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Mac OS X Power Tools
Here's the thing about book reviews: They're a lot easier to write when you either absolutely hated or absolutely adored the book in question. Once you've decided how you feel about it, it's easy to find a dozen examples of its mediocrity or excellence, as the case may be. However, I've been sitting on this particular review for a few weeks now, unable to finish it because I can't say that I feel very strongly at all about Power Tools. I recently decided, however, that being unable to form a definite opinion of it one way or another is itself a kind of opinion. There's nothing glaringly wrong with it or missing from it, but when it comes down to whether I'd choose to buy it over a different Mac book, I can't say that I would. I realize that this isn't a work of fiction -- its goal isn't exactly to suck me in with thrilling plot twists so that I read the whole thing cover to cover in one sitting. Nevertheless, there are some other books out there that do exactly that (I'll get to them later), and I think I've been spoiled by reading them.
What I Liked
Power Tools covers its bases in a thorough, informative way. It's a solid OS X book, intended for anyone who understands the very basics involved in using a Mac. The author makes very clear early on that he's not intending to show you how to log in, or how to launch an application, but that's about the extent of the proficiency required, I think. Frakes seems to understand his audience and to address it consistently, which is rare enough to be refreshing. One of my pet peeves in technical writing concerns authors who can't decide who they're talking to -- sidebars for beginners and power users are great, but when the body of the text itself waffles back and forth between skill levels, it can be both frustrating and confusing. This is a trap that Power Tools sidesteps completely: At the beginning of each section, you'll find a couple of lines telling you whether an Admin account is required for the techniques described, and whether the changes being made are system-wide or will affect only your own account. Mac OS X Hacks (which is, incidentally and confusingly enough, the Mac equivalent of O'Reilly's classic Unix Power Tools) uses a similar system to introduce each of the hacks in the book, and it's a practice that I'd like to see used more widely.
Favorite sections: Although certainly not the meatiest bits of the book, I thought the quick-reference keyboard shortcut and third-party utility lists were great, and I've used them fairly frequency since Power Tools took up residency on the shelf over my desk. As far as the more substantial content is concerned, I'd have to say Frakes's coverage of Classic is probably one of my favorite chapters -- oddly enough, since I never use Classic myself. That's part of the reason I liked his section on it, though: it does a good job of explaining why you'll want to avoid Classic whenever you can, while also pointing out some ways to make the best of it if it can't be avoided. The list of startup files necessary to use Classic is a good reference for folks who'd like to clean out their old System Folders without crippling anything. And of course Frakes's experience managing and troubleshooting OS 9 comes in useful here -- he points out classics like Conflict Catcher that users shouldn't be without if Classic is used with any degree of regularity.
Chapter 14, covering maintainence and administration of a Mac running OS X, is also full of sound, reasonable advice. Disk care and repair as well as how to recover lost data and prevent such mishaps to begin with are all covered thoroughly and intelligently in this section, as well the whys and wherefores of backups. Nothing surprising, perhaps, but nothing that should be left out of a decent Mac book, either.
What I Didn't Like
Although this is purely a matter of taste and I'm aware that there are many people who disagree with me, I just don't like Frakes's writing style. I have enjoyed some of his columns in the past, but it seems like his humor falls more than a little flat when stretched out over the course of a book. The alliterative titles were amusing for the first one or two chapters, but "Apple-ication Aptitude" is pushing it just a bit, I think. Although I realize that the first priority of a technical book is not to entertain its readers, exactly, is it too much to ask that it enthuse us? I was already interested in OS X before reading Power Tools, but I didn't find anything to excite me -- how would a new Mac user fare?
My least favorite chapter was probably Chapter 6, "Developing a Dynamite Dock." Despite Frakes's promise to assume that the reader is familiar with the basics, there's still the inevitable trot through the relevant Preference panel. Some good third-party software like Tinker Tool is discussed, but there wasn't anything that surprised me in this chapter.
The Bottom Line
This is a perfectly adequate OS X book, and you wouldn't be wasting your money by buying it. Indeed, if you're already a fan of the author, you should probably do exactly that. For me, though, while it does a decent job of accomplishing the tasks it sets for itself, the book just never quite cuts it for me. The bottom line is really that if I had enough money to buy only a single Mac book, this wouldn't be it. I'd spend my forty dollars (or so) instead on either Mac OS X Unleashed or Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. Frakes actually recommends the latter as an alternative for absolute beginners who would be lost in his own book, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's just for novices. It really is a complete OS X manual, covering topics for users at every skill level. As for Unleashed, I've reviewed this book already (more recently than I have the Missing Manual) so I'll just say that if you want a Mac book so complete that it will introduce you to web programming so you can use that default Apache installation, then that's a book you should consider. While I would prefer either one of these books to Power Tools if I were only able to buy one, it's also true that I'm not sorry to have added it to my collection (since, like most people, I'm not limited to one book per subject).
