Mac OS X Tiger: Missing Manual (Paperback)

by David Pogue (Author)
Key Phrases: disk mode, power adapter, new playlist, Address Book, Get Info, Disk Utility (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
You can set your watch to it: As soon as Apple comes out with another version of Mac OS X, David Pogue hits the streets with another meticulous Missing Manual to cover it with a wealth of detail. The new Mac OS X 10.4, better known as Tiger, is faster than its predecessors, but nothing's too fast for Pogue and "Mac OS X: The Missing Manual," There are many reasons why this is the most popular computer book of all time.

With its hallmark objectivity, the Tiger Edition thoroughly explores the latest features to grace the Mac OS. Which ones work well and which do not? What should you look for? This book tackles Spotlight, an enhanced search feature that helps you find anything on your computer; iChat AV for videoconferencing; Automator for automating repetitive, manual or batch tasks; and the hundreds of smaller tweaks and changes, good and bad, that Apple's marketing never bothers to mention.

"Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition" is the authoritative book that's ideal for every user, including people coming to the Mac for the first time. Our guide offers an ideal introduction that demystifies the Dock, the unfamiliar Mac OS X folder structure, and the entirely new Mail application. There are also mini-manuals on iLife applications such as iMovie, iDVD, and iPhoto, those much-heralded digital media programs, and a tutorial for Safari, Mac's own web browser.

And plenty more: learn to configure Mac OS X using the System Preferences application, keep your Mac secure with FileVault, and learn about Tiger's enhanced Firewall capabilities. If you're so inclined, this Missing Manual also offers an easy introduction to the Terminal application for issuing basic Unix commands.

There's something new on practically every page, and David Pogue brings his celebrated wit and expertise to every one of them. Mac's brought a new cat to town and we have a great new way to tame it.

About the Author
David Pogue, Yale '85, is the personal-technology columnist for the New York Times. With nearly 3 million books in print, he is also one of the world's bestselling how-to authors, having written or co-written seven books in the "for Dummies" series (including Macs, Magic, Opera, and Classical Music), along with several computer-humor books and a technothriller, "Hard Drive" (a New York Times "notable book of the year"). Pogue is also the creator and primary author of the Missing Manual series of complete, funny computer books, a joint venture with O'Reilly & Associates. Titles in the series include Mac OS X, Windows XP, iPod, Microsoft Office, iPhoto, Dreamweaver, iMovie 2, and many others. His Web page is www.davidpogue.com, and his email address is [e-mail].

Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Pogue Press; 5th edition (July 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596009410
• ISBN-13: 978-0596009410
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (135 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,431 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This item is part of The O'Reilly Missing Manuals Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

276 of 282 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Missing manual is missing no more!, July 23, 2005

By	M. A. Filippelli "Marc12074" (Elk Grove, CA, US) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Mac OS X Tiger Edition The missing manual:

This is another outstanding book by David Pogue. This is a much easier read then most technical books that are usually fairly dry reading. This book covers everything that comes with Tiger in great and easy to follow detail with an appropriate number of images for the topic. Chapter one starts with logging into the Mac to organizing your documents to setting system preferences and troubleshooting the Mac and everything in between including Hacking your Mac. The book moves through it's chapters in a nice chronological order.

All of the applications that come with Tiger are covered in good detail. Dash board, creating widgets, Spotlight, Apple remote desktop, Sherlock, iTunes, iSync, iChat .Mac, Safari RSS for internet feeds, Automator, iDVD, iChat, iPhoto, iCal, iMic, iMovie, iDisk, iSync and iTunes, Apple Script and Image Capture to name a few.

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 books also covers the various aspects of networking including Apple Talk, Rendezvous, Bonjour, IP configuration, Bluetooth, firewire devices, hubs, firewalls, terminal, SSH and routers.

The book arrived three days ago and I have been looking through the book and sitting in front of my Mac and have found that everything in the book is accurate.

For those that are coming from a Microsoft Windows environment there is a nice section on Windows keyboard commands and how they translate into Mac keyboard commands. It also covers things that you are used to seeing in Windows like Control Panel, My Computer, Network places, modem properties and other things and what their equivalents are in Mac. Basic UNIX is also covered as it applies to the terminal session. It also talks about the reasoning behind going to the Intel processor.
There are a lot of great books covering Tiger but I think that this is the best that I have seen. I pre ordered this book four months ago and it was worth the wait.

In summary this is a great book for all levels of end user for the truly novice (just came from Windows) users to the advanced user. The books intended audience is not stated but this is a book that is a 5 star book for the novice to intermediate user and a 4 star book for the advanced user.

