Product Description

Apple(R) has shown no mercy to the Macintosh(R) power user---that dedicated individual who knows their Mac(R) inside and out: what makes it tick, and what makes it tick better. In the rapid evolution of Mac OS(R) X, there have been three major releases, and each new release challenges the power user to once more stay ahead of the learning curve. Mac OS X Panther is no exception to that rule. With more than 100 new features, including a new Finder, Expose, FileVault, and an improved BSD Unix core, there's plenty here to master. Fortunately, power users have a secret weapon in Running Mac OS X Panther. This book takes readers deep inside Mac OS X's core, revealing the inner workings of Panther for those who want to get the most out of their system. Running Mac OS X Panther is the ultimate Swiss Army Knife' for power users who want to customize, tweak, and generally rev up their Mac. The easy-to-follow format is organized into three primary parts: Getting Started introduces you to Mac OS X--where it came from, how it's put together, and how it works. Administration Essentials gives you the tools you need to examine how your system is running and adjust all the knobs behind its operation Networking and Network Services covers all the ways Mac OS X interfaces with the world around it, including wireless and spontaneous networking Developer Tools, including Xcode, for Mac OS X are discussed throughout the book where needed to accomplish the task at hand. The appendices that follow include handy quick reference materials for things such as Open Firmware. Written for readers who are inquisitive and confident enough to dig into their Macintosh system, Running Mac OS X Panther doesn't waste time talking about silly Finder tips or glossing over the messier details. This book dives right in and explains how your Mac works. You may not be a Mac guru when you start this book, but once you've read it, you'll be well on your way.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #960223 in Books
• Published on: 2003-12-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 306 pages

About the Author
James Duncan Davidson is a freelance author, software developer, and consultant focusing on Mac OS X, Java, XML, and open source technologies. He is the author of Learning Cocoa with Objective-C (published by O'Reilly & Associates) and is a frequent contributor to the O'Reilly Network online website as well as publisher of his own website, x180 (http://www.x180.net), where he keeps his popular weblog. Duncan was the creator of Apache Tomcat and Apache Ant and was instrumental in their donation to the Apache Software Foundation by Sun Microsystems . While working at Sun, he authored two versions of the Java Servlet API specification as well as the Java API for XML Processing. Duncan regularly presents at conferences all over the world on topics ranging from open source and collaborative development to programming Java more effectively. He didn't graduate with a Computer Science degree, but sees that as a benefit in helping explain how software works. His educational background is in Architecture (the bricks and mortar kind), the essence of which he applies to every software problem that finds him. He currently resides in San Francisco, California.

Customer Reviews

Newbie's guide to OS X
I have to admit that I bought this book as part of an Amazon deal which included "Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks" based on the assumption that although I have a background in Linux development, the whole Mac experience was completely new to me.

Put simply, for someone like myself who plays with computers for a living, the book is too simple. However, for those who are new to the Mac and/or are more used to a certain other operating system developed in Redmond then this book is a veritable goldmine of information on the 'Mac way' of doing things, including setting up users, simple administration and getting the most out of the iApps.

This isn't to say that this is a bad book. It most certainly isn't, but the level that it appears to aim at is probably some way below that of the user with even moderate experience with computers. That said, I found some information on using the iApps that I found particularly useful and my copy of 'Running Mac OS X Panther' sees occasional use as a reference.

This is definitely a beginner's book - hardcore Unix/Mac hackers probably won't gain a great deal from it, even there are some real gems contained within the pages. On the other hand, friends who have little or no experience with a Mac, much less OS X, really rated it.

Windows users changing over to the Mac will probably find this book very useful indeed. Those with an established Unix or MacOS 9 background will probably find that "Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks" contains more information that they can get their teeth into.

Advanced Simplistics
I have been working with Macs for 10 years, and I was looking for a book that would teach me some advanced techniques. Whilst there is plenty of code to mess about with in the Terminal, it is all way too simple and basic, in fact, it only covers very simple finder operations, such as logging in, user accounts and moving things around. I wanted to learn some secrets and hacks but was left very disapointed.

The book is nicely written, but for anyone with experience and a thirst for Mac knowledge, this book is way too simple - even for those with no Terminal/UNIX experience.

Understanding your Mac OS X
This book has very usefull/interresting parts like the boot chapter. Some parts were a little bit too simple for me, but I can understand that these parts can be very usefull for people with no UNIX/Linux experience (I have a little experience).

Overall I found this book very usefull. I just switched to Mac OS X and it helped me understand and know more about OS X.