Fix a Troubled Mac

rossetti writes with this review of Fix a Troubled Mac, v1.3. "If you run a busy creative design business, you've encountered your fair share of Mac problems like failed tape backups, incorrect network settings, missing CD installers, flashing start-up disks. Macs are not as trouble free as one is led to believe. Running a studio environment with 20 or more Macs does cost money to keep everything working smoothly. It may be only an hour here or there, but this can easily balloon your IT support budget to over $10K a year. If this sounds like your problem, then this book is definitely for you. It takes you through step by step assistance for troubleshooting numerous issues, be it hardware, or networking or software, Mac OS 9 or Mac OS X. Once you start reading or referring to this book for advice, it really feels like having your own Mac-friendly IT support person with you all the times, but not at the hourly rate that they usually charge." Read on for the rest of rossetti's review. Fix A Troubled Mac author dirtymouse pages 196 publisher dirtymouse rating 9 reviewer rossetti ISBN n/a summary The book is written for advanced Mac users and aimed at creative studio and production environments and for anyone that is looking after a number macs

This is the only book that I'm aware of that gives you troubleshooting assistance like it should be. I've never encountered a chapter in any book that is dedicated to helping one create an emergency firewire drive, or a bootable Mac CD-ROM that will boot essentially any modern Macintosh, let alone, explain which software troubleshooting tools to use, or how to set up system software for quick reinstalls. In addition to this, the writer takes you on a guided course on how to approach the command line (for brave Mac OS X users) to fix start-up problems and corrupted user logins.

Fix a Troubled Mac is densely packed with information presented in a light, easy-to-read way. It accelerates you through basic information towards in-depth and advanced topics -- even if you get left behind, what remains in your head are relevant and well-formed concepts and frameworks. As the author mentions at intervals, this book approaches running a Mac studio in a holistic manner. Having said that, the therapy of the individual computer user is not overlooked. Even a computer-literate person with two or three Macs in a SOHO setting will benefit.

The first chapter of the book, "Be Your Own IT Support" covers concepts on how to approach problems. Starting with the basics like the Cardinal Rules (Ask yourself, "what has changed lately?"). From there it's a nice, easy, sometimes humorous introduction to how networks work. After a few pages, much of the bafflement that is computer-related pain begins to ease, furrows recede, clock speed returns to normal. Such simple ideas, such profound effects. Perhaps this book could be subtitled 'The Tao of Mac.'

This book does indeed read like a distillation of 6 years of a Mac technician's life, filled with numerous methods to efficiently and effectively diagnose and repair troubled Macs. From paper-bag solutions for a beige box with the hiccups, to rolling out a customized OS X laboratory in less than a day, this book will walk you through the higher realms of careful planning and execution.

Very little information in this book is dedicated to the beginner. If that is my only criticism of the book then let that stand. Like any good thriller, at times you will find yourself with heart beating and sweat on your brow (when did I last back up?). Even hardened professionals will find themselves taking unhealthy interest in particular chapters.

A whole chapter of the book is dedicated to the creation of an emergency firewire drive, which is referred to again and again throughout the book and although creating one may seem arduous, you quickly learn how to use these tools to repair, recover and restore after disasters, as well as install new systems and software updates quickly. The author makes extensive references to some software essentials like Carbon Copy Cloner and NetRestore by bombich software.

There are a lot of recommendations of various software tools and their uses. Many of these tools are inexpensive, but of course there are the usual heavyweights like Retrospect and Disk Warrior. Helpfully, each tool's precious place in your toolbox is analyzed and explained, along with the situation and manner in which to use it.

Reading this book cover to cover, one of the things I found confusing was the order in which topics were presented. Of course, such a book isn't generally used in this way, and given its electronic and search/click nature, it doesn't cause any real difficulty. It may be off-putting to some, to each his own.

In keeping with its holistic backbone, the book doesn't make assumptions about the flavor of your studio's environment. Just as much coverage is given to Mac OS 9 based Macintoshes as to the Mac OS X side. There is a large section devoted to running a Mac Studio with Mac OS X Server, including hardware, software and configuration tips and guidelines.

Much of the technical knowledge contained in these pages is freely (as in free, sans-cost) available on the internet. Some of the information is quoted (and attributed) directly from such sources. However, finding this information online yourself can be very time consuming and this book addresses that problem, with well researched links that extend on the information presented, should you need it. Having all these weblinks in one document also has its benefits. This is a integrated guide and a distillation of core issues and key tips earned through (someone else's) blood, sweat and tears (not yours). And of course, in the event of system failure, even Google stops working.

