Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther

By Dave Taylor, Brian Jepson
December 2003
Pages: 184
ISBN 10: 0-596-00617-9 | ISBN 13: 9780596006174
(3) (Average of 3 Customer Reviews)

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Book description

This compact book provides a user-friendly tour for the uninitiated of the Mac Unix base. You can safely explore Terminal and familiarize yourself with the command line, learning as you go about the hundreds of Unix programs that come with your Mac. You'll begin to understand the power and flexibility of Unix. And if Unix isn't new to you, you'll discover how it translates into this latest Mac incarnation. Updated to cover Mac OS X Panther (Mac OS X 10.3), this book will keep you current with the latest features of your Mac.
Full Description

Renowned for its friendliness, Mac OS® X has delighted many a loyal Mac® user with its combined ease use and underlying strength. By no means simplistic, its intelligently designed operating system and user interface boast of sophistication and power, while still offering accessibility to even the most inexperienced computer users. But Mac OS X has gone one step further: it's turned unsuspecting Mac users into Unix® users, too. Perhaps you're already familiar with Unix, just not on the Mac. Or perhaps you opened your Utilities folder, spotted the Terminal icon and double-clicked on it just to see what it does. Suddenly faced with a command line interface, you may have asked, "What does this mean?" followed by the most pressing question, "Why on earth would I ever want to venture into this seemingly user-unfriendly territory?" The new edition of Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther answers these questions and more. This compact book provides a user-friendly tour for the uninitiated of the Mac's Unix base. You can safely explore Terminal and familiarize yourself with the command line, learning as you go about the hundreds of Unix programs that come with your Mac. You'll begin to understand the power and flexibility of Unix. And if Unix isn't new to you, you'll discover how it translates into this latest Mac incarnation. Updated to cover Mac OS X Panther (Mac OS X 10.3), this book will keep you current with the latest features of your Mac. Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther begins with a quick but in-depth introduction to Terminal and the command line interface. All the common commands are simply explained with accompanying examples, exercises, and opportunities for experimentation. There are even problem checklists to help you along the way if you get stuck. You'll learn how to:

Customize your shell environment
Manage files and directories
Successfully print from the Unix command line
Edit and create files with the vi editor
Perform remote logins
Access Internet functions, and much more

Unix continues to thrive as an operating system because of its power, flexibility, and simplicity, and the vast community that supports it. Mac OS X Panther makes it possible for you to run Unix programs side-by-side with native Mac programs on your Mac desktop. Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther puts the power of these programs at your fingertips.

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| Table of Contents | Index | Sample Chapter | Colophon

Book details

First Edition: December 2003
ISBN: 0-596-00617-9
Pages: 184
Average Customer Reviews: (3) (Based on 3 Reviews)

Featured customer reviews

bash isn't necessarily the default shell, September 04 2004

Rating:

Submitted by Anonymous Reader [Respond | View]

In general this book is quite good. Matisse Enzer's Peachpit title "Unix on OS X" (or something like that) would be a good companion.

I wasn't too thrilled with the organization of the content: customizing your shell and editing environment variables seems like appendix material for the kind of user this book is geared to, not Chapter 1 contents. And an entire chapter on printing seems a bit much; new Unix users are almost certainly going to be printing using the good old Mac UI.

And one little gotcha that turned out to be quite important for me: bash is not the default shell in Panther if you've upgraded from Jaguar as I did. In that case tcsh is. Might be worth including this in future editions (although I guess there will be fewer and fewer of us upgraders as time goes on...)

Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther Review, February 05 2004

Rating:

Submitted by Brian Jepson [Respond | View]

(posted in response to another review)

Ed, I'm very sorry that the book disappointed you. However, I'd ask you to give it another chance, but be sure to think about the goals of the book that are spelled out on the back cover (see http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/lunixpanther/desc.html). I really do think we accomplished the goals that we set out to with this book, although it sounds like it's not what you were looking for. As far as the coverage of sudo, please see p12, 48, and 54-55, where we have a section on the command. I'm sorry that you missed that the first time through, but please do give this book another look. Or, if this just isn't the book for you, you may want to look at Mac OS X Panther for Unix Geeks, which will be out soon. This one goes a lot further than the Learning Unix book.

