Slashdot Mirror
Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual
jsuda writes "The preeminent general reference source for Mac OS X has always been the Missing
Manual Series written by David Pogue. The latest iteration in the series
is its Mac OS X Leopard Edition, completely revised, and it is the biggest,
most comprehensive, and most useful of all the editions in the series. It covers
the Mac OS X desktop and file system, the free applications included with the Mac OS
X installation, the system components and technologies, networking and online
features and components, and includes welcome appendices on installation, troubleshooting,
Windows/Mac comparisons, and a Master Keystroke list." Read on for the rest of John's review.
Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual
author
David Pogue
pages
893
publisher
O'Reilly Media Inc.
rating
10
reviewer
John Suda
ISBN
9780596529529
summary
Great Manual for all levels of users
Every one of the editions has been exceedingly well-designed and written combining
serious treatment of subject content with style, wit, and humor, as well as honest
evaluation and critique of features of the Mac operating system. All of the OS
X Missing Manuals have addressed issues for a broad range of users, from the lightly
experienced, the intermediate, and for power users. For the most part, however,
the primary focus of each edition has been on the less experienced users. This
has changed with the Leopard edition.
There seems to have been a deliberate effort to make the book more appealing and useful to upper-end users without losing any utility at all for others. There seems to be more material for power users- -there are more Power Users Guides providing advanced information and techniques, more UNIX references for those willing and able to take avail of the UNIX kernel underlying the operating system, more identifications of keyboard shortcuts, and more disclosure of undocumented and advanced features than in previous editions.
For example, Pogue itemizes and describes at least 20 UNIX utilities that only power users would want to use, explains how to configure preferences for the Terminal application, explains how to deal with the file and folder permissions system using UNIX commands, and even notes the existence of the venerable Eliza therapist emulator program hidden in a part of the emacs text editor. At each juncture of describing operating system features, Pogue explains from the perspective of different levels of users, including the power user, like himself. Unlike in many other books purporting to cover a broad range of users, this one does not short on the higher-end.
This is all well and good as casual users are still widely well-taken care of by the thorough and well-organized explanations of nearly every feature of OS 10.5. The book is illustrated profusely with screenshots of system features, configuration processes, comparison of the Mac OS X versions, comparisons of Mac OS X to Windows features, and more. Nearly every page is loaded with Tips, Notes, FAQs, lists, tables, and sidebars. Throughout, there are nuggets of insight and technical arcana that even Mac veterans will be surprised to learn about. I learned, for example, that the one-button Apple Mighty Mouse has a secret 2-button feature. Also there is a similar way to operate a laptop with a two finger trackpad technique. There are a lot of tips and tricks like that in the book. Even beyond description and explanation, Pogue provides useful recommendations for configurations of the Dock, recovery from common errors, and using Automator to design practical workflows for common tasks.
The subject content builds upon that of previous editions and updates it with material relating to the 300-plus new features of Leopard. Much of the new material covers the Leopard update highlights the backup program called Time Machine, a desktop switching application called Spaces, the Stacks organizing feature, the file previewer, QuickLook, and the feature enhancements in iChat, Mail, and especially Spotlight, the search tool.
Spotlight is much more than a mere search tool although it is a great one. A whole chapter is devoted to it alone. Pogue explains how to use it not just for casual and advanced searching (using over 125 types of data and metadata) but as a quick launcher of files, folders, and applications; as a calculator; and as a dictionary. Sophisticated query languages can be used and Pogue lists a series of power user keyboard shortcuts for Spotlight use.
I see the book as especially useful for those Windows users of all levels gravitating to the Mac platform. Not only is the treatment of the Mac OS done well, but at nearly every juncture, Pogue takes the perspective of a Windows user and provides practical comparisons and contrasts of operating systems.
Weaving all of these perspectives into a harmonious, readable manual is a fine achievement. The content discussions and explanations are never abstract but written from the viewpoint of the thoughtful and practical user and no one is better at this than David Pogue who has been cited before as one of the worlds best (technical) communicators. The denseness of the treatment of the subject content diminishes somewhat from the readability of the book compared to prior editions and there is a bit less wit, humor and style. That is the trade-off, I presume, for the increased breadth and depth of the content treatment but this Missing Manual is still as well written as a computer manual can be expected to be.
