As Unix spreads its tentacles across users' desktops, more and more Mac users are starting to pop the hood and learn about the operating system that's at the root of it all. And there's no better way to conquer that fear than by consulting this Visual QuickPro Guide. Matisse Enzer, who wrote the first edition of this book, Unix for Mac OS X: Visual QuickPro Guide has completely updated this guide to reflect all that's new in Tiger's version of Unix. Readers will learn everything they need to know to make sense of the commands and technical jargon surrounding Unix. In the process they'll find out about useful utilities, editing and printing files, security, and more--all through simple, step-by-step instructions that break the learning process into manageable chunks. Throughout, users will find plenty of the tips and visual references that have become the hallmark of Peachpit's popular Visual QuickPro Guides. Unix for Mac OS X 10.4: Visual QuickPro Guide is perfect for any Mac user interested in learning about the Unix operating system.
This book is the most comprehensive beginner's guide to Unix on the market. If you have never used Unix before, jump right inthis book was written first and foremost for you. If you are an experienced Unix user wondering about Mac OS X, take it from us, Mac OS X really is Unixnot almost, not sort of, but actual, real Unix with the Lovely Mac Interface.
This book deals almost exclusively with the command-line interface to Darwinwhich is the version of Unix that Mac OS X is built upon. Unix is an operating system, and obviously you have used other operating systems in the pastat the very least, you have used the Macintosh operating system, and perhaps Windows, or even DOS. Unix is different. The other operating systems have a sharp distinction between the operating system itself and the applications you use with it. In Unix, the distinction is much less clear.
In learning Unix, you will use a collection of separate applications to do things like copy files, create new folders, view such information as file size and date modified, and perform all the tasks that in other operating systems are part of the one big application that is the "operating system."