Customer Reviews

Unix for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: Visual QuickPro Guide (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have a working understanding of UNIX and am a Mac user. In my experience, this book is ideally targeted for someone like me that wants to improve UNIX skills and prefers to do so on a Mac. Other texts I've consulted seem to jump too fast between really elementary subjects to needs of a system admin. The depth here is still rich, but the reader has time to digest the information before getting to more complex constructs.

I loved the first edition of this book, but was thrilled when the updated version was released. (The original book was written before Mac OS X adopted the bash shell by default, so many of the examples were out of whack with later releases of the OS).
I use this as my primary Unix reference at work - where we do not use Macs! It is a comprehensive and easy reference.

I recommend this and O'Reilly's Learning Perl as the two best books (especially if you have a Mac at home) to build your professional Unix chops quickly.

For those who are new to Unix, never fear, you won't find a better way to start. This book is very clearly written, easy to understand, and covers more than enough of the shell environment to give the user plenty to work with. Buy it! Get the most out of your Mac.

This is the best primer on Unix for Mac OS X in print. While technically speaking slightly out of date (it doesn't cover Leopard), all the information in it is still valid and applicable to current models (and where there is a difference between Intel Macs and older PowerPC models, Enzer notes it and provides information and instructions for both), and very little apropos of X.5 makes much difference at the command line. Well-organized, Enzer progresses from the simple to the more complex, from the most common to the most specialized. The text is lucid and straightforward (free also of most of the inane, punning humor most computer primers suffer from), and topics are presented thoroughly and in depth, with frequent cross-reference to other sections for amplification and to other print and online resources for greater depth and specialized needs. I read it through, being a recent convert from Mac 9.2.2 (I must be among the last of the hold-outs, though my PowerBook Wallstreet still runs fine!). I now use this book as one of two primary desk references that rest beside my Macs, picking it up when I have a question or need to do something I am unclear on, or simply want to know more about a command, function, or application. It would be great if Enzer updated this book for Leopard, but it still stands up as a solid resource, and should continue to for some time (this is yet another glory of *nix: 15 year old documentation is still useful as the core logic and functionality doesn't change since it was so well designed at the outset, it is simply expanded and adapted to new needs, new environments). If you need to get grounded in Unix on your Mac, this is the book to start with, though you will find it goes well beyond 'dummies' type books (and is clearer and more direct than those as well) and most introductions to remain useful long after you have mastered the basics.

I've tried many times to find a book that clearly explains Unix in a friendly manner. I should have realized that the Apple ethos was the missing element in all the terse, disjointed treatments I found elsewhere. This book is a dream come true: a book about Unix that is as close to being enjoyable to read as the subject allows. It may not have everything there is to say about unix (I found a few things missing or covered too briefly for my tastes), but the book walks the reader through Unix so gently that I never once felt the blinding frustration that quickly overwhelms me during previous attempts. After this introduction other books (more comprehensive, less humane) can be read as references. Well done!

This continues to be one of the best books on learning Unix for the Macintosh. It is outstanding as a tutorial, and it isn't bad as a reference either. (The two are not necessarily the same.)

The material is well organized and is presented in a logical, easy to understand manor. And even though Apple has moved from 10.4, to 10.5, to 10.6 and now to 10.7, this still remains one of the best tutorials for learning Unix on the Macintosh.

The negatives with this book seem to stem from the fact that it is published by Pearson Education. (Pearson is the parent company of Peachpit and InformIT.)

Pearson really ought to produce an updated version of this book, adding the new material that would be relevant to Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion.

Pearson ought to make it available electronically. Compared to some other publishers, Pearson charges a hefty premium for you to get titles in electronic-digital format. However, this title isn't even offered. This hurts its utility as a reference.

Pearson ought to update the errata. A number of things have changed since publishing this text in 2006. If Person isn't going to do the right thing and publish a new version, they ought to at least update the errata, correcting the printing errors and changes.

Still, in spite of the Pearson negatives, this continues to be an outstanding text for learning UNIX on the Macintosh.

this book explains all the important basic topic every UNIX user should know, even if she/he does not need to write scripts. In particular, if you have been a UNIX user since a long time, just using the basic commands (ls, cd etc - because at the university/college it was the OS by default and basically you had no choice ;) ) and now want/need to go a little bit further down the road, this is the book to start with. Title could have been "Everything you ever wanted to know about UNIX ... " because it also tells about the little stories behind the commands - origin of names, why, who, when etc. A good book, for sure.