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Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual
Posted by
samzenpus
on Wed Feb 27, 2008 03:12 PM
from the read-all-about-it dept.
from the read-all-about-it dept.
jsuda writes "The preeminent general reference source for Mac OS X has always been the Missing
Manual Series written by David Pogue. The latest iteration in the series
is its Mac OS X Leopard Edition, completely revised, and it is the biggest,
most comprehensive, and most useful of all the editions in the series. It covers
the Mac OS X desktop and file system, the free applications included with the Mac OS
X installation, the system components and technologies, networking and online
features and components, and includes welcome appendices on installation, troubleshooting,
Windows/Mac comparisons, and a Master Keystroke list." Read on for the rest of John's review.
| Mac OS X Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual | |
| author | David Pogue |
| pages | 893 |
| publisher | O'Reilly Media Inc. |
| rating | 10 |
| reviewer | John Suda |
| ISBN | 9780596529529 |
| summary | Great Manual for all levels of users |
Every one of the editions has been exceedingly well-designed and written combining
serious treatment of subject content with style, wit, and humor, as well as honest
evaluation and critique of features of the Mac operating system. All of the OS
X Missing Manuals have addressed issues for a broad range of users, from the lightly
experienced, the intermediate, and for power users. For the most part, however,
the primary focus of each edition has been on the less experienced users. This
has changed with the Leopard edition.
There seems to have been a deliberate effort to make the book more appealing and useful to upper-end users without losing any utility at all for others. There seems to be more material for power users- -there are more Power Users Guides providing advanced information and techniques, more UNIX references for those willing and able to take avail of the UNIX kernel underlying the operating system, more identifications of keyboard shortcuts, and more disclosure of undocumented and advanced features than in previous editions.
For example, Pogue itemizes and describes at least 20 UNIX utilities that only power users would want to use, explains how to configure preferences for the Terminal application, explains how to deal with the file and folder permissions system using UNIX commands, and even notes the existence of the venerable Eliza therapist emulator program hidden in a part of the emacs text editor. At each juncture of describing operating system features, Pogue explains from the perspective of different levels of users, including the power user, like himself. Unlike in many other books purporting to cover a broad range of users, this one does not short on the higher-end.
This is all well and good as casual users are still widely well-taken care of by the thorough and well-organized explanations of nearly every feature of OS 10.5. The book is illustrated profusely with screenshots of system features, configuration processes, comparison of the Mac OS X versions, comparisons of Mac OS X to Windows features, and more. Nearly every page is loaded with Tips, Notes, FAQs, lists, tables, and sidebars. Throughout, there are nuggets of insight and technical arcana that even Mac veterans will be surprised to learn about. I learned, for example, that the one-button Apple Mighty Mouse has a secret 2-button feature. Also there is a similar way to operate a laptop with a two finger trackpad technique. There are a lot of tips and tricks like that in the book. Even beyond description and explanation, Pogue provides useful recommendations for configurations of the Dock, recovery from common errors, and using Automator to design practical workflows for common tasks.
The subject content builds upon that of previous editions and updates it with material relating to the 300-plus new features of Leopard. Much of the new material covers the Leopard update highlights the backup program called Time Machine, a desktop switching application called Spaces, the Stacks organizing feature, the file previewer, QuickLook, and the feature enhancements in iChat, Mail, and especially Spotlight, the search tool.
Spotlight is much more than a mere search tool although it is a great one. A whole chapter is devoted to it alone. Pogue explains how to use it not just for casual and advanced searching (using over 125 types of data and metadata) but as a quick launcher of files, folders, and applications; as a calculator; and as a dictionary. Sophisticated query languages can be used and Pogue lists a series of power user keyboard shortcuts for Spotlight use.
I see the book as especially useful for those Windows users of all levels gravitating to the Mac platform. Not only is the treatment of the Mac OS done well, but at nearly every juncture, Pogue takes the perspective of a Windows user and provides practical comparisons and contrasts of operating systems.
Weaving all of these perspectives into a harmonious, readable manual is a fine achievement. The content discussions and explanations are never abstract but written from the viewpoint of the thoughtful and practical user and no one is better at this than David Pogue who has been cited before as one of the worlds best (technical) communicators. The denseness of the treatment of the subject content diminishes somewhat from the readability of the book compared to prior editions and there is a bit less wit, humor and style. That is the trade-off, I presume, for the increased breadth and depth of the content treatment but this Missing Manual is still as well written as a computer manual can be expected to be.
