Back in '70s and early '80s, if you used a computer, you used a command line. DOS -- the disk operating system that runs atop IBM PCs -- used a command line interface, and that's what UNIX used too.

In fact, from the command-line, there are only a few ways to tell that Mac OS X isn’t a normal FreeBSD release: Ask the OS itself. The Unix command “uname -s” will tell you the operating ...

With the introduction of PC-based operating systems in the mid-1980s, Unix developers needed a way to port Unix utilities and emulated shells into DOS, and later, Microsoft Windows environments.

The command-line interface of your Mac lets you get into the Unix underpinning that makes Macs so powerful. Learn the top commands everyone should know to be a Mac power user. Over the years, the ...