Mac OS X

[GrumpyGerbil]

I want an operating system as close to MAC OS X as i can. Which distro is most like it?
Are there any unix distros which look and feel like it

[onlinebacon]

It's all to do with the window manager, take a look around inthe Window manager section of the forums.

[jaboua]

Both gnome and KDE is useally simple to make look like OS X with a couple of gdesklets/superkaramba themes and a downloaded windowdeco + style...

[sether]

I want an operating system as close to MAC OS X as i can. Which distro is most like it?
Are there any unix distros which look and feel like it

There are no GNU/Linux distributions that are more similar to Mac OS X than others. However, there are a few *nix flavors that are in many ways like Mac OS X:

*Darwin - This is about as close as you'll get to Mac OS X on x86. Darwin is the actual core used on Apple's OS X. (http://developer.apple.com/darwin/)
*OpenDarwin - This is an independent fork of Darwin that is more complete of an operating system. It's primary focus is not contributing to the OS X base, like Darwin is. (http://www.opendarwin.org/)
*FreeBSD - Parts of the FreeBSD 5.x userland have been incorporated into Mac OS X. FreeBSD does not use the Mach kernel, however. This is probably the best choice if you're looking for a solid, mature OS; Darwin and OpenDarwin are still sort of in development and not all common programs run on them. But you can count on over 12,000 different programs running on FreeBSD at this point. (http://www.freebsd.org/)
*GNU/HURD - If you want a GNU userland with a GNU Mach kernel, this is the way to go. All the other ones I listed are BSDs, but this one clearly is not. The only similarity here is that it uses a similar kernel to the one running OS X. Unfortunately it's still in development. (http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html)

Anyways, running a desktop environment such as Gnome or KDE on any of these OSs with the proper themes and add-on software should give you a pretty "OS-X-like" experience.

Hope this helps in your decision.

[SCO]

Isnt Mac OS X forked from NetBSD?

[sether]

Isnt Mac OS X forked from NetBSD?

I don't entirely remeber the history, but I believe the Mach kernel, which the OS X kernel is based on, is a fork of 4.2BSD, and the base system userland on Mac OS X is based on 4.3BSD and also incorporates a lot of the FreeBSD 5.x userland into it as well. The Mach kernel and the 4.3BSD userland are what formed the NeXTSTEP operating system, which Mac OS X is loosely based on. If I'm not mistaken, Mac OS X is not descended from NetBSD, though they may share some code in common because both are based off of Berkeley's earlier BSD UNIX distributions.

[psic]

A friend just spent all of this morning (from midnight to 6 AM playing with KDE to get it to look (and act) as much as OS X as possible. He actually came very close. There are quite a few apps that do similar things with the desktop that OS X does. Kompose is one, try it out.

[SCO]

To be honest, I think people should quit trying to make KDE and Gnome look like Darwin (Mac OS X), it's pretty, but I think the real thing is much better. Infact, the aqua interface in Darwin, has made me want to buy a mac, and I might.

And, the GNU Mach kernel intrugies me, I might have to try GNU/Hurd on one of my old machines.

[GrumpyGerbil]

I like the interface not the OS. I feel if i can get linux for free i will as it is as good if not better than MacOS as it has alot more programs available.

I still like the look of OSX so i will try and recreate it, that is the beuty of linux, it is soo customisable and personal. I love the look of Mac OSX so i want that look on my linux box,

And i cannot afford to spend hundered of pounds on a Mac box