And Furthermore
Dan Frakes is a generally beloved Mac writer and developer and, my ambivalence about this book aside, his stuff is worth looking into. He contributes to the "Mac OS X Secrets" column in Macworld and is also involved in the 9th edition of the Mac Bible. His personal site is danfrakes.com, and the site for this book is at macosxpowertools.com.
You can purchase Mac OS X Power Tools from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
When I want to do something complicated, I can launch Terminal.app and be greeted with tcsh or bash. That, to me, is the coolest thing about OS X compared with OS 9.
Now I can effectively do anything, and have it look nice too.
But what do I know. I'm just looking for anonymous gay sex.
Frakes assures the reader that anyone who's ever touched a computer before can make use of this book, and that even the most experienced user will find something new and exciting. Is he right? Maybe.
Way to take a stand there. Quick, what are your thoughts on fast food? Are you a BK guy or a Wendy's guy?
"Maybe."
Thank God.
My two cents...
The thing that is missing from BSD books (and every OS X book I've seen) is better information on managing OS X server, especially NetInfo. Apple has some OK docs, but they tend to be a little vague and absent of clear examples.
I would buy (even a pretty expensive, like $99) book on managing OS X server if it handled OS X Server's management tools, how they affected the environment, why they do things the way they do. And good examples of setting up various Mac OS X networks, with lots of clear examples of settings on Server and clients would be super useful!!!
In what possible way is the concept of 'closed software' a moral issue? I can understand that it may be a business issue, or a technical issue, or both. If Apple had used KDE or GNOME for the windowing environment, I likely would have no interest in using OS X. But then maybe I'm not a real *nix guru.
Interesting question, and one that occured to me while taking notes for the review. My favorite third-party utility would have to be Key Xing - it's shareware, not freeware, but it allows you to set your own keyboard shortcuts for obvious things (like applications) and less obvious things (like copying full file paths from the Finder). Perhaps the only drawback is that I'm now so used to my own commands that I find myself using them on other people's Macs.
A close second would be CodeTek Virtual Desktop, which also isn't free but does a much better job of implementing virtual desktops in OS X than any of the free options I've tried. Of course, the best of all would be if this functionality were included in the OS. Maybe it will be someday - remember when iTunes was still SoundJam?
You know, it comes and it goes with me. (My thoughts on that, not the vagina thing.)
Apple's got a strange hybrid going here. On one hand, there's this elegant "it just works" machine with a great UI and this feature and that feature for all of us, and on the other hand, there's bash and X11. Power-user tools for those who like to get down in the trenches and get their hands dirty, so to speak.
I think it's the best kind of computer, really--you can write Perl scripts and use Photoshop's healing tool side by side. Power for the rest of us, so to speak.
As for that sandy vagina thing, you might want to talk to a doctor about that.
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
You've already been modded a Troll but some people already read your rubbish. I'll reply.
1 - You claim that MacOS X bears as much resemblance to "real" UNIX as Windows ME.
This is just hilarious. MacOS X is as real of a UNIX as Linux. You can compile a most POSIX source unaltered in both. Can you do that under Windows ME without add-on compatibily layers?
2 - You say Apple ignored X to write Quartz. There is an Apple branded FREE (beer) X server for MacOS X. It's based off XFree. It's not untested and it's not an emulation layer. I does integrate with the rest of the Desktop. While not final code, it's very stable.
3 - You claim Darwin is proprietary. It is not. Quite simply, you could also claim that the sky is green. Not true.
4 - You claim FreeBSD is moribund. This has nothing to do with MacOS X, and ridiculous. Free software is never moribund. It can't die. FreeBSD is alive and well, too.
5 - You claim Apple used Mach-O to break compatibily with ELF?
Why should they use ELF? They can do whatever they want, and they chose to use the Mach-O format for legacy reasons related to NeXTStep.
6 - You claim NetInfo is like the Windows Registry, and that it breaks compatibily.
Netinfo is just practical. Other vendors do similar things (like IBM) with they UNIXes.
It's legacy from NeXTStep. It's easy to use and it gets the job done. I see no problem with it.
7 - You claim Apple is shoving DRM down our throats. You should be glad that Apple cut the best DRM deal there is. Nobody else has a lighter DRM system. You forget that they are a company and they will be toasted by the RIAA and MPAA if they don't enforce some sort of DRM. They came up with something practical.
I do not like DRM, but if I ran a company, I couldn't have done better than Apple.
Don't you have anything else better to do than to diss Apple and MacOS X? What's your problem? You're 10 and can't affort one of those pretty shiny Apple computers?
-- askien