125 of 129 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helpful for Beginner and Power User alike, July 26, 2005

By	E. Wuehler (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like most of the books in the Missing Manual series, this is well done, full of diagrams, pictures, and other useful information. A few of my favorite parts of the book are the sidebars. There is an occasional "Nostalgia Corner" sidebar which points out various "old way things were done" and the "new way things are done". The "Gem in the Rough" sidebars explain potentially useful, but probably not obvious, features of OS X. There are also "Power User Clinic" sidebars for the true OS X geeks.

The book does go into the iLife apps at a high level, but if you're looking for details you should check out the separate iLife (iMovie & iDVD, iPhoto, GarageBand, etc) Missing Manual books. For that matter, there are a lot of books that would do a better job getting into the nitty-gritty specifics of various applications or features (like AppleScript) of OS X - which is not the purpose of this book. This is a high level introduction to just about everything OS X can do for you.

If you're new - or relatively new - to OS X, this is definately a book I'd recommend. I've loaned it to a few of my buddies (recent "converts" to the Mac) and they've all given it a thumbs up. If you've done Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther and now Tiger - hmmm... it would be good for the new features (Spotlight, Dashboards, Automator, etc) but I wouldn't put it on my "must have" list. Definately on the "nice to have" list, though.

As always, the Mac is less work and more play (unless asked a direct question by spouse or boss, then it's all work and no play). Anyway, for grins (or groans) turn on the Speech Recognition (Chapter 15) and ask your Mac "Tell me a joke".

76 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful for switching from PC to Mac, December 6, 2005

By	calvinnme "Texan refugee" (Fredericksburg, Va) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

I only recently got involved with Mac OS, when work required that I shift gears from a PC to a Mac. Therefore I am not familiar with all of the nuances between version 9 and version 10.4, which this second edition covers. In true O'Reilly fashion, however, this book smoothly got this newbie very familiar with the features of MAC OS, which I am finding to be a combination of visual elegance and the underlying stability of UNIX, adding up to a very solid operating system that, quite truthfully, I was not expecting. The book starts out explaining the user interface, and teaches some special characteristics and key combinations on Mac OS X that are not well known to most of the Mac users. There is a lengthy explanation on what is the difference between Carbon and Cocoa and how you can determine with which API an application was built. I really liked how the author drew the distinction between the Terminal and the Unix that lies underneath OS X's graphical user interface. There are also helpful sub-chapters for the new Find function and Menulets. The book explains how to use the included applications and utilities, and even goes as far as introducing AppleScript.
In Part 4 the discussion becomes more advanced, and networking and more advanced graphics and multimedia-related topics are discussed. There is even an introduction to the Terminal and Bash. I never really appreciated the power of the MAC OS in multimedia applications until I read this section of the book. Thus, I think my favorite in this section is chapter 15 on Sounds,Movies,Speech, and Handwriting. I never knew before I read this book that MAC OS had features for handwriting recognition! Part four is rounded out by a chapter on hacking MAC OS X which includes details on Tinkertool, redoing the MAC OS X graphics, and replacing the Finder Icons.
In Part Five, Mac OS X Online, there is a whole new chapter covering Sherlock 3, iChat, and iCal. Also explained in full is Mail's new spam filter and the new personal firewall. At the end of the book there is a very useful "master list" of keystroke combinations.
I recognize that most Mac power-users might not find this book valuable, but for beginning to intermediate Mac users I think it has much to say.I notice Amazon does not show a table of contents, so I include that here:
Ch. 1 Folders and Windows
Ch. 2 Organizing your stuff
Ch. 3 Spotlight
Ch. 4 Dock, desktop, and toolbar
Ch. 5 Documents, programs, and dashboard
Ch. 6 Back to Mac OS 9
Ch. 7 Moving data
Ch. 8 Automator and AppleScript
Ch. 9 System preferences
Ch. 10 The free programs
Ch. 11 CDs, DVDs, and iTunes
Ch. 12 Accounts, firewalls, and security
Ch. 13 Networking
Ch. 14 Graphics, fonts, printing, and faxing
Ch. 15 Sound, movies, speech, and handwriting
Ch. 16 Terminal : doorway to Unix
Ch. 17 Fun with Terminal
Ch. 18 Hacking Mac OS X
Ch. 19 Internet setup, .Mac, and iSync
Ch. 20 Mail and address book
Ch. 21 Safari, iChat, and Sherlock
Ch. 22 SSH, FTP, VPN, and Web sharing