Learning Unix for Mac OS X Panther Review, January 20 2004

Rating:

Submitted by Ed Crelin [Respond | View]

Other than terminal session telecommunications 18 years ago I have had no real terminal type training and was anticipating an introduction to the terminal and some useful UNIX commands for everyday use in OS X. I am sorry to report that while this book does a good job introducing you to the terminal, that's all it really does. Doing things like reading your email in the terminal is something so arcane that no mac user would do more than once as a silly test. Too much space devoted to it and other silly things. The title is Learning Unix for OS X, not "a couple generic UNIX commands" I was hoping for a handbook, a reference list of basic useful commands for REAL OS X needs. I will give you a perfect example. Every OS X user has heard of permissions and many have experienced the need to fix them. Most people don't know that you can do it in Disk Utility and download applications (some free, most not) that will do it. I have since learned (from another source) the ridiculously simple commands that will envoke disk utility to do it (using the 'sudo' command that isn't even in the book, c'mon) without opening windows and pushing buttons. I don't want to diminish the author of the utility Cocktail's profits but users can do everything that program does easily using the terminal. That would be "Learning UNIX for OS X". I would rethink the content, leave out the stuff no one would ever use and add some realworld goodies. This is effectively chapter one, I was done in twenty minutes, and $20. is too much, I expected a wee bit more from O'Reilly.

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Media reviews

"This book is for the skilled Mac user who would like to know a little more about the operating system behind the scenes. There's also information about the Mac's brand of Unix, so someone familiar with Unix but new to the Mac will also find stuff to learn."
Rating: 8/10
--Matthew Leingang, Slashdot, November 2004

"Chapters 1 and 2 provide a very helpful tutorial on the Mac OS X Terminal application...Arguably, these two chapters are the strongest guide on Mac OS X's Terminal application (as it relates to its UNIX roots) that I have seen in any Mac OS X book to date...For a book of just 168 pages, the authors pack quite a bit on making a Mac OS X system work from its Terminal roots. New Mac OS X system administrators will find this book most useful, particularly if their UNIX experience is lacking or radically different from what Mac OS X presents. Experienced *NIX users who bought a new Mac may find the book a good intermediary to demonstrate how Mac OS X Panther differs from the *NIX boxen they've used in the past."
--Kevin Spencer, Slashdot.org, Febraury 2004

"This is an excellent introduction to Terminal. For users who want to understand what the command line is about, and who want to make limited use of it, this is probably all they will need. For power users who want to extend their skills into use of the command line this book will provide a sound foundation before moving on to more advanced texts."
--Major Keary, Book News, February 2004

Reviews from the Previous Edition

"If you are running OS X and want to explore 'Terminal', this book is your travel guide. Even if you have never used a command-line operating environment, it will lead you along an easy path to learning the 'Darwin' version of Unix...This is a practical and exceptionally well-written introduction for Mac OS X users."
--Major Keary, Book News, 2003 No. 3

"This book does a great job of laying out the basics of Unix for people who have little or no Unix experience."
--Amazon.com Reader Review, May 18, 2003, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596004702/

"In the vast world of Linux/Unix, I found it hard to know where to start learning. I figured that since I knew a significant amount about OS X that this book might make for a good beginning level book. I was so right,... IF you are looking for a short, basic introduction to the world of Unix so you can get around, this book is definitely for you."
--Amazon.com Reader Review, May 26, 2003, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0596004702/

"'Learning Unix' introduces power Mac users to Unix basics, covering the most commonly used commands. Beginning with an explanation of how to get into the Terminal command line window, it culminates with a useful 'where to go from here' chapter. Notes cover common traps and tips; exercises let users practice; additional resources are recommended throughout."
--Rachel Singer Gordon, Library Journal, 5/1/03

"'Learning Unix for Mac OS X' is a great 'Welcome to the power of Mac OS X' introductory book for the Unix uninitiated and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in taking that first step into the waters of Unix with Mac OS X."
--John Nouveaux, North Coast Mac User Group, May 2003

"It has all the essentials in one fairly slim volume that is tailored specifically for OS X. It offers a clear and concise introduction."
--Ric Getter, MacDirectory

"If you want to dive into Unix (and you really should), start here."
--Narasu Rebbapragada, MacAddict, January 2003

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