Learning OS X

Darwin does differ from the other BSDs, of course. Fortunately, it has a large community of users and some good documentation. Here's what I found:

#plone
OS X is fairly well-represented in the Plone community. Ask around.

#macosx
There is a well-stocked channel on freenode. I found them helpful when I asked questions, but they made too many pr0n jokes for my taste, so I didn't lurk.

www.apple.com
Apple has a good `support website`_. I browsed and searched both the `knowledge base`_ and the `discussion board`_, and found answers both ways. I did not resort to the `mailing list`_.

GUI docs
On the other hand, I found the documentation within the OS X GUI itself to be less helpful. It was hard to move around the help system, and I kept getting dumped at search result pages that mostly linked to basic-level content.

man pages
I also didn't find the Darwin man pages particularly inspiring. For example, I hoped in vain that hier(7) would explain Apple's filesystem layout. Also, the prevailing web version -- http://www.hmug.org/man/ -- has a worse interface than the `FreeBSD man interface`_, which unfortunately is a bit out of date at Darwin 7.0.1.

`Apple Consultant Network`_
This turned out to be a solid base hit. `Read on for details`_.


.. _support website: http://www.apple.com/support/macosxserver/
.. _knowledge base: http://www.apple.com/support/macosxserver/webservices/
.. _discussion board: http://discussions.info.apple.com/macosx3server/
.. _mailing list: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/macos-x-server
.. _FreeBSD man interface: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?manpath=Darwin+7.0.1+PPC
.. _Apple Consultant Network: http://consultants.apple.com/
.. _Read on for details: install