You can purchase Mac OSX Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
There seems to have been a deliberate effort to make the book more appealing and useful to upper-end users without losing any utility at all for others. There seems to be more material for power users- -there are more Power Users Guides providing advanced information and techniques, more UNIX references for those willing and able to take avail of the UNIX kernel underlying the operating system, more identifications of keyboard shortcuts, and more disclosure of undocumented and advanced features than in previous editions.
For example, Pogue itemizes and describes at least 20 UNIX utilities that only power users would want to use, explains how to configure preferences for the Terminal application, explains how to deal with the file and folder permissions system using UNIX commands, and even notes the existence of the venerable Eliza therapist emulator program hidden in a part of the emacs text editor. At each juncture of describing operating system features, Pogue explains from the perspective of different levels of users, including the power user, like himself. Unlike in many other books purporting to cover a broad range of users, this one does not short on the higher-end.
This is all well and good as casual users are still widely well-taken care of by the thorough and well-organized explanations of nearly every feature of OS 10.5. The book is illustrated profusely with screenshots of system features, configuration processes, comparison of the Mac OS X versions, comparisons of Mac OS X to Windows features, and more. Nearly every page is loaded with Tips, Notes, FAQs, lists, tables, and sidebars. Throughout, there are nuggets of insight and technical arcana that even Mac veterans will be surprised to learn about. I learned, for example, that the one-button Apple Mighty Mouse has a secret 2-button feature. Also there is a similar way to operate a laptop with a two finger trackpad technique. There are a lot of tips and tricks like that in the book. Even beyond description and explanation, Pogue provides useful recommendations for configurations of the Dock, recovery from common errors, and using Automator to design practical workflows for common tasks.
The subject content builds upon that of previous editions and updates it with material relating to the 300-plus new features of Leopard. Much of the new material covers the Leopard update highlights the backup program called Time Machine, a desktop switching application called Spaces, the Stacks organizing feature, the file previewer, QuickLook, and the feature enhancements in iChat, Mail, and especially Spotlight, the search tool.
Spotlight is much more than a mere search tool although it is a great one. A whole chapter is devoted to it alone. Pogue explains how to use it not just for casual and advanced searching (using over 125 types of data and metadata) but as a quick launcher of files, folders, and applications; as a calculator; and as a dictionary. Sophisticated query languages can be used and Pogue lists a series of power user keyboard shortcuts for Spotlight use.
I see the book as especially useful for those Windows users of all levels gravitating to the Mac platform. Not only is the treatment of the Mac OS done well, but at nearly every juncture, Pogue takes the perspective of a Windows user and provides practical comparisons and contrasts of operating systems.
Weaving all of these perspectives into a harmonious, readable manual is a fine achievement. The content discussions and explanations are never abstract but written from the viewpoint of the thoughtful and practical user and no one is better at this than David Pogue who has been cited before as one of the worlds best (technical) communicators. The denseness of the treatment of the subject content diminishes somewhat from the readability of the book compared to prior editions and there is a bit less wit, humor and style. That is the trade-off, I presume, for the increased breadth and depth of the content treatment but this Missing Manual is still as well written as a computer manual can be expected to be.
You can purchase Mac OSX Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
If it would tell me how to fix all these Airport disconnects that Leopard seems to cause.
"It takes many nails to build a crib, but one screw to fill it."
So can I read it on my iPhone? :P
OK, so Apple doesn't include a manual with their software, necessitating that one buy a third-party help, and then O'Reilly issues a new one with every update of OSX. Does OSX really change that much from version to version? Wouldn't the old Mac OS X Tiger: The Missing Manual continue to serve most users?
Three replies and no-one has posted 'I thought OS X was "just supposed to work"' yet.
Why would you expect a comprehensive book written by a 3rd party to be supplied free with the OS?
If you want help from Apple, there's the built in help function, the section of their website, and their Discussions Forums
, not to mention the free call number available in almost all countries they officially sell in.The Mothership
They provide an entire website of documentation about Leopard.
http://www.apple.com/support/leopard/
(and yes, they assume you can get to and read a web page).
