What are the differences between Linux and Unix?

Linux and Unix

Unix is popular operating system, developed by AT&T in 1969 and it has been very
important to the development of the Internet. It is a multipro!essing, multiuser, family
of operating systems that run on a variety of ar!hite!htures. U"I# allo$s more than one
user to a!!ess a !omputer system at the same time.
A $idely used %pen &our!e Unixli'e operating system 'ernel. (inux $as first released
by its inventor (inus Torvalds in 1991. )ombining the (inux 'ernel $ith the *"U
soft$are forms the basis of the operating system family generally 'no$n as +(inux+.
There are distributions of *"U,(inux for almost every available type of !omputer
hard$are from des'top ma!hines to I-. mainframes. The inner $or'ings of *"U,(inux
are open and available for anyone to examine and !hange as long as they ma'e their
!hanges available to the publi!, as set out in the terms of the *"U *eneral /ubli!
(i!ense. -e!ause of its robustness and availability, (inux has $on popularity in the %pen
&our!e !ommunity as $ell as among !ommer!ial appli!ation developers.
0ere is more input1
Unix re2uires a more po$erful hard$are !onfiguration. It $ill $or' in large
mainframe !omputers but $ill not $or' in an x36 based personal !omputer. (inux
ho$ever, 4$hi!h is built on the !on!ept of Unix5 has small hard$are re2uirements
and it $ill $or' on both a large mainframe !omputer and an x36 based personal
!omputer.
Unix is an %perating &ystem developed in olden days in $hi!h the 'ernel, the
heart of the %&, intera!ts dire!tly $ith the hard$are. 4note1 this is the definition of
$hat a 'ernel is5. -e!ause U"I# treats everything as a file, it provides greater
se!urity for users. An example of a U"I# distribution is posix. 4note1 a!tually
/%&I# is a set of standards for interoperability of appli!ations bet$een U"I# and
U"I#li'e systems5. (inux uses a the U"I# ar!hite!ture as its basis and provides
more fa!ilities and appli!ations. (inux !ould be !onsidered to be a *UI to the
U"I# !ore. 4note1 this is plain $rong. *"U, (inux $as re$ritten from s!rat!h
using U"I# as a guide. *"%.6 and 786 are *UIs for *"U,(inux5. 6xamples
of (inux distributions are 9edhat, :edora, &usee, .andriva, and Ubuntu. &olaris
%& also uses the U"I# 'ernal almost all U"I# !ommands $ill $or' on solaris in
addition to ;<< &olaris spe!ifi! !ommands. 4note1 &olaris is also a re$rite of
U"I# for x36, and does not use any original U"I# !ode5. -oth U"I# and
(I"U# are %pen sour!e. 4note1 U"I# is proprietary, (inux is open sour!e5
Unix is the foundation for a number of operating systems, $ith (inux being the
most popular one. "ovell and :ree -&8 are = other !ommonly used Unix
varients.4note1 Again, the -&8 family are based on another re$rite of U"I# for
x36, U"I# is not their foundation in the sense implied here5
U"I# is an operating system !reated in the early days of !omputers. .ore
re!ently, (inux $as !reated as an opensour!e, free$are operating system. 4note1
(inux is free soft$are, not free$are. :ree soft$are is open sour!e that insists any
developer reusing !ode releases their o$n $or' as free soft$are. :ree$are is
proprietary soft$are distributed at no !ost >gratis?5 It is @U"I#(I76@, meaning
that it uses many U"I# !onstru!ts but also departs from traditional U"I# in
many $ays. (i'e U"I#, (inux is faster than many of the other !ommer!ially
available operating systems. 4note1 This is a s$eeping generaliAation and depends
on the hard$are used, and $hat servers and appli!ations are running5 It appears to
also be far more robust than any of the .i!rosoft produ!ts. (inux is being used in
many time !riti!al appli!ations be!ause of it+s speed. It is also used in many
appli!ations that need to maintain uptime be!ause (inux, li'e U"I#, !an run for
months at a time $ithout rebooting. Bhile the typi!al method of solving
.i!rosoft problems is to @reboot@, that parti!ular re2uirement does not seem to be
appropriate in a (inux,Unix environment. Bhile U"I# has !reated a $indo$s
li'e $or' environment, (inux has improved greatly on that !on!ept. (inux has
be!ome a real player in the !onsumer operating system mar'et... and it+s free.
Bhile you may $ant to pay for a (inux distribution, the a!tual !ode is free and
you are allo$ed to load it on as many ma!hines as you $ant. Cou !an get (inux
for free if you $ish to load it a!ross the internet.
Answer
Unix 1
An %perating &ystem developed in olden days in $hi!h 'ernel intera!ts dire!tly $ith the
hard$are.'ernal is !onsider to be heart of this os.
In this %perating system everything is !onsidered as a file,provides greater se!urity.
6x1 posix
(inux 1
(inux is an %perating system $hi!h use unix as its base and gives further more fa!ilities
and appli!ations.
.erely spee'ing *UI is made in linux having unix as its !ore.
6x1 9edhat, :edora, &usee, .andra'e . . .
&olaris %& also using the same unix 'ernal all the unix !ommands $ill $or' on solaris
and have ;<< more solaris spe!ifi! !ommands. 8iffernent organiAations used the U"I#
'ernal and added their o$n essen!e to form their o$n version of linux.
-oth U"I# and (I"U# are %pen sour!e by
Answer
yes, Unix most !ertainly !an run on a @smaller@ !omputerD -&8, a Unix, runs %7 on a
E36 4$,o graphi!al managersD5 -&8 is not (inux.4note1 -&8 is not U"I# either. &orry5
Unix is portable1 it !an be on a .ainframe all the $ay to a !heap Bintel!elerondesigned
ma!hine that you pi!'ed up at Balmart for under F=<<. 4Gust remove Bindo$s5. note1 4if
you mean unixli'e, fine. U"I# itself !an only run on mainframes and possibly
mini!omputers, not mi!ro!omputers 4/)s55
(inux is built upon U"I#. Unix alone doesn+t have a gui, and the 'ernel is not as
developed.
The single largest differen!e bet$een (inux and a modern Unix system is that (inux is
free and opensour!e.
Unix is a multiuser, timesharing, multitas'ing operating system developed a group of AT
& T employees in!luding 8ennis 9it!hie and 7en Thompson, both of them $ho $ere
regarded as being the biggest !ontributors to both Unix & the programming language
@)@. Unix itself tra!es ba!' to be influen!ed by .ulti!s.
(inux is an operating system $hi!h is Unix li'e. In a sense, they have the same operating
system interfa!e to $hi!h appli!ation programs !an be built on. They stri!tly !onfirm to
the &ingle Unix spe!ifi!ation and /%&I#. The interfa!e is similar to the U"I# ma!hinery
but the implementation is left to spe!ifi! !ontributors of the (inux !ommunity along $ith
(inus Torvalds.
Intuitively , Unix $hi!h being an operating system over the time has evolved in to a
operating system spe!ifi!ation and (inux is a spe!ifi! Unix implementation. To sum up
(inux is a Unix li'e operating system.