Mac OS X has captured the attention of consumers and programmers alike with its ability to run existing Mac programs along with Unix and Open Source software. The latest version, Panther, includes more than a hundred new features and improves many of the technologies underlying Mac OS X, including graphics and the Unix-based core. With more than 500 power tips and tricks for Mac aficionados like yourself, Mac OS X Power Hound, Panther Edition helps you unleash the power of Panther. Mac OS X Panther is a complex and powerful operating system with a personality all its own. To make your computing experience with Panther as efficient and enjoyable as possible, you need to learn its secrets, appreciate its idiosyncrasies, and be able to customize it to your needs and wants. Author Rob Griffiths shows you how. Creator and editor of the extremely popular Mac OS X Hints Web site (www.macosxhints.com), Griffiths knows Panther inside and out. His Mac OS X Power Hound lifts the hood on the sleek and elegant, Formula-One-powered operating system and delivers over 500 high-octane secrets in every conceivable category, including the Desktop and Finder, iApps, Mac OS X programs, Mastering the system and Terminal, and much more. Consider this book your pit crew, helping you find easier, faster, and better ways of using the Finder, the Dock, the assortment of programs that come with Mac OS X, and a bunch of programs that don't. And if you want to become your own master mechanic, it also includes two rich chapters on Unix, the engine under Mac OS X's hood. With this collection of stand-alone hints, notes, tips, and tricks--every one of them organized, indexed, tested for compatibility with the latest version of Mac OS X 10.3, and, in many cases, illustrated--you'll rapidly progress from an anybody-can-do-this user to a power user.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 9 Ratings

Tim Robertson MyMac.com Review - 2004-11-15
Reviewer Rating:
Mac OS X Power Hound
by Rob Griffiths
Pouge Press
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 059600818x
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/macxpu/index.html

A supplemental book for everyone - 2005-02-05
Reviewer Rating:
This is an excellent book! It's a book that every Mac user can learn from! I even learned things, and as a Mac author I'm big on uncovering hidden features myself. It's easy to find things and easy to understand. If you're new to the Mac or OS X, choose a book that teaches the basics so you're comfortable with the Mac. Then get this book to learn much more.

Something useful on every page! - 2004-12-11
Reviewer Rating:
In Mac OS X Power Hound, Panther Edition Rob Griffiths of Macosxhints.com and a monthly article in Macworld magazine offers a collection of well over 600 tips and tricks covering everything from basic Mac OS X Finder tips to tricks that will help just about any Macintosh user use Terminal like a pro.

For this book, Mr. Griffiths has compiled and completely rewritten the best and most useful hints found on his very helpful website Macosxhints.com. Chapters include tips for using the Finder and Dock, iLife applications, Mail, Office, and many other common Mac OS X programs. Each chapter focuses on a particular OS X feature or application and provides several tips or tricks for getting the most out of each application. The information is provided in a very clear manner with ample screen shots and detailed step by step instruction for the reader to follow. The final 100 plus pages are devoted to Terminal and Unix tips making this a great book for both the basic and intermediate Mac user.

This book is definitely not a replacement for a more traditional Mac OS X manual but the 600 plus tips and tricks included will definitely provide every Mac user with something invaluable. While you can certainly read this book from start to finish, I found this to be somewhat overwhelming. Luckily, the book is written so that each tip or trick does not require the reader to have read previous items. In fact, I found this book most useful by just scanning the vast Table of Contents until I found an item that sparked my interest. In many ways the information in this book would be better presented as "Mac OS X Trick of the Day" calendar as long as you didn't throw each calendar page away at the end of the day.

Overall, I found a lot to like about this book and definitely recommend it to any Mac user who is ready to move beyond the basics.

Stupid (and Useful) Mac Tricks - 2005-04-18
Reviewer Rating:
"Mac OS X Power Hound" is an impressive collection of tips, hints, and productivity enhancers. I don't consider myself to be a power hound, but I have been using Macs exclusively for 16 years. I discovered a satisfying number of of useful and undocumented tips. About two thirds of the items are easy enough for a novice to follow, such as simple modifications of standard applications, and using Terminal to modify how the System behaves. (Working in Terminal gave me the same kind of thrill I remember from Res-Edit years ago.) The final third of the book is devoted entirely to Unix and was completely beyond me -- probably only useful to programmers.

There are a fair number of items that reminded me of David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks" -- things you can make your Mac do just because you can, not because they are particularly useful. But I'm pleased with what I managed to glean. The writing is clear and the topics are nicely presented and organized.

Lots of Hints & Tricks for OS X - 2005-03-24
Reviewer Rating:

If you are new to Mac OS X and looking for a book to help you learn the
system, this book is probably not for you. As the author points out, he
assumes you already know the basics. However, if you are experienced and do understand OS X and are looking for ways to do things differently or to do things that you didn't know was possible, then this book is for you. This book contains 16 chapters with over 650 hints that are easy to find in the well organized table of contents. As the author mentions, most hints address problems or solutions that are independent of other hints. This means that you don't have to read in any particular order - just find the area of interest and go to that page for step-by-step instructions. This book does a good job of presenting the material in an interesting and easy to understand manner and with a touch of humor. It uses plenty of screen shots throughout; however, they are not in color. Many of the tricks presented show more than one way to do a task, including many time saving shortcuts. Also included in many of the tricks are web sites for getting additional information. These well organized tips and tricks cover all OS X categories, such as, Finder, Dock, Mail, iTunes, iPhoto, Web Browsers, Terminal and many more. For example, there are tricks for hiding the dock, pinning it in a corner, and customizing the trash can. There's also tips for saving memory by turning off services you don't need and by deleting languages in iPhoto. There is also a great tip for collecting cover art for your songs in iTunes. The last two chapters, over 20 percent of the book, are devoted to Terminal or Unix hints. Mastering these two chapters should definitely make you a Power User. Although most of these tips and tricks can be found on the author's website at macosxhints.com for free, it is not the same as having your own reference book with the material organized in an easy to find table of contents. As the author says "this book can help you progress from an anybody-can-do-this user to a power user".

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Operating Systems
Programming

Sub-Categories:
Operating Systems > Macintosh OS
Macintosh OS > General Reference
Programming > Macintosh