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Unix Linux Operating Systems Comparisons Related Questions

What is difference between UNIX and Linux? What are the similarities and differences between
UNIX and Linux?

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Waleed Kadous, Using Linux since 1994. Linux OS and a Unix OS?
Answered Nov 11 2010
How are Linux and Unix different from others?
Originally Answered: What is the difference between Unix and Linux?

Short version: Linux is a free and very popular variant or subtype of Unix. What is difference between Ubuntu and Linux?

What is the difference between Unix, Linux and GNU?

More detailed answer: How are they related to each other?

Unix is an operating system originally developed at Bell Labs in 1969, but

has also come to mean an ecosystem of related operating systems.
Originally, Unix and its variants were commercial offerings that were
sometimes very expensive. In 1991, Linus Torvalds developed the core of an
operating system that was Unix compatible very much and released it under
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an open source license so that people could freely copy it. It was called
Linux.

Even more detailed answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux (which

covers also the GNU/Linux controversy).
20.9k Views · 22 Upvotes

Related Questions More Answers Below

What are the similarities and differences between UNIX and Linux?

How does Linux differ from UNIX?

What is the difference between Linux, Unix, Mac and Windows?

Is Linux or Unix different?

How can I get a copy of Unix for free? How different is Unix if you are an expert in
Linux?

Abhijeet Singh, Love exploring various OS :)

Updated Jun 13

The primary difference is that Linux and Unix are two different Operating
Systems though they both have some common commands.

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Let’s talk about Linux OS first.

The source code of Linux is freely available to it’s users. Check it

out here.

Linux primarily uses Graphical User Interface with an optional

Command Line Interface.

Linux OS is portable and can be executed in different hard drives.

Linux is very flexible and can be installed on most of the home

based PCs.

Linux is used on home based PCs, Mobile Phones, Desktops, etc.

Different version of Linux are Ubuntu, Linux Mint, RedHat, Solaris,

etc.

Linux installation is economical and doesn’t require much specific

and high end hardware.

The file systems supported by Linux are as follows: xfs, ramfs,

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 nfs, vfat, cramfsm, ext3, ext4, ext2, ext1, ufs,
autofs, devpts, ntfs.

Linux is development by an active Linux Community worldwide.

Now comes the UNIX OS.

The source code of Unix is not available for the general public.

Unix primarily uses Command Line Interface.

Unix is not portable.

Unix has a rigid environment of the hardware. Hence, cannot be

installed on every other machine.

Unix is mainly used in Server Systems, Mainframes and High End

Computers.

Different Versions of Unix are AIS, HP-UX, BSD, Iris, etc.

Unix installation is comparatively costlier as it requires more

specific hardware circuitry.

The file systems supported by Unix are as follows: zfs, js, hfx,
gps, xfs, vxfs.

Unix is developed by AT&T Developers.

Footnotes:

What is the difference between Linux and UNIX operating systems?

14.2k Views · 30 Upvotes

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Development and Distribution

Linux is developed by Open Source development i.e. through sharing and

collaboration of code and features through forums etc and it is distributed
by various vendors.

Unix systems are divided into various other flavors, mostly developed by
AT&T as well as various commercial vendors and non-profit organizations.

Inception

Inspired by MINIX (a Unix-like system) and eventually after adding many

features of GUI, Drivers etc, Linus Torvalds developed the framework of the
OS that became LINUX in 1992. The LINUX kernel was released on 17th
September, 1991

In 1969, it was developed by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs and

Dennis Ritchie. It was written in “C” language and was designed to be a
portable, multi-tasking and multi-user system in a time-sharing
configuration

Architectures
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Originally developed for Intel's x86 hardware, ports available for over two
dozen CPU types including ARM

is available on PA-RISC and Itanium machines. Solaris also available for

x86/x64 based systems.OSX is PowerPC(10.0-10.5)/x86(10.4)/x64(10.5-10.8)

Manufacturer

Linux kernel is developed by the community. Linus Torvalds oversees

things.

Three bigest distributions are Solaris (Oracle), AIX (IBM) & HP-UX Hewlett
Packard. And Apple Makes OSX, an unix based os..

File system support

Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, Jfs, ReiserFS, Xfs, Btrfs, FAT, FAT32, NTFS

jfs, gpfs, hfs, hfs+, ufs, xfs, zfs format

User

Everyone. From home users to developers and computer enthusiasts alike.

Unix operating systems were developed mainly for mainframes, servers and
workstations except OSX, Which is designed for everyone. The Unix
environment and the client-server program model were essential elements
in the development of the Internet

Usage

Linux can be installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging

from mobile phones, tablet computers and video game consoles , to
mainframes and supercomputers.

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The UNIX operating system is used in internet servers, workstations & PCs.
Backbone of the majority of finance infastructure and many 24x365 high
availability solutions.

Text mode interface

BASH (Bourne Again SHell) is the Linux default shell. It can support
multiple command interpreters.

Originally the Bourne Shell. Now it's compatible with many others including
BASH, Korn & C.

What is it?

Linux is an example of Open Source software development and Free

Operating System (OS).

Unix is an operating system that is very popular in universities, companies,

big enterprises etc.

GUI

Linux typically provides two GUIs, KDE and Gnome . But there are
millions of alternatives such as LXDE, Xfce, Unity, Mate, twm, ect.

Initially Unix was a command based OS, but later a GUI was created called
Common Desktop Environment. Most distributions now ship with Gnome.

Price

Free but support is available for a price.

Some free for development use (Solaris) but support is available for a price.

Security
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Linux has had about 60-100 viruses listed till date. None of them actively
spreading nowadays.

A rough estimate of UNIX viruses is between 85 -120 viruses reported till

date.

Threat detection and solution

In case of Linux, threat detection and solution is very fast, as Linux is

mainly community driven and whenever any Linux user posts any kind of
threat, several developers start working on it from different parts of the
world

Because of the proprietary nature of the original Unix, users have to wait for
a while, to get the proper bug fixing patch. But these are not as common.

Examples

Ubuntu , Fedora , Red Hat, Debian, Archlinux, Android etc.

OS X, Solaris, All Linux

Cost

Linux can be freely distributed, downloaded freely, distributed through

magazines, Books etc. There are priced versions for Linux also, but they are
normally cheaper than Windows.

Different flavors of Unix have different cost structures according to vendors

7.7k Views · 9 Upvotes · Answer requested by Saumeen Prajapati

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