Mac OS X Little Black Book: A Complete Guide to Migrating and Setting Up Mac OS X (Paperback)

by Gene Steinberg (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Mac OS X Little Black Book explains what's new in Mac OS, and offers strategies and tips for making users' machines as useful as possible. The Little Black Book format has two kinds of sections. "Immediate Solutions" sections provide the steps for achieving certain goals ("Running Classic as a Startup Application") and solving problems ("Why Are [E-mail] Messages Scrambled?"). More explanatory material, such as commentary on the newly accelerated sleep and wake functions and a look at the Dock's useful capabilities, appear in "In Brief" sections. Most readers likely will prefer the how-to material--it's easier to follow and generally less obvious.

As is typical of pretty much all books about Mac OS X published to date, though, this book all but ignores Darwin, the operating system's Unix kernel and attendant interfaces and utilities. Gene Steinberg shows how to poke around at the command line and use a couple of utilities for diagnostic and file-system-repair purposes, but that's about it. This book would be better if it more fully embraced the Unix characteristics of Mac OS X, but what's here should more than satisfy intermediate-level Mac users interested in taking advantage of what's new in the latest version of the system. --David Wall

Topics covered: Mac OS X for competent users of earlier versions of Mac OS. Information on use and troubleshooting appears on all major aspects of the operating system except the Unix command shell. Installation, multiuser configuration, local area networking, AppleScript, and Internet connectivity all get attention.

Review
I liked this book a lot, There is good information, and it is written in a readable and accessible style. -- Applelinks ,August 10, 2001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 488 pages
• Publisher: Coriolis Group Books; illustrated edition edition (May 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576107019
• ISBN-13: 978-1576107010
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,152,788 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too simple, too soon., June 5, 2001

By	J. Lagnese - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First I want to say that this review in no way reflects on Mr Steinberg's writing ability. The book is sold as an intermediate to advanced book and I think that is a stetch. While this book would be good to put in the Box with X , it is not fo rthe seasoned Mac Techie. Too much comparison between OS 9 and X on simple stuff I found out after installing it and using it on two different computers over period of a couple of weeks at the most. In fact I learned stuff on my own that's not in the book. I hope the other books on X are more detailed and indepth, getting into the Unix under belly. If you are going to be Mac techie, you have to go there.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Little OK Book, July 14, 2001

By	"coogan71" (Havelock, NC United States) - See all my reviews

This is just a little too simple for experienced Mac users. Good solid intro to OS X for novice Mac users, with enough tips and detailed intructions to keep a novice busy - but it's just not informative enough for me. I needed more info on how to navigate the Terminal application in this OS. This book just doesn't have it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Stop Gap 'Til the Missing Manual Comes Out, June 19, 2001

By A Customer

Though it's marketed as a book for intermediate to advanced users, as suggested by the other reviewers, it's really designed as a get acquainted guide for everyday Mac users - those who will never look at the command line - not power users, never mind those with Unix experience. It doesn't supply you with much beyond what the Missing Manuals book will when it comes out (if it's anything like the OS9 version), and isn't as easy on the head as the Missing Manual series books are. If you're completely at sea with OS X and have to learn more now, pick it up; but don't expect to walk away an OS X guru.