You can purchase Mac OSX Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
There seems to have been a deliberate effort to make the book more appealing and useful to upper-end users without losing any utility at all for others. There seems to be more material for power users- -there are more Power Users Guides providing advanced information and techniques, more UNIX references for those willing and able to take avail of the UNIX kernel underlying the operating system, more identifications of keyboard shortcuts, and more disclosure of undocumented and advanced features than in previous editions.
For example, Pogue itemizes and describes at least 20 UNIX utilities that only power users would want to use, explains how to configure preferences for the Terminal application, explains how to deal with the file and folder permissions system using UNIX commands, and even notes the existence of the venerable Eliza therapist emulator program hidden in a part of the emacs text editor. At each juncture of describing operating system features, Pogue explains from the perspective of different levels of users, including the power user, like himself. Unlike in many other books purporting to cover a broad range of users, this one does not short on the higher-end.
This is all well and good as casual users are still widely well-taken care of by the thorough and well-organized explanations of nearly every feature of OS 10.5. The book is illustrated profusely with screenshots of system features, configuration processes, comparison of the Mac OS X versions, comparisons of Mac OS X to Windows features, and more. Nearly every page is loaded with Tips, Notes, FAQs, lists, tables, and sidebars. Throughout, there are nuggets of insight and technical arcana that even Mac veterans will be surprised to learn about. I learned, for example, that the one-button Apple Mighty Mouse has a secret 2-button feature. Also there is a similar way to operate a laptop with a two finger trackpad technique. There are a lot of tips and tricks like that in the book. Even beyond description and explanation, Pogue provides useful recommendations for configurations of the Dock, recovery from common errors, and using Automator to design practical workflows for common tasks.
The subject content builds upon that of previous editions and updates it with material relating to the 300-plus new features of Leopard. Much of the new material covers the Leopard update highlights the backup program called Time Machine, a desktop switching application called Spaces, the Stacks organizing feature, the file previewer, QuickLook, and the feature enhancements in iChat, Mail, and especially Spotlight, the search tool.
Spotlight is much more than a mere search tool although it is a great one. A whole chapter is devoted to it alone. Pogue explains how to use it not just for casual and advanced searching (using over 125 types of data and metadata) but as a quick launcher of files, folders, and applications; as a calculator; and as a dictionary. Sophisticated query languages can be used and Pogue lists a series of power user keyboard shortcuts for Spotlight use.
I see the book as especially useful for those Windows users of all levels gravitating to the Mac platform. Not only is the treatment of the Mac OS done well, but at nearly every juncture, Pogue takes the perspective of a Windows user and provides practical comparisons and contrasts of operating systems.
Weaving all of these perspectives into a harmonious, readable manual is a fine achievement. The content discussions and explanations are never abstract but written from the viewpoint of the thoughtful and practical user and no one is better at this than David Pogue who has been cited before as one of the worlds best (technical) communicators. The denseness of the treatment of the subject content diminishes somewhat from the readability of the book compared to prior editions and there is a bit less wit, humor and style. That is the trade-off, I presume, for the increased breadth and depth of the content treatment but this Missing Manual is still as well written as a computer manual can be expected to be.
You can purchase Mac OSX Leopard Edition: The Missing Manual from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Related Stories
[+]
IT: Apple Releases Mac OS X Leopard Security Guide 57 comments
Wormfan writes to share ZDNet's brief mention of and a link to "Apple's release of a ~250 page PDF of security best-practices and tips to protect Mac OS X Leopard clients. The guide is aimed at experienced users, Apple says, familiar with the Terminal application and its command-line interface."
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Will it tell me how to fix these bugs? (Score:3, Insightful)
* Looooong wait times for wake-from-sleep (15 seconds typical) with no indication whether it's going to wake from sleep at all (e.g. if the battery is drained)
* sometimes doesn't sleep when lid is closed (until the battery drops to emergency levels, see above)
* sometimes doesn't recognize monitors when waking from sleep. Sometimes the monitor it doesn't recognize is the macbook's own.
