make a Mac more like Linux, NOT the other way around! [closed]

Question

So my company is forcing me to use a mac, for reasons I won't go into. I am very used to Linux, in fact I have my own distro that I completely customized so everything can be to my liking. Suddenly I've lost all that power switching to a mac. I don't like the command/control switching thing, I don't like the top menu bar disassociated from instances of the program and having the bar hang around even when all windows are closed, I don't like the fact that commands that I'm used to in the terminal don't work the way I'm expecting...Is there any site that gives information on tools that make Mac OS act more like Linux, or just be more configurable in general? Strangely enough, when I search for this, it always comes up as being "Make Windows like Mac" or "Make Linux like mac" and not the other way around.

And please, I don't want to turn this into a discussion about why I should get used to it, and why Mac is better, or why Linux is better, or anything. I just have a preference and I want to be able to make my mac experience better for me.

Answer 1

Can you just use the hardware and boot your own custom distro?

You can replace the Mac window manager (Aqua) with your own, or run your own window manager in full-screen mode in X11 on top of Aqua. You won't be able to use Mac-specific software with this WM, but you will be able to use your tools.

You could boot your custom distro in VirtualBox and run it full screen, and only switch to the underlying OS X when absolutely necessary.

You can run xterm rather than the OS X Terminal.app.

You should install macports or fink (or HomeBrew or some other OS X package manager for the *nix tools) in order to get the *nix tools you are used to on OS X.

There are ways to get emacs or vim keybindings working globally in Aqua.

I'd suggest breaking down your question into specific sub-questions and posting on Apple.SE.