I see ENORMOUS books on how to use Windows... or even Word for that matter. 600+ pages describing how to use a word processor.
Why doesn't Microsoft give those third-party books away for free?
You do realize this is a third-party book, right?
Just like all the Windows books that cover material that Microsoft didn't put in a book with the operating system? How about all those programming books, the compiler makers should cover every topic you should ever need to know about programming too.
A valid ISBN has either 10 or 13 digits. The listed "780596529529" has 12. Perhaps it is a UPC?
Will it tell me how to fix wireless on leopard that 10.5.2 didn't fix?
the book doesn't tell you how to make it work when it doesn't. It is a comprehensive guide to all of the features that may be missed by users who aren't paying attention. I gave the tiger edition to my mother in law. While she could use the machine out of the box, she wouldn't figure out the more complex aspects of the finder on her own. In addition, the book contains a basic guide to the ilife programs as well as iChat. While she could likely figure this out on her own, having a resource has been great for her. It gives basic users a more advanced knowledge than they would otherwise have.
Seriously.
Also - it's been a long time since I bought a copy of Windows XP, but I seem to recall that the "manual" it came with was basically a "Getting Started" guide, maybe 50 pages long or so, with big, easily-readable text on small pages. I don't really see that as much of an improvement over what Apple supplies.
if it was called "Secrets of OS X" instead of "The Missing Manual" nobody would bitch. People are more than happy to take any opportunity they can to take a shot at apple. My girlfriend recently bought a vista laptop. It didn't come with a vista manual (or even install/recovery disks)... but there is no "Vista: The missing manual (and recovery disk)"
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
OK... I stand corrected
There most certainly is a missing manual for vista.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson
Actually, the great majority of Mac OS X is based on open source, including the entire core: http://www.opensource.apple.com/
The web engine is Apache. The internal database is SQLite (I think). The kernel is BSD. The web engine is KHTML. And so on.
Yes, the packaged product is proprietary and also contains closed source. But I would hardly compare it with Microsoft, where everything is not only closed but deliberately incompatible.
Heck, I wouldn't even compare them to Red Hat, which costs a three times as much and is getting crappier by the day.
Does it tell how to completely disable mouse acceleration? I don't mean *kind of* disable. I want the whole thing off. No acceleration. I want a static ratio for my mouse movements (like, N*x), not some parabolic guessing (like x^N). I don't want Windows' default mouse acceleration. I want to move my mouse 12 inches lightning fast, and 12 inches snail slow, and cover the same exact distance. I WANT IT COMPLETELY DISABLED.
Sigs are for Terrorists.
But you will have to do a fsck first.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
Does the master keystroke list tell you how to jump to the beginning or the end of the line without using the mouse?
I have never seen that done on a Macintosh computer before. For those of us with a real computer, the 'home' and 'end' keys perform this bit of magic quite universally.
Akarsz Magyar Gentoo fórumot? Akkor
but this is /. so the subtlety was missed :-)
If I had an Ass, I'd call it Fanny Bottom, then I could slap my Ass; Fanny Bottom, on the Arse.
ELIZA doesn't "emulate" a therapist, whatever that would mean. It's a parody of a psychiatric interview.
Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.-rms
on Amazon:
ISBN-10: 059652952X
ISBN-13: 978-0596529529
^A and ^E. Handily, every text box that's a product of the standard libraries on a Mac supports (albeit not desperately, or at all, well documented) basic emacs binding. It's a NeXTStep legacy. So I'm typing this into a standard browser text box in Safari, and ^A, ^E, ^T, ^B, ^F, ^K, ^Y, ^O, ^P and ^N have their expected meanings. The meta/escape versions don't work, and there's no marks (^@ or ^-space), kill ring, and so on. But it's enough to be going on with, and makes typing slashdot posts far more civilised.
* occasional graphic system hangs (background processes work fine, keyboard and mouse stop working, firing up a new dialog box causes a process to hang)
* Looooong wait times for wake-from-sleep (15 seconds typical) with no indication whether it's going to wake from sleep at all (e.g. if the battery is drained)
* sometimes doesn't sleep when lid is closed (until the battery drops to emergency levels, see above)
* sometimes doesn't recognize monitors when waking from sleep. Sometimes the monitor it doesn't recognize is the macbook's own.