* Fucks up screen geometry when plugged into a 1600x1200 external monitor (menu bar moves to external monitor as needed, but stays at the native-screen width; X windows and most applications silently ignore clicks near the lower or right edges of the external monitor
I'm sorry I ever upgraded to Leopard -- it's such a buggy piece of crap that I'm beginning to feel like I'm using a Microsoft product.
Re:Will it tell me how to fix these bugs? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Needs to be tagged "Apple"... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:$21 for something you would expect to be suppli (Score:4, Insightful)
Why would you expect a comprehensive book written by a 3rd party to be supplied free with the OS?
If you want help from Apple, there's the built in help function, the section of their website, and their Discussions Forums [apple.com]
, not to mention the free call number available in almost all countries they officially sell in.Parent
Re:$21 for something you would expect to be suppli (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.apple.com/support/leopard/ [apple.com]
(and yes, they assume you can get to and read a web page).
I see ENORMOUS books on how to use Windows... or even Word for that matter. 600+ pages describing how to use a word processor.
Why doesn't Microsoft give those third-party books away for free?
You do realize this is a third-party book, right?
Parent
Re:$21 for something you would expect to be suppli (Score:4, Informative)
if it was called "Secrets of OS X" instead of "The Missing Manual" nobody would bitch. People are more than happy to take any opportunity they can to take a shot at apple. My girlfriend recently bought a vista laptop. It didn't come with a vista manual (or even install/recovery disks)... but there is no "Vista: The missing manual (and recovery disk)"
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
OK... I stand corrected [amazon.com]
There most certainly is a missing manual for vista.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
But you will have to do a fsck first.
Re:I'd buy it... (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.macinstruct.com/node/213 [macinstruct.com]
Parent
Re:I'd buy it... (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:I'd buy it... (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Yuk yuk yuk. Your wit is painful to witness.
Yeah, remove Application Enhancer before installing Leopard. That always does the trick.
Re:Does OSX documentation go out of print so fast? (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because Microsoft can't come out with OS updates but once or twice a decade doesn't mean that Apple isn't providing significant updates to their OS more regularly. People see a reason to spend $130 for Leopard; there must be something new there.
Parent
Re:Does OSX documentation go out of print so fast? (Score:5, Informative)
No, but it does become obsolete that fast. Features new to Leopard that were not in Tiger include:
Yes. 10.n to 10.n+1 is major upgrade akin to going from XP to Vista. As one of those people who doesn't read the manual before diving into something, I'm still finding new features and I've had it for months. Just yesterday I noticed in an e-mail a friend sent me about a concert he was going to downtown "next friday at 9:00", that right clicking on the time, gave me the option of automatically creating an event in the calendar program for that day at that time labelled with the concert name. That's exactly the kind of stuff a book about Leopard is nice for finding out about.
Parent
Re:Bad ISBN (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
OK, I'll Bite (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
apple + right arrow (end)
get a mac before you complain about how its not a "real" computer.
Re:Jump to End of Line (Score:5, Informative)
I'd say that's enough *real* features whatever that means...
Parent
^E: simple emacs bindings are supported (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Command-LeftArrow, Command-RightArrow has always worked fine for me.
Yaz.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Additionally, most standard EMACS key bindi
Re:iPhone edition (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re:Mouse Acceleration (Score:4, Informative)
Then, I installed Logitech's all-in-one OSX utility (the Logitech Control Center). It recognized my Logitech USB mouse and - voila - the awful acceleration was gone, swept aside by using the hardware vendor's driver instead of the one that ships with the OS.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wrong ISBN ! (Score:5, Funny)
- We can still go years with the existing ISBN-10 system.
- We can gain even more years if large publishers were to return unused parts of their ISBN-10 space.
- The ISBN-13 system will require vast changes to existing libraries costing billions of dollars.
- In fact, BAT ("Book Address Translation") is good enough for most users.
- BAT provides an extra layer of security that ISBN-13 just doesn't have.
- The extra digits are inefficient and take up needless space.
- None of the problems with ISBN-10 are fixed by ISBN-13.
- Noone can remember ISBN-13 numbers, they are just too long.
Did I miss any?
And while I'm here anyway, just who is misplacing all those manuals anyway and why is that newsworthy?
What's next on slashdot? "Cowboy Neal: the Missing Carkeys"?
Parent