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That doesn't sound like text to me... I had a problem logging into Linux the other day and was able to ctrl-alt-F1 into the terminal - without being logged in - and log in from there. I may be wrong, but I'm aware of no analog for the Macintosh.

You are right, you ARE wrong. ;^)

It isn't just an analog, Linux is the "clean room" copy of UNIX™, not the other way around.

What do you think your "text" is? It is the Linux analog of a UNIX™ Terminal. Linux is a UNIX™ work alike. OSX is UNIX™ and in fact is one of only five certified IEEE POSIX compliant Trademarked UNIX™ operating systems licensed by the The Open Group, the organization that maintains the standards of UNIX™. Apple OSX is the largest selling UNIX™ in the world.

Apple OSX, IBM's AIX, HP-UX, Silicon Graphic's IRIX, Sun's Solaris are the five UNIX™ operating systems still in production. Both Apple and IBM had previous versions for their earlier processors.

What are you looking for is a fully text interface and that what TERMINAL is. When using Terminal, you are talking with the underlying operating system but you have limited access as you are not logged in as a SUPER USER. For that you need SUPER USER access.

If you want to boot into UNIX™, you can. It is not advisable. However, if you want to, simply restart while holding command (Apple)- S. You'll boot to a text screen, with a prompt. You can type reboot, and press enter to reboot normally. You most likely still won't have the right user permissions for access unless you know how to set them using SUDO. You can do that using TERMINAL as well.

Apple Mac OSX Single User Mode. . . UNIX ROOT

The Toolbox is still there. Quickdraw is still there only a lot more powerful. You just THINK it is a straight jacket because you don't know how to use it. A fine tool keeps out of your way when you use it. You don't have to keep working ON it instead of with it.

That is why intelligent people choose Macs and not Windows computers. My home Mac has Windows (three versions), Linux (two versions), iOS, and several other operating systems running on it. . . so that I can better support my clients. All of them run in sandboxes under OSX. . . sometimes simultaneously. And of course I have access to the full power of UNIX when I need it (seldom).

At my office, we just run OSX. . . and just one instance of Windows 7 (which we do not allow anywhere near the internet) in a sandboxed window on one of our iMacs to run an specialized application that is not available on the Mac.

OSX on a seven year old MacPro runs our 3D Panelipse X-RAY Tomography system. 3D Tomography is no slouch in computational demands. The rest of our radiographic needs are handled by four MacBook Airs feeding into our Mac Mini Server which handles our database, while other data is handled by multiple iMacs also tied into the same Mac mini server. The Mac mini is connected to a RAID backup system.

I use root access every day on live production systems to push changes live for real clients. I also know the difference between bitmaps and bitplanes, how character-mapped displays work, and the basis for early displays' nonlinear mappings. I've engineered complex real-time (and even hard-time) systems in 65816 assembly, Intel assembly, C, C++, Java, PHP, Javascript, and have read hundreds of RFCs over the course of my career as per the demands of my work.

I appreciate your enthusiasm for the Mac. Great pedigree, great product... and I have no intention of ever buying or using one given the choice. Apple made their choice, I've made mine, and I'm quite happy with the hardware and OSes available to the humble masses of us who are less-than elite, who are stupider than you, aka real people.

Agree with you 100% on Windows. It's the McOS of operating systems, bogged down with needless layers wasting resources to accommodate user easy (ergo Plug-n-Play). You lose something like 30% of your total processing potential off-the-bat. It just feels slow and bloated compared to Linux.

The Mac is like a fine steak dinner: Hats off, but not for me... ever... for historical reasons. People that like to "click" instead of issuing keystrokes tend to prefer Macs. Personally, I hate the mouse and try to minimize use thereof.

Linux - the "clean room Unix" developed originally by St. Linus - is more like a stack of ingredients prearranged according to taste (Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat, etc.) I like Linux the best, with all its quirks, and never feel limited by it. It's for the huddled, humble masses, the non-elites, those who just want to "get 'er done" instead of bragging about pedigree... The sky is the limit with Linux...

Anyone with VirtualBox can run multiple OSes regardless of the host OS.

And of course we're arguing about toys here; the real computers that provide the backbone for our banking, healthcare, and airline reservations are something entirely different.