BeOS Bible, The (Paperback)

by Scot Hacker (Author), Henry Bortman (Author), Henry Bartman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
When the BeOS gained portability and could be run on PowerPCs and Intel-based hardware, its level of accessibility increased dramatically. As computer users make the switch from the operating systems they currently use to Be's explosively fast and legacy-free environment, thorough and informative documentation will ease their transition to this multimedia-enhancing powerhouse. Scot Hacker's The BeOS Bible supplies readers, recent BeOS converts, and knowledgeable Be developers with a wealth of information on the history, current state, and technical intricacies of this OS.

Hacker adequately introduces BeOS by providing a substantial chapter on the operating system's development chronology. In the second chapter, he provides a fairly exhaustive tour of BeOS and its abilities, including screen shots and explanations of the user interface, demonstrative graphics illustrating the use of menus, and descriptions of the bundled software that is included.

Once the tour is over, Hacker begins at ground zero, addressing more technical subjects in the order that you will most likely encounter them. Starting with the process of installation, he moves step by step into other topics ranging from the simple, such as accessing the Internet, to the more complex, such as turning your BeOS machine into a Web server. In addition, The BeOS Bible provides overviews of some of the most popular and useful third-party applications available for use on this operating system. --Ryan Kuykendall

From Library Journal
BeOS is actually a newer approach to multiple operating systems than either Linux, which is based on UNIX, or Windows98/NT, which still has to support DOS users. Be has a small but passionate base of users who like its size and speed and that it is actually optimized for both the web and multimedia. Hacker's book, part of Peachpit's excellent Bible series, supplies all the information readers will need for installing and running BeOS.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley Longman; 1st edition (April 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201353776
• ISBN-13: 978-0201353778
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,225,460 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A magic balance between readability and depth, November 9, 1999

By A Customer

Usually, you have to divide the readership of a computing book into beginners vs. experienced users. Somehow Scott Hacker provides a nice balance, not an easy thing to do. If you wanted a taste of why BeOS is interesting and truly unique, this book is a must--even the sections on applications written for BeOS have lots of helpful info. (Programmers looking for technical info should find this a good companion book, but the O'Reilly books on programming the BeOS are far more appropriate for hardcore developer info.)

BeOS was (is) fun to try out, and Scott's book makes it that much more so. A nearly perfect read.

(By the way, I saw some other person write about being offended by the word "bible" in the book title. While I understand that perspective, I hope s/he is aware that Peachpit Press, the publisher, has countless titles in this family, e.g., Windows 98 Bible. Don't hold the title against Scott or Be, or allow it to spoil a really informative and enjoyable read--in fact, it probably helps to register your displeasure with the publisher directly.)

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best computer books I have ever read!!!, September 8, 1999

By A Customer

I see where everyone is coming from in their reviews on this book. But.... I think the "ads" are a welcome change. There is not much out there, program wise for Be and I appreciated Hacker discussing whats available. I also didn't mind the trashing of Windows and MacOS. I've been putting up with Linux users who have been badmouthing Windows and MacOS for a few years now and I guess I have become desensitized to the bad publicity on theses 2 OS's (but were all still using them!!) Getting to the point of all of this: Its a good book!!! Even if you were expecting 800-900 pages on Be, your still getting 500-600 good quality pages about a great operating system. Not everyone is able to "figure it out on their own after a few days" and this book will especially help those people in addition to providing some usefull insight to computer veterans. I would definately recommend this book to anyone. It was money well spent for me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BeOS, my favorite operating system, August 18, 2005

By	Ronald L. Russell (Pangaea) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I actually learned of BeOS when searching a bookstore for a Linux manual, and I first thought BeOS was somehow related to "BSD", the Unix based system (turns out it isn't). However, I picked the book up and began studying it, and became intrigued. I purchased it, downloaded BeOS and have been a fan ever since.
BeOS was a commercial operating system designed from a clean sheet of paper in the 1990's, originally running on its own hardware, then PPC, then Intel x86. Palm purchased the company's assets in 2000, but had no interest in offering the operating system. So, it has been available since then as a free download from various websites such as Bebits, which also offers hundreds of free applications to keep the system useful.
At the time of Palm's purchase, BeOS was up to version 5, and was working on version 6, which was never released. During the intervening years, a German company named Yellowtab has worked on completing version 6, and has recently released it as "Zeta".
I have both BeoS 5 (for the past couple of years) and Zeta (for the past couple of weeks) on my computer. Previously, I had tried various Linux distros, SuSe, Caldera, Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Mepis. While all ran, none were as fast as BeOS/Zeta, none were as easy to configure hardware, and none were as resilient. Because of its primitive directory structure, Linux is prone to problems with "dependencies", where applications depend on each other in a complex web, so a malfunction in a single file can render many applications useless, or even the entire OS unbootable. BeOS doesn't do this, applications tend to be self-contained, and even if one crashes, or is removed altogether, it doesn't affect anything anywhere else in the system.
It is true that some applications for BeOS/Zeta are not as "mature" as for Linux, or for that matter, for Windows, but they are useable and improving. I also appreciate that there are no virus currently which can do anything to the BeOS.
As mentioned by another reviewer, what works for BeOS also works for Zeta, so the BeOS Bible is useful regardless of which system you have installed. The author, Scot Hacker, has written many other articles about BeOS which were published on-line, as well as the O'Reilly MP3 manual.
I found the BeOS Bible to be well written, interesting, and much more fun to read than most similar "manuals".