Joshua Kaufman Switched
It was just a matter of time before it happened.
Today I bought a new 17” widescreen iMac! Yeah! Due to their huge popularity I probably won’t have it for at least two weeks (I ordered it online) but that gives me time to start learning. So… Where do I start?
First, I think I need a book that fully covers OS X. The Missing Manual has received many good reviews. Any other suggestions? What about web resources? What are the best community websites for asking questions about Macs?
Go back to the top of this entry ↑
Comments
Welcome aboard!!!
You may also want to pick up Mac OS X Unleashed, which will give you insights into Mac OS X and the Unix underneath. I am not sure how this book holds up with Jaguar, but it should cover a lot of it.
You will want to check out the links on the sides of Mr. Barrett and his companion site AppleTechs. Once you get your Mac you may want to get MacReporter, which is a news aggregator shareware app that includes many of the better Mac info sites.
vanderwal on 5 Sep 02
Thought you might want to know, that as an owner of the Missing Manual book, it lacks the level of detail that most experienced Apple users would need, or want. It has it’s spots bot in terms of UNIX info and power user shortcuts and tips, it falters. The Unleashed book is quite good, and if you are only planning on buying one of them, I’d go with the unleashed book.
Also, I’d give a look at xlab’s Mac OS X section for detailed news and some helpful links. I am affiliated with them, but I think the info it provides stands on it’s own. Not trying to be a link whore… ::smiles::
Charles Crabtree on 6 Sep 02
Congrats Joshua! If you plan to serve some php, or just start digging into the Darwin side of things, check out Mark Liyanage’s stuff. Lots of good general tips at macosxhints, and this very detailed review of Jaguar from Ars-Technica is enlightening. If you want to read lots more about Jaguar, this will keep you busy. As a recent switcher myself, I’m very interested to see what other folks have to add, there seems to be no shortage of information and resouces.
Nate on 6 Sep 02
Mac OS X the missing manual is a good book. I bought it after using OS X at what I thought was a competant level, and found myself learning things I hadn’t known before.
I got learning Unix by Oreilly and Associates, as well as Learning Bash, and intro to Perl. I’ve since borrowed a bunch of other books with animals on the covers that I intend to eventually read.
The OS X missing manual was missing stuff I wanted to know; specifically: what is with the Net Info Manager? I screwed around with it a bit, and realized I had to re-install the OS, because I’d screwed it up so bad :)
Column view rules. Hands down, the bomb. Being able to have two finder windows open, one above the other, both in column view, has really helped efficiency. I have a hard time using OS 9 now, because of this.
chunkbot on 8 Sep 02
Yea!!! It looks so great! I want it too! Congratulations…when did they release ‘that’ imac, curiously?
Love the OS X, are you getting 10.2 (aka: Jaguar?)
hill on 8 Sep 02
Thanks for your suggetions, everyone. I eventually want to learn all those top secret power user details, but right now my priority is to be able to use the core OS and apps effectively. I decided that The Missing Manual was the book that I needed right now.
Hillary: they release the iMac with the 17” screen at MacWorld New York.
Joshua on 9 Sep 02
http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/ is an excellent resource for keep up to date with OSX software. For news, I tend to go with http://macnn.com/ in favor of http://macintouch.com/
Another useful place is apple.com itself where they offer loads of downloads at http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/
Any new Mac you buy should come with Jaguar. If it doesn’t, it’s a free upgrade, so be sure to get it because Jaguar is more than a .1 upgrade imho. It’s way faster, and the unix tools underneath are much upgraded as well (and there’s an ORe’illy book for learning unix on OSX too, check it out.)
Dan Kapusta on 12 Sep 02