Mastering Mac OS X (Paperback)

~ Todd Stauffer (Author) "AN OPERATING SYSTEM (OS) is a set of computer instructions that enables the computer to interact with the user and any peripheral devices such as..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Apple's Mac OS X is a quantum leap in the operating system for the Macintosh computer, offering stability and depth that is unheard of in a desktop consumer-level operating system. There is a price for all this strength, however: OS X is far deeper and more complicated than any previous version of the Mac operating system. Mastering Mac OS X goes beyond Apple's own hardcopy documentation, which is minimal at best, and lays bare the workings of this state-of-the-art operating system.

Five main parts comprising 25 chapters make up this 800-page tome, covering such topics as installing Mac OS X; comparing X to OS X Server and OS 9.x; the new interface; network architecture; and configuring user accounts, privileges, and network communications.

Part III, "Getting Things Done with Mac OS X," discusses the use of the bundled applications (Mail, Address Book, Preview, Keychain Access, Grab, etc.), as well as the new printing architecture and how to set up printers and manage color with ColorSync; using QuickTime; and automating the OS and applications using AppleScript.

The book falls short on only a few things. There is little reference to its heritage (NeXT's NeXTStep OS) or other carryover features from NeXTStep (such as NetInfo), and not much about the Unix startup process and the scripts that run during bootup (although you will learn that you can hold down Command+V to see system messages during booting). The book is much more focused on bringing up to speed an experienced Mac user, not necessarily a user with some Unix experience who needs to know just how Apple is handling Unix.

There are many good things about this book--the troubleshooting section is informative, and there's a terrific chapter on using Terminal and writing Unix shell scripts. The appendix, "Installing and Setting up Mac OS X," in Mastering Mac OS X goes far beyond Apple's own minimal hardcopy documentation, as do the chapters on the preinstalled applications.

Mastering Mac OS X makes a fine handbook for users anxious to dig into the new operating system, and it offers a subtle introduction to some of the core Unix workings. --Mike Caputo

Review

"Easy-to-follow, step-by-step, expert instructions fill the pages of this first-rate, confidently recommended resource and reference." -- Midwest Book Review

"There is a ton of useful information in this book, organized to be easy to find and thoroughly explained." -- Charles W. Moore, AppleLinks --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 805 pages
• Publisher: Sybex Inc; 1st edition (June 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782125816
• ISBN-13: 978-0782125818
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,097,595 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the place to start OS X, July 28, 2001

By	Don Levy (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

While I agree with MacGizmo's review that this is far from complete or with the depth Mac gurus could wish for, I think it is vastly superior to the other books that are out on OS X as of July 28, 2001.

For the beginner or experienced Mac person it's ideal: clear and readable, much more detail than all the rest, and very well illustrated. It's extremely well organized, and while each chapter logically builds on the others, yet each can be read independently and out of sequence, thanks to an excellent index (which makes looking up a term or concept quick and easy).

My pet peeve with most tech books is sloppy, incomplete indexing. Novels are read start to finish; tech books are primarily for reference. To be genuinely useful, a good index is essential, and Mastering Mac OS X is one of the better tech books at fulfilling this critically important requirement.

Most OS X books currently out are simple re-hashes of what one can find in MacWorld and MacAddict magazines, or from Apple's own official "consumer level" information. One has the feeling when reading them that the author just digested a bunch of articles, tried OS X for a few hours (or few minutes, perhaps) and then rushed into print, in hopes of being devoured by the masses starved for more info about OS X.

Not so this book. One has the sense that the author has actually USED OS X hands-on, in depth and at length for a considerable time. That some of the trickier, deeper areas of OS X are not addressed is not a bad thing for a book whose primary purpose is to introduce us to the new OS. There will be plenty of books along in the coming months and years to address these issues, mostly topics that are of interest only to techies and Mac professionals.

I recommend this book as a starting point for all our clients, at virtually all levels of Mac skills. I wish I had written it. I wish I could write technical stuff this well.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Master is the wrong word..., July 10, 2001

By	"macgizmo" (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews

Get aquainted is more like it. This book, like so many others, covers a lot of "basic" things about MacOSX and even "Classic". It explains a lot of 'theory' behind the terminal and how usefull it is - but you will NOT master anything in OSX from reading this book. Not one single reference to NetInfo Manager is in this book (other than an obscure note regarding the database in relation to something else). No extensive FTP or Filesharing info beyond the obvious is stated.

I did find a brief section about file permissions to be quite usefull - so the book wasn't a total loss. For those with a little Unix experience there is a section devoted to Darwin and some advanced shell stuff - however if the rest of the book is any indication, this section will seem amateur to them as well (I dont know anything about Unix - I was hoping I might learn something when I bought the book).

The book is very well written, has lots of tips/notes to break up the thickness - but it falls extremely short of making you a "Master" of OSX. This book is a step above the "Dummies" series, but far below any advanced/power user level.

I give it 2 stars because it does cover a lot of info (even though they are basic topics such as browsers use and mail.app etc...) but only 2 because it doesn't even come close to what the title promises.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This suited my specific needs, February 12, 2004

By	Christopher Lim (Singapore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mastering Mac OS X, Third Edition (Paperback)

I didn't want to buy a book where a significant portion is devoted to introductory comments for beginners. When I bought David Pogue's Jaguar Edition of the OSX Missing Manual, I was new to OSX and it suited my needs perfectly (Pogue is a great writer). However, I've moved on a bit and Pogue's Panther Edition covers too much of the same ground for me.

Stauffer and McElhearn's book gets straight to the point and gives me enough details for the tips to be useful. I found the sections on networking especially useful, and liked how many of my questions were anticipated by the authors. I also found the book well-organized and getting to the sections I needed wasn't a problem. If you're an intermediate-to-advanced user, this is probably for you.