As a long-time Linux/XP user I really miss not being able to access an app's menus from the keyboard with OS X as is possible on a PC. I find OSX on my new G5 to be too mouse-driven and would like to be able to pull down menus, as on a PC, by pressing Alt/Apple key+<first letter of menu label>. Is there an app/utitility which makes this possible?

This one feature is what keeps me from preferring OSX to Windows. I still do all my Dreamweaver work on XP simply because it's just so much quicker to get around on Windows using keyboard menu access.

Have you looked into the options available in the Universal Access preferences panel?

Have you looked into the options available in the Universal Access preferences panel?

There's nothing in there related to what I'm looking for. In Windows if I want to go to the File menu within an app the F is underlined, telling me that I can press Alt+F to access the menu. So far as I'm aware there's nothing like this on the Mac.

Ive been searching for this a long time, and i didnt find any solution, but you could try to create hotkeys for the menu title in the keyboard pref.pane. And of course you can store there every command you normally pick from the menu-bar.
soon you will miss the hotkeys for applications and documents: Spark is an nice application for using them.

maybe this isnt what you are talking about--or not close enough to it:

in sysprefs->keyboard & mouse->keyboard shortcuts : enable 'focus on menu' under 'keyboard navigation'.

now control-F2 (fn-ctl-F2 on powerbooks) focuses on the menu--aka pulls down the apple menu.

from there you can use the arrows to move to the menu you want, and type the first letter(s) of the menu item you want.

another suggestion for real powerusers:

try unsanity's menumaster (http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/menumaster). lets you customize shortcuts to any/all menu items in an application. it'd take all of about 5 minutes to configure dreamweaver the way you want it to work. i've had photoshop set up this way for ages (tho in os9 it was with quickeys). i rarely have the need to reach for a menu.

In Windows if I want to go to the File menu within an app the F is underlined, telling me that I can press Alt+F to access the menu. So far as I'm aware there's nothing like this on the Mac.

I know what you mean. In System 7 on the Mac there was a utility called Connectix Powerbook Utilities (CPU). It did exactly what you want. That was a long time ago, and I haven't seen anything more recent that does what you want.

A Mac trivia question, the CPU product had a competitor called GUM. What did the G initial stand for?

While it's true that OSX has no way opening say, the file or the edit menu with a shortcut, most everything under these menus has a keyboard shortcut, and I find that to be fine most of the time. I can see where this functionality might come in handy at times, though (however, I never remember that I can do this when I'm on a windows box :)). All that said, you might want to look at DejaMenu (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20040426064258161#comments). Real handy on a dual monitor setup.