There are many Macintosh books out there, so this book finds itself in a very competitive arena. However, it has several advantages over many of these books. Firstly, its in electronic format, and is therefore quickly searchable. The author recommends at the beginning of every chapter how to mine the book's information. Secondly, all references to other sections of the book are hyper-linked for quick access and all external references are hyper-linked as well. Thirdly, the book is available on a subscription basis. This may seem an expensive option, but a subscription means the information will be kept up to date and expanded as new techniques and technologies become available. Perhaps one of the few disadvantages is that in the event of emergency, the book may be stuck on your machine. (It's certainly one of those precious items to be stored on your USB stick, iPod or emergency CD-ROM .)

With a guide like this, you can quit moonlighting as fixit guy and go back to your day job.

You can download or subscribe to the electronic-only Fix a Troubled Mac through the book's official site. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

The good ole days

[Prince Vegeta SSJ4]

I remeber back in the days (mid to late 80's), when I had my MAC II. 256 colors w00t.

Anyhow, I used to mess with the innards of the computer quite a bit, and ended up breaking one of the pins off of the Motorla 608040 chip. I Proceded to fix it with a piece of copper speaker wire.

Try doing that today with one of these new fangled *ntium chips.

Mac's notoriously difficult... yay book

[192939495969798999]

Since I have years behind me in both the mac and PC world, I can honestly say that while Mac's have fewer problems, their problems are more serious, cryptic, and otherwise annoying. I am glad to see a book that compiles the often hard-to-find information... the big question: does it come with a paper clip for that disk drive button? :)

Re:This Comment May Be Slightly Off Topic

[Otter]

That's one of the big differences between Linux and Mac troubleshooting. With Linux, you face a zillion discrete, distinct problems for which you have to find the particular fix (eg, why my Athlon/VIA/Gentoo box won't power off with kernels after 2.4.19).

With Macs, you tend to run into a relatively small number of predictable problems. This book sounds like it lays the groundwork for preparing for problems -- and then when they come up, you fix them.

Re:Thinking of Switching to a OSX for a laptop

[lakeesis]

I have to admit, as corny as it sounds, the Apple laptops do work right out of the box. No manufactured laptop will be absolutely perfect, but the system and hardware are generally worry-free.

I've crashed my 12" PowerBook twice - the first time was an accident, the 2nd was a repeat of the behavior to make sure that it really was something I just shouldn't do [trying to open a finder window for a DVD while the system is pre-writing the file structure before burning said DVD]. This has actually made me incredibly impatient with the machines that I support for family, friends and work -- but it is an impatience I am happy to live with.

As I sit here fixing a Mac...

[raddan]

... I come across this article.

Honestly, after supporting a group of about 20 graphics folks with Macs for the past six months (along with about 90 Wintel boxen), I'm just sick of seeing the same thing over and over again: 99% of all Mac problems have to do with FONTS. Corrupt fonts, missing fonts, bad font activation, etc. (That last 1% is reserved for Quark's profound suckedness.)

I can't tell you how many fcsking times I've told these people not to remove their system fonts. Invariably, someone will come to me complaing that Outlook doesn't work, and I end up solving the problem by reinstalling their system fonts. And repeating the lecture, again.

It's a freakin' DREAM COME TRUE!

[MarcQuadra]

Sure. There's a LOT less hardware calls, but when there's one, there are bound to be many of the same type.

I have about 200 Macs under my responsibility, and since November I've not had to fix ONE hardware issue with a desktop (excepting two dead keyboards). I've sent a few iBooks in, but those have been abused for almost three years by fourth-graders.

When I notice one iBook drive go, though, I know there are six more waiting to die, so I tested them all and sent the dying ones back.

The PC-support guy has about twice as many computers to handle, but he easily does five times as many hardware repairs as I do.

As for software, if you really know *NIX, you can keep users pretty happy while limiting their destructive whims to their own home folders, which is a joy.

We don't have popups, adware, spyware, worms, or viruses on our side of the fence, so there's a LOT fewer support calls. You do, however, have to keep users up-to-date withtheir software, and that means registering each machine in ARD so you can push packages. I spend a decent part of my day in front of ARD getting reports on OS versions to track down any update-stragglers.

Active-Directory integration lets me give some users temporary admin rights to their machines if I trust them, which is way cool. You can run roaming profiles via SMB and AD as well if you like, so non-admin users can't write a damn thing to local drives.

Imaging is painless, as there's netboot; and you NEVER have to make separate images for different breeds of hardware, the image for the G5 works fine on the bondi-blue iMac.

ARD lets me remote into people's machines and SHOW them how to do attachments in email, etc. Saves me the walk across campus.

There is a big learning curve though, not to USE a Mac, but to admin them. You've got to learn the whole 'vibe' and get a feel for the types of problems these strange machines can exhibit. And don't forget to memorize your startup keystrokes, command-option-p-r can save you quite a bit of time.