is a complete waste of space since it only covers installing MySQL and PostgresSQL, and if you can't figure out how to install them from the documentation then you aren't smart enough to use them.

Maybe someone would buy the book because he can't figure out the docs? What an ass, to cop an attitude on the authors since some of their audience aren't already MySQL experts.

Hacks?

[HvacControls]

I hate how "Hack" has become such a buzz word. In the past just the mention of the word hack could strike fear into the hearts of average computer users. Now its just a way to describe settings that can't be found in the manual.

Re:Hacks?

[sevensharpnine]

Agreed. The media has run wild with the term and PR departments are putting the final nail in the coffin. "Hacker" is also now a term of endearment for computer users. "Power users" are those who use windows explorer and know what a boot disk is. "Hackers"--the true experts of computing--are now people that use such non-standard programs as regedit and emacs. I'm thinking of writing a book called eXtreme Hacking. I don't know what I'll put in it yet, maybe windows keyboard shortcuts and a guide for configuring IE. I'm sure it will sell to the l33t wannabe crowd.

Re:mac problem

[2nd Post!]

I'm surprised you got OS X working on an 8600. Don't you need a CPU upgrade for that? Or will OS X work on 603/604 CPUs?

Re:Sweet Jeesus

[bsartist]

I realize you're probably trolling, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt just in case. If we were talking about older MacOS, you'd be right - it was about as interesting to your average geek as Windows 3.

But the latest version, Mac OS X, isn't your grandfather's Mac. It still runs all the old Mac apps, but under the hood it's UNIX. The fact that it's the only UNIX in town that can run Photoshop, MS Office, etc. is driving "real" technical people towards it - in droves.

Re:Do they have...

[ender-]

Despite the posts rudely screaming to "get a two button mouse" I have to agree that I would love this hack.

I've been pondering getting one of the Apple laptops, but that one button touchpad drives me nuts [when using my friend's laptop].
Now it's all well and good to buy a 2+ button mouse for your desktop, but when I've the the laptop sitting on my LAP, it's difficult to use a separate mouse and just adds one more thing to have to pack up and lose between uses.

Out of curiousity, anyone use the 1 button thing with Linux on the Apple laptops? How do you emulate 3 buttons with 1 button device???

Ender

Support for UDF?

[oravecz]

I'm still waiting for the OS X Hack that will allow me to read and write to a UDF-formatted CD-R. You know, the kind that Direct CD and Windows XP create that allows you to treat a CD-R/CD-RW as a big floppy disc.

Despite OS X having a mount_udf command, it seems that it doesn't support these types of discs yet.

Re:Sweet Jeesus

[pmz]

MS Office

Given that MS Office and Internet Explorer obviously run in UNIX, now, why doesn't Microsoft widen their potential customer base by porting to Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, etc.? Oh, their Mac support is just a token to keep the DOJ off of their backs? So, that lock-in revenue from the Windows OS really is the motivating factor? Oh, I see.

Pure Elitism

[VividU]

I know musicians who can compose film scores on the computer but don't know a thing about setting up a midi/sequencer system themselves.

I know accountants who are stone cold Excel experts but barely know how to turn on their computer.

This is elitism pure and simple.

Re:mac issues

[Anonymous Coward]

no idea why this is happening for you. i use two 400 mhz PIIIs at work, and a 400 mhz OSX Mac at home, and the Mac positively flies -- at least, as compared to the two PCs (one W2K, other XP).

wait, it could be your work machine's RAM. I've got 256 megs at home. RAM seems to have a BIG impact on OSX performance.

Re:mac issues

[cybin]

what does "faster chip architecture" mean ? did you know you can't compare MHz between different CPUs as any reasonable measure of speed?

the computer you are using was introduced in 1997. that system isn't even a G3.... i can't say how that compares to a 486/66, but i can say that the other day i copied about 20 gigs from one drive to another across IDE busses and it was done in 15 minutes. that's fast enough for me. sounds like you're running OS 8, too.