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X_Entity

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 19, 2004
40
0
On monday I ordered my shiney new powerbook. Having spent 20mins in total playing with a mac I think I'm going to need some printed assistance to get me through the first couple of weeks until I get used to the change in the way things are done.

I have 6 years of running Debian GNU/Linux on all my machines and was wondering if there are books available that bridge the gap between Linux and OS X rather than the windows - OS X stuff I keep seeing everwhere.

I picked up a copy of "Missing Manuals OS X" published by O'Reilly which is ok but I don't think it really covers what I'm after.

Any suggestions of books are welcome but ones with a Linux/Unix slant would be of more help to me.
 
Good question. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anything that takes that particular switching perspective.

That said, though, I'm of the mind that certain concepts are universal, and it's just a matter of how a particular OS implements them. You can probably learn most of what you need to know from the Missing Manual or any Windows switcher guide. There's also that "Mac OS X for Unix Geeks" book another poster has for sale. :)

Also, here's a link to What's New in Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, which so thoroughly details the features of Panther that even someone with no Mac experience can get a really good idea of how the system works.
 
I think I saw a book once called "MacOS X for Unix Geeks". That sounds like what you're looking for.

I had some Linux experience before I got my Mac, and I still found the MacOS X Missing Manual full of useful information, tips and tricks.

Enjoy your PowerBook!


Crikey
 
Take a look at O'reilly. One book is Learning UNIX For Mac OS X Panther. As posted earlier, there is also a Mac OS X Panther for UNIX Geeks (this one is updated). It's pretty good.

Look up the fink project as well. You can great amounts of open source, Linux style software from fink and run it on OS X. Website is http://fink.sourceforge.net/.

If you really want, you can get all of KDE and run it in X11 on OS X. OpenOffice is available in X11.
 
Thanks for the recommendations.



I'd already found Fink in my search to see if my most used programs have PPC ports. as it turns out, everything I currently use is availble on OS X.
 
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