Chapter 1. Starting with UNIX on Mac OS X

Are you an old hand at the Mac? Do you use the underlying UNIX just once in a while? Many times a day? Never heard of it? Regardless of your skill level, a book that presents efficient ways to use, check, fix, secure, and enhance UNIX on Mac OS X can be an invaluable resource.

Mac OS X UNIX Toolbox is that resource.

Mac OS X UNIX Toolbox is aimed primarily at Mac OS X power users and systems administrators. To give you what you need, we tell you how to quickly locate and get software, monitor the health and security of your systems, and access network resources. In short, we cut to the most efficient ways of using UNIX systems.

Our goal with Mac OS X UNIX Toolbox is to pack a lot of useful information for using UNIX tools and systems into a small package that you can carry around with you. To that end, we describe the following:

  • Commands—Tons of command-line examples to use BSD systems in helpful and clever ways

  • GUI tools—Quick pointers to graphical administration tools to configure your system

  • Software packages—Short procedures to find and download tons of applications

  • Online resources—Listings of the best locations to find BSD forums, mailing lists, IRC channels, and other online resources

  • Local documentation—Tools for gathering more information from man pages, doc directories, help commands, and other resources ...

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