Customer Reviews

Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual

5 star:		(142)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Pogues' books on Mac keep getting better and better. This book covers all of the features in Leopard in detail. For those that have used Tiger the missing manual will not be disappointed at all by this book.

For the new Mac user this book covers all of the essentials to get started. It also gives you the tools to go in depth with Leopard. For the experienced Mac users there is still so much valuable information here to make it well worth the purchase. All of the applications that come with Tiger are covered in good detail. Dash board, Spotlight, Apple remote desktop, Sherlock, iTunes, iSync, iChat .Mac, Safari RSS for internet feeds, iDVD, iChat, iPhoto, iCal, iMic, iMovie, iDisk, iSync and iTunes, Apple Script and Image Capture to name a few.

Also covered in detail is converting from Windows to Mac for the new Mac user.
Creating user accounts is covered along with file and directory permissions, configuring the user environment and user preferences, passwords and other elements of security.
The Intel chip set is covered in detail.

There are a myriad of new features and features that have been changed or have been enhanced. There are so many new features that are not intuitive in Leopard. This book helps you through these with ease. Throughout the book there are There are lots of well placed screen shots to guide you.

The book is methodically laid out in an order that makes sense. It is filled with tips and how to's. For the user coming from Windows to Mac this book will be a tremendous help. It will really simplify things that could be fairly daunting. Even for the veteran Mac user this book will be very handy.

There are several informational snippets:
Power user's guide: Explains the more technical details of the subject being described.
Frequently asked questions: This is pretty self explanatory.
Work around workshop: These sections detail why you can't do something but then gives you a work around.
Gem in the rough: Shows you how to share with other Mac and non Mac machines.
Up to speed: These sections walk you through speeding up your machine and various applications.

Not quite as much humor in this book as with other books in the Missing manual series perhaps because of the depth and breadth of the material covered. As with all Pogue press books this is very easy read. It is detailed but not cumbersome. There are so many new features in Leopard that this book is a must. Pogue press consistently produces the best Mac books and this is no exception. 5 Stars for the Beginner to intermediate user 4 stars for the advanced user.

As a new iMac owner and a refugee from the Windows world, I've found this book to be invaluable for figuring out the inner workings of my new machine. I originally thought that I wouldn't need a book, that everything would be intuitive and easy to understand. But there are some things that you just need a book for, learning the keyboard shortcuts, what each application does, what the file structure looks like, etc.

This book is very entertaining and fun to read. Pogue has a good sense of humor and does a great job pointing out the features of this OS. I've found countless "Oh, that's how you do it!" tips so far, from the mundane "How do you right-click?" to the expert "How do I share the network with my Windows XP, Vista, and various Linux machines?" He covers it all--and I mean ALL.

I can't recommend this book highly enough, especially for new computer users and those of us switching from Windows machines. I'm Windows, Unix, and Linux certified up the wazoo, and even I needed this book to get me going. There are so very many tips and tricks that you will learn--things that make sense and which enhance your experience with this well-crafted OS. Every penny spent on this book will have been well worth it.

The preeminent general reference source for Mac OS 10 has always been the "Missing Manual Series" written by David Pogue. The latest iteration in the series is its Mac OS 10 Leopard Edition, completely revised, and it is the biggest, most comprehensive, and most useful of all the editions in the series. It covers the OS X desktop and file system, the free applications included with the 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.

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," FAQ's, 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 world's 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.

David Pogue writes well, but what's special about this is that it covers details that most authors wouldn't bother with. I've been a Mac OS X user since 2003, and upgraded to Leopard the moment it was available and yet I was absolutely astonished by how much I learned - this is just packed with tips!

As an old Unix hand, I was happy to see that David included an excellent chapter on Terminal and Unix in general; too many Mac books ignore the Unix underpinnings or gloss over it.

Definitely recommended for anyone using Leopard.

I have to agree with LifeFX's review below. There is no doubt a lot of information here, but some of it I found somewhat lacking or misleading, and for me, this was made worse by what I considered to be a distracting hyperactive writing syle.

As an example in the section on FileVault, I got the impression from reading a few pages about it that it was something I should start using as soon as possible if I was going to have any security on my Mac! The Mac OS Leopard Bible on the other hand had half a page on it that I found much more factual and descriptive of what FileVault actually does, from which I concluded that I don't really need to use it.

Some examples of where I found the book a little lacking was in how little other security issues were discussed. I found no discussion of viruses other than regarding security issues if you are running Windows with FMWare Fusion or a similar program. On the other hand the Mac OS Leopard Bible discussed viruses in much more depth and even recommended a few relevant antivirus programs. The Special Edition: Using Mac OS X Leopard by Brad Miser does as well. I know a lot of people would like to think that viruses are not relevant to them since they now have a Mac, but it's really not true, as at this point although there are fewer viruses that directly affect the Mac there still are some and others that do not affect the Mac can still pass them on to others if they are imbedded in a Word doc for example.

Another example where I felt the "Bible" went in to more depth in regards to security issues was in it's discussion of how to monitor open ports which are available to outside hackers, and how the port monitor that comes with Leopard is less effective than a recommended alternative.

