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Mac OS X for Unix Geeks
 
 

Mac OS X for Unix Geeks [Kindle Edition]

Brian Jepson , Ernest E. Rothman

Digital List Price: £13.02 What's this?
Print List Price: £17.50
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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

It's about time: Mac OS X for Unix Geeks arrives on the scene none too soon for UNIX aficionados who, having heard that the latest editions of Mac OS are based on a UNIX variant, want to see how the platform compares to more venerable versions of the eminently configurable operating system. This book highlights some key differences between the Darwin environment and more conventional UNIXs, enabling people with UNIX experience to take advantage of it as they learn the Mac OS X way of doing things at the command line.

This slim volume neither aims to teach its readers UNIX nor introduces them to the Mac, but rather to show how Apple has implemented UNIX. It's a fast read that assumes--as the title implies--rather a lot of UNIX knowledge. With that requirement satisfied and this book in hand, you're likely to discover aspects of Aqua much more quickly than you otherwise would have.

The authors spend lots of time explaining how administrative tasks--such as managing groups, users and passwords--are handled in the Mac OS environment. They document netinfo fully, and call attention to its limitations (such as its inability to create home directories for users) by explaining how to do the job on the command line. They also cover C programming in the Darwin universe at greater length than any other book, providing explicit instructions for such important tasks as creating header files and linking static libraries. A guide to the command line (they call the reference section "The Missing Manpages") provides good value at this book's conclusion. --David Wall, Amazon.com

Review

"Vital starting point for UNIX power-users new to Mac OS X." Computer Shopper, July (5 stars)

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 2749 KB
  • Print Length: 224 pages
  • Publisher: O'Reilly Media (2 Aug 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B005KOJ3RW
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #385,196 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  7 reviews
29 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Great if you are coming from a technical background 30 Oct 2002
By G. Suyderhoud - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
I have been using Mac OS X since the first public beta, and have some other Unix experience. I must say, this book has taken me a long way towards applying the things I know about other Unix environments to Mac OS X. Despite my Mac OS X experience, I feel that this book has taught me a lot about the Darwin flavor of Unix. As an added bonus, the book's careful explinations have helped me to better understand the other Unix platforms I have worked with.

All and all, this was a good, if technical, book. Perfect for anybody who is interested in porting Unix software to Mac OS X, as well as the Unix admin who wants to get the most out of the new environment. However, unlike the title maintains, you don't have to be a Unix geek to get something worthwhile from the reading - though you may consider yourself one after carefully going through this book.

My only complaint is that the book leaves you wanting more information in some areas. Thankfully, it is always quick to point you to other O'Reilly titles that fill in the gaps.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Very useful! 24 April 2009
By Fred Westrom - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am very happy to have found this book. I have been using BSD and Linux based platforms for many years now, and I was a little bit blown away by how much there is to adjust to on OS X. This book provided a fantastic set of hints as to where I should look to discover the OS X way of doing things. Highly recommended!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Exactly what the title announces 28 Mar 2009
By J. Domingo - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
As the title say, this is a book to facilitate the transition of Unix
experts (or at least, proficient users) to OS X, and it certainly does.
We recently bought a Mac Pro to be used as a server but it came with the
usual OS X (not the server version) installed. I have worked before in
Linux an other Unices. Since our needs are restricted (serve file systems
via ssh, open remote desktops and serve web pages) the client version of
OS X (which, as Linux, is also server is some capabilities are enabled)
can be used. The book gives tips to make this and many other things,
apart from pointing to the most useful packages of software to be installed in a machine that is to be used for desktop, server and
programming.
Summarizing, an excellent book.

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