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Title: Mac OS X Hacks by Rael Dornfest, Kevin Hemenway ISBN: 0-596-00460-5 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 24 March, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.24 (17 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent Book!
Comment: This book is a very interesting read. For folks that like their solutions quick and clean this the book for you. The book is designed to be used by reading "chunks" to accomplish your desired hack, in the vein of "How to" articles popularized by the now defunct MacUser magazine. Dornfest and Hemenway put together a slick, easy to read guide with some very useful tips and tricks for Mac OS X. The authors have impressive credentials in the Mac community and several equally qualified professionals are credited with contributions to the tome.
The book is divided into nine chapters, each with about 10 tips. The subjects include Files, Startup, Multimedia and iApps, The User Interface, UNIX and the Terminal, Networking, Email, The Web, and Databases. Each tip is one to three pages long and well laid out in easy to follow step-wise instructions. A simple "thermometer" icon is given with each tip to alert the user to the level of difficulty. Additionally, throughout the book the authors alert users to areas where they should be careful. Being new to the Unix environment, I found the tips on use of the Terminal application and several utilities that are unique to Unix to be a valuable introduction for me. After the thorough introduction to the Terminal application, Dornfest and Hemenway proceed to build on the basics by demonstrating the usefulness of the application with more advanced commands such as chmod and sudo.
Tricks covered include: Stubborn trash, stuck images and Jammed CDs; Turning your Mac into a Hard Drive; Hijacking Audio from Mac Apps; Top Screenshots Tips; Interacting with the UNIX Shell from AppleScript; Sharing an Internet Connection; Creating Mail Aliases; and Serving up a Website with the Built-in Apache Server. Each chapter includes tips and tricks for beginners and advanced users alike. Several of the hacks make reference to other areas covered in the book, but each tip is useful on its own.
Several of the tips are hacks to the system using the Terminal application and serve to show the user the underpinnings of the OS. All in all, a fascinating look at OS X from two masters of the realm.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good book for ambitious neophytes, but...
Comment: This is a good book for people who are curious about what MacOS X and it's BSD unpinnings can do, but it is of little use to anyone who's already comfortable with the MacOS X Unix underbelly.
While the editing is better than average for an ORA book, organization is lacking- the level of subject complexity varies wildly from chapter to chapter, indexing is poor, and the choice of topics is best described as eclectic.
Rating: 5
Summary: Unix and Mac Hacker's Paradise
Comment: I'm a Unix guy from way back, having worked on TENEX and TOPS-10 systems in the late 70s, on SunOS and Solaris during the 80s and 90s, and having been introduced to Linux in the early 90s. I've worked on Windows PCs mainly for office work (but never on Macs), and when Mac OS X came out, I was in computer geek heaven. I bought a PowerBook G4 with Microsoft Office X, and then I had a laptop with Office, Unix, the command line, and the beautiful Mac look-and-feel and the stunning display. I thought I probably knew quite a bit about Unix and the Mac already, given my background, and I didn't really anticipate how much a book on OS X hacks would have to offer.
"Mac OS X Hacks" proved to be a great buy for me! The book has 100 hacks spread across 9 chapters, one for each major area of interest to the authors (Files, Startup, Multimedia, etc.), and almost every chapter contained a hack that was valuable to me. I skimmed the entire book and marked out many hacks for later study, some of which I intend to implement and/or play with immediately. The hacks in which I have initial interest include #8) ejecting jammed CDs, #13) getting a glimpse of the boot process, #21) built-in image conversion, #22) multiple library management for iPhoto, #23) making your own documentary, #24) how the iApps work together, #41) capturing screenshots, #45) speakable Web Services, #58) installing Unix applications with Fink, #59) mirroring files and directories with rsync (for backup), #77) using a cell phone as a Bluetooth modem, #78) using dynamic DNS services to set up an externally-accessible web server at home, #79) working with the Entourage (Outlook for Mac) database, and #88) using the built-in Apache server on the Mac.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in hacking OS X on their Mac. This book should have exciting new information for all but the most experienced hackers of Mac and OS X.
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Title: Google Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools by Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest ISBN: 0596004478 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Mac OS X Hints by Rob Griffiths, David Pogue ISBN: 0596004516 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by David Pogue ISBN: 0596004508 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Mac OS X in a Nutshell by Jason McIntosh, Chuck Toporek, Chris Stone ISBN: 0596003706 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Mac OS X for Unix Geeks by Ernest E. Rothman, Brian Jepson ISBN: 0596003560 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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