* Fucks up screen geometry when plugged into a 1600x1200 external monitor (menu bar moves to external monitor as needed, but stays at the native-screen width; X windows and most applications silently ignore clicks near the lower or right edges of the external monitor
I'm sorry I ever upgraded to Leopard -- it's such a buggy piece of crap that I'm beginning to feel like I'm using a Microsoft product.
Yes, but according to TFSubmission, it's an "exceedingly well-designed and written" manual.
It all depends on what Dickensian weasel words are worth to you.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
As a recent switcher to Mac, and Windows and *NIX Power User, I am interested in this book. But can someone else tell me if the various ways to simulate right-clicking is really the extent of the "insight and technical arcana" in the book??
I knew about right clicking on the Mighty Mouse and the two-finger touchpad trick months before I even bought a Mac!
Wondering why this doesn't show up on apple.slashdot.org. Hmmm?
Will it tell me how to install OSX onto non-proprietary closed hardware?
http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/
Also, it's prominent in the picture at the top of the page.
Yuk yuk yuk. Your wit is painful to witness.
Yeah, remove Application Enhancer before installing Leopard. That always does the trick.
The ratings given to reviewed books are useless as it is now. Most books are given an 8 or 9, and there doesn't seem to be any system for how to rate the books. For example, the last X books that I looked up under book reviews were given: 7/10, 9, 9/10, 6/10, 8, 8/10, 8/10, 9, 9, 9/10, 9, 8, 8/10, 7/10, 10. The reviewers don't even know if there should be a "/10" in the rating or not. I've also seen ratings on a 1 to 5 scale.
It would be better, if different parts and aspects of the books were given separate ratings, and then a total rating was calculated from the parts. Please also look into how other publications rate books. I'm sure there's a lot to be learned.
There is no such feature. I can understand why it might be desired though. You can simulate it by naming all folders starting with a character that gets sorted to the top, such as a space " " or a dash "-". Similarly if you want them at the bottom, start their names with "zz" or something similar. But you probably already figured this out on your own....
I found these one useful too: http://www.apple.com/business/videotips/
you can subscribe to the videocast. While most video tips are things I knew about, some are truly useful and well hidden features (oops?). The best part is probably the short length of the videotips themselves: 1 minute per week is something I can afford.
And let's not forget the Guided Tour. 30 minutes, but worthed: http://www.apple.com/macosx/guidedtour/
And while I'm a it, there's a new section this year: http://www.apple.com/findouthow/
Animoog.org
...for the rest of John's review. Um, why bother? I read the first 2 sentences and figured he gave it a 10. And look, I'm right.Next!
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
Hey!
I am doing my ph.d. on supercomputers. Linux in my field is not just a reality, its the rule. When its not linux, it is... well, solaris, sun os, and, well... mac os X.
Unix is not open source. BSD is. Unix is a property of Novell.
About the multimedia, well, windows is the king today. But the best pc you can run windows today is a mac. Be it a desktop or a notebook.
About easy upgradable computer, are you using intel chips recently? About the media and the ipods, you are wrong, completely wrong. Apple today sets the standards on this field, even on scientific research.
Oh, my country has no macs advertisement, but it is present in top research.
Oh yes, openMPI and XGrid is built-in on macs, and they work together! Tell a university system's administrator that such a system exists and then just prepare yourself to buy them... As we are doing now.
How do you do an fsck? Check the manual in /lost+found of course!
No, OS X and Linux are used by people who don't need your attitude, retard. Go eat your boogers.
Girlfriend? GIRLFRIEND?? You must be lying because 1) nobody here has a GF, 2) they wouldn't be GF much longer if they bought a Vista machine and 3) you would be fscking her instead of posting here.
Vista: The Missing Manual
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596528270/?CMP=ILC-MMh0me
The book goes quite a bit beyond that. I'm a Mac developer, and even I'm finding it useful.
Give me a good reason why someone needs to buy ut