I am sure that many people will find the writing style to be entertaining. I can see how they would. The author is no doubt an entertaining writer. The author is also to be commended for presenting such a wealth of information in what for many may be a more accessible style. Although all that is true, I think there are other sources of information that may be better in some ways, but then maybe not in others. In any case, I would certainly not say this is the only Mac OS Leopard book you need, nor necessarily the best, but it is certainly worth having for the tips and information it does provide.

'Mac OS X Leopard: The Missing Manual' by David Pogue is another home run of an effort from the Missing Manual series, this one written by David Pogue himself. The thing I love most about the Missing Manual series is how incredibly USABLE these books are. Whether you are an experienced user or new to the topic being discussed, you can pick up a MM book with confidence that you are getting your money's worth and that you WILL learn by reading these books. I can't stress this enough... there are lots of books on the shelves available to readers, but if you want top notch content at one of the fairest price points in the industry, BUY THESE BOOKS!!

Having said that, there is a lot of new features in Mac OS X Leopard that truly deserve a new text to discuss and show them off. From the wonderful main layout to things like the new backup features in Leopard, this is one of the greatest operating systems ever created and now you can learn to do the most with it!

If you are a new Mac user or simply want to find out all the new goodies that you can get out of this OS upgrade, pick up this book. Read it, learn from it, and most of all... SAVOR the contents!!

OK enough of reading this review, go get the book, if you aren't happy with it you can contact me and give me your piece of mind!

***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION

The "Missing Manual" series, originated by this book's author, consistently has delivered the content it's titles promise to the computer world. The 'Leopard' book lives up to that well-earned reputation, delivering top-quality content that reaches far beyond the usual fare in both breadth and depth. Not only that, but the author's style is smooth and even, with a dash of humor that never gets out of hand. The professionally organized manual is a fulsome read that offers easy-to-follow sections to newcomers, then delves deep into the bowels of the beast to satisfy the curiosity of even the most jaded of old hands.

Just a few months ago, I was a disappointed Windows user, tired of constant patches, updates and security alerts. The Vista fiasco convinced me that Microsoft had done too little to remedy the plague of malware, and that the time had come to switch to a more robust and secure operating system. The thought had long been dormant, but with so many productivity tools written for Windows it just hadn't been practical to transfer financial and client data. That is ... until Apple moved to Intel processors, and software like Boot Camp made it feasible to run both OS-X and Windows on the same machine.

Still, when my new Mac arrived, it was obvious that a substantial learning curve lay ahead, barely touched by Apple's anemic 'Everything Mac' booklet. I'd picked up a couple of books promising far more, but most seemed to be geared to shallow casual use rather than to serious productivity. That is, until I read the glowing reviews of this book; yes, Mr Pogue has more than earned those five stars! Weighing in at some three pounds, the nearly 900-page tome may seem daunting at first, but the workflow is so smooth that beginning users need only read the first portion of a chapter, to return later to the sidebars and tips for in-depth reference. The author takes you through the numerous variations of the keyboard, the (to former Windows users) bewildering co-existence of Command and Control keys, installation of application software, device drivers and of course network connection (whether by dialup modem or high bandwidth server). The numerous screen shots are top quality, and very much spot on the mark.

In sum: this truly is the Mac's "Missing Manual" -- a must for serious as well as casual users. Thoughtfully produced, well written and nicely illustrated, it offers useful and practical guidance to any reader, whatever your skill level may be.

Having enjoyed David Pogue's technology columns at the NY Times, I picked up this book to help me master Mac OS X Leopard operating system. It has been a real pleasure having David Pogue and his team guiding me through this extensive upgrade. He covers every conceivable topic with great clarity, all the while mixing in a delightful array of self depreciating jokes. Whether it is reviewing Leopard's 300 new features, learning how to make smart folders in finder or figuring out how to fax a document, or set up a home network Pogue guides you through the learning process with clear prose and a liberal dose of humor. I like this 900 page tome so much that I've started turning to random chapters just to see what I will stumble upon. Over the past week I've managed to become acquainted with various corners of the software I never would have encountered without David's encouraging and humorous approach to working with technology. I highly recommend this book for both beginners and more experienced users.

I did not think that the Tiger Missing Manual could be beaten but it has been. I pre-ordered this book as soon as I got Leopard and thought I had learned a lot on my own. I was wrong. In the first few chapters I learned more than I thought possible. This book is great for a new user and great for a reference book. I keep it on my night stand for quick look ups.

Steve

I received a new iMac for Christmas and bought David's book to act as a reference for Leopard. I'm not disappointed. First, I'm a fan of David's iTunes video podcast and especially enjoyed "iPhone, the Musical" and I'm a further fan of the "missing manual" series. I figured I could not go wrong. While Leopard is intuitive, there are some nuances that are best discovered through a book like this. In less than a week with my new iMac, David's book has helped me discover several interesting and important techniques for getting the most from Leopard. The book is well-written, has a detailed index and delivers a lot of bang for the buck. I am enjoying browsing through it and appreciate how quickly I can flip to the index to find a fast answer. I've not had a single question that could not be easily answered by this book in just a minute or two. For these reasons, I'm happy to give the book five stars.