I don't think anyone was too harsh, the first lesson in running linux is that you have to be willing to learn, he was not and he did not like being told that he would have to change. When you go on an open forum, asking people a question, you cannot give them attitude when you don't like their answer.

I'm using an apple keyboard + mouse, and all I had to do was simply plug it in (it all just works, that's something I can't say from either mac(I had to reboot everything) or Windows(I had to install extra drivers for the mouse).
This OP is simply being annoying. All he said is that he just doesn't like the default GNU/Linux GUIS. If he wants everything he said I still recommend Enlightenment(even DR17 is available for Ubuntu). With E you can simply change to looks and feel to whatever you want(mainly cause it can use parts from any DE). If he's not even willing to give anything a try, their's no way anyone can help him. Personally I would simply fire people like him.

OP now gone--or maybe just ignoring us.

We won't need to fire him---his new "Open Source Only" employer will maybe do that after he demands one too many times that he not be required to use the CLI.

actually for me it has worked very well for me on many occasions. like when i went to a town with only fast food restaurants, i kept asking people where i could get a low carb meal. repeatedly people to l'd me that there was no such thing in that town and if I want to eat anywhere I'd have to settle for what was available. after many tries, someone said that the Carl's Jr in that towns wasn't too bad and they offered hamburgers wrapped in lettuce as an alternative to a bun. Now I could have just accepted that i would have to go to Mcdonalds or burger king, but persistence lead to finding out about an option I didn't know about.

No I haven't been scared off, I just can't spend much of time on then net.

Thank you for your helpfulness.

I don't quite understand the mentality behind an 'open source only' company that hires someone who doesn't have any experience on the system and not giving them any training or anything. Also if all the other desktops are running Ubuntu i would have thought it a good idea to keep the systems as uniform as possible for whoever takes care of them.

using a CLI is a piece of piss, most of the time someone posts step by step commands that you copy and paste anyway, i see your point on persisting but people are offering suggestions and you seem to be dismissing them with quite an arrogant attitude tbh.

Distros have been suggested, have a play with them, you may find Linux has features better than other OS'. Do some common tasks you'll be doing at work, see how productive it is.

I'm rather impressed that the OP has been a MAC user/programmer from the year it was introduce (1984).. I'm also amazed that MAC OS apparently hasn't changed the way it functions in the last 22 years (he did say 22 years of habits).

I can't imagine being into computers for that long and being so closed minded. In that same time I've used the Apple II the Mac, the PC with Dos, Win 3.1-2003 as well as various versions and distros of Linux, Irix, and Solaris. Guess I've been going at this computer thing the wrong way this whole time..

I thought the desktop mod to handle appearance, the key remapping and a few of the other suggestions were a nice move in the direction to accomplish the goals he wanted, or at least a good start. but I'll be damned if I'm going to research things for someone only to be insulted in turn.. Plenty of other more gracious people looking for help.

I can't imagine the OP in one of the old IRC channels asking for help..
You know when the most popular support answer was a snide " RTFM luser !! "

Ahh the good ol' days, heh

you confuse holding out for the best possible solution with being closed minded. If in fact, I have to use a linux distro that doesn't work the way I want, I'm perfectly willing to do it. but I'm not willing to just accept that I have to stop asking for something better until the last possible moment. Hope is not closed mindedness. maybe 99.99999999% of the people who will read this believe that its not possible to have linux behave mac-like. but I'm not going to give up on the possibility that someone out there has a better solution than what I've been presented so far. and just because I'm asking for more doesn't mean I'm ungrateful for what Ive gotten so far.

I'm mostly sure you're not going to get any distro that works like you said out of the box, you'll at least have to do some tweaking.
You've already been presented some pretty good solutions.
Some people just see it that way, and your wording tends to emit that tone. I'm sure if anybody knows of a better way, they'll mention it.

That said, it shouldn't take that long to adjust to whatever Window Manger/Desktop Environment you choose. You might even be glad you learned something. If the others at your company are using Ubuntu, you should start adjusting to GNOME.

Then it appears farslayer was right all along. Install kubuntu using your Mac keyboard and mouse, put a Mac face on it - and you're productive day one. Easy.

I'd like to point out that he never claimed to be a programmer, or that he was hired to do a programming job - only that his new employer used only open source software. What if he's a graphic artist? Lots of Mac guys do that for a living.

"Want, want, gimme want, gimme gimme mine." This is the attitude that I'm reading. I started using Linux in February, this February, and when I started using it I bagan browsing several Linux forums. As I was reading I noticed that the people on the forums, from other beginners to gurus, did not just answer questions. They would actually spend their own time doing research or experimenting with commands just to help someone they didn't know, for no reason other than helping out. Fast forward to this thread and you have someone asking questions in an apparent dillitente fashion. Give these guys the chance and have some patience and there is a strong possibility your dilema can be resolved.

farslayer said he plugged it in and it worked,he didn't say that he remapped the keys.

there are still many items on my above mentioned wishlist that havent been addressed, so its not just put a mac face on it. I appreciate your persistent desire to help.

Actually I was just hired as a needs assessment and distribution analyst an international relief organization.

yeah I could adjust over time, but for as long as it would take it means wasted work hours being inefficient. I'd rather be able to be at full capacity on my first day on the job. Unfortunately there are no video drivers for my ancient mac G4's graphics card or monitor, in any of the LiveCDs I've downloaded and burned so I'm not able to practice in advance, prior to my first day on the job.

Actually, jens said he "just plugged it in and it worked". farslayer posted a link with instructions on how to put a Mac face on KDE. But you bring up a good question. When jens said "it worked" does that mean the keyboard is merely nominally useable or does it mean that it emulates Mac-like functionality? I just assumed it was the later because... well... why else would you use a Mac keyboard?

jens...?

Like many other you have projected your own emotional state on to me. I have not made any demands of anyone, I have no expectation of anyone spending so much as 1 minute going out of there way to find an answer for me, I merely made a request for what I want. I have asked specific questions to those who might have the specific information that I want. I have made it clear in this thread what information I'm looking for (how to make a linux box work the way I work), and who I am asking that question of (people who understand the way a macintosh works, and therefore understands what i'm looking for). Just because someone else posts some information doesn't mean I should stop asking. If I stop asking this thread disappears into the endless list of yesterdays posts and is less likely to be seen by the person who has the answer I'm looking for.

I wouldn't mind if you just 'BUMP'ed it, though I don't know about other peoples' opinions on that.