Scribd
Upload
0 views

Difference Between Linux and UNIX (1)

Linux is an open-source operating system that is a UNIX clone, developed by Linus Torvalds, while UNIX is a commercial operating system with a trademark held by The Open Group. Linux is free to use and distribute, whereas most UNIX systems are not, and Linux distributions include various applications and utilities, while UNIX systems are typically complete from a single vendor. Both share common applications and tools, but they differ in licensing, user-friendliness, system administration, and hardware requirements.

Uploaded by

Gaytri Dhingra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0 views

Difference Between Linux and UNIX (1)

Linux is an open-source operating system that is a UNIX clone, developed by Linus Torvalds, while UNIX is a commercial operating system with a trademark held by The Open Group. Linux is free to use and distribute, whereas most UNIX systems are not, and Linux distributions include various applications and utilities, while UNIX systems are typically complete from a single vendor. Both share common applications and tools, but they differ in licensing, user-friendliness, system administration, and hardware requirements.

Uploaded by

Gaytri Dhingra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

Difference Between Linux and UNIX

W hat is the difference between Linux and UNIX operating systems?

UNIX is copyrighted name only big companies are allowed to use the UNIX copyright and name, so IBM AIX and
Sun Solaris and HP-UX all are UNIX operating systems. The Open Group holds the UNIX trademark in trust for the
industry, and manages the UNIX trademark licensing program.

Most UNIX systems are commercial in nature.

Linux is a UNIX Clone


But if you consider Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) standards then Linux can be considered as UNIX.
To quote from Official Linux kernel README file:

Linux is a Unix clone written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers
across the Net. It aims towards POSIX compliance.

However, "Open Group" do not approve of the construction "Unix-like", and consider it misuse of their UNIX
trademark.

Linux Is Just a Kernel


Linux is just a kernel. All Linux distributions includes GUI system + GNU utilities (such as cp, mv, ls,date, bash etc)
+ installation & management tools + GNU c/c++ Compilers + Editors (vi) + and various applications (such as
OpenOffice, Firefox). However, most UNIX operating systems are considered as complete operating system as
everything come from a single source or vendor.
As I said earlier Linux is just a kernel and Linux distribution makes it complete usable operating systems by adding
various applications. Most UNIX oses comes with A-Z programs such as editor, compilers etc. For example
FreeBSD comes with A-Z programs.

License and cost


Linux is Free (as in beer [freedom]). You can download it from the Internet or redistribute it under GNU licenses.
You will see the best community support for Linux. Most UNIX like oses are not free (but this is changing fast, for
example OpenSolaris UNIX). However, some Linux distributions such as Redhat / Novell provides additional Linux
support, consultancy, bug fixing, and training for additional fees.

User-Friendly
Linux is considered as most user friendly UNIX like os. It makes it easy to install sound card, flash players, and
other desktop goodies.

Security Firewall Software


Linux comes with open source netfilter/iptables based firewall tool to protect your server and desktop from the
crackers and hackers. UNIX operating systems comes with its own firewall product (for example Solaris UNIX
comes with ipfilter based firewall) or you need to purchase a 3rd party software such as Checkpoint UNIX firewall.

Backup and Recovery Software


UNIX and Linux comes with different set of tools for backing up data to tape and other backup media. However, both
of them share some common tools such as tar, dump/restore, cpio etc.

File Systems
 Linux by default supports and use ext3 or ext4 file systems.
 UNIX comes with various file systems such as jfs, gpfs (AIX), jfs, gpfs (HP-UX), jfs, gpfs (Solaris).

System Administration Tools


1. UNIX comes with its own tools such as SAM on HP-UX.
2. Suse Linux comes with Yast
3. Redhat Linux comes with its own gui tools.
However, editing text config file and commands are most popular options for sys admin work under UNIX and Linux.
System Startup Scripts
Almost every version of UNIX and Linux comes with system initialization script but they are located in different
directories:

1. HP-UX - /sbin/init.d
2. AIX - /etc/rc.d/init.d
3. Linux - /etc/init.d

End User Perspective


The differences are not that big for the average end user. They will use the same shell (e.g. bash or ksh) and other
development tools such as Perl or Eclipse development tool.

System Administrator Perspective


Again, the differences are not that big for the system administrator. However, you may notice difference while
performing the following operations:

1. Installation procedure
2. Hardware device names
3. Various admin commands or utilities
4. Software RAID device and mirroring
5. Logical volume management
6. Package management
7. Patch management

UNIX Operating System Names


A few popular names:

1. HP-UX
2. IBM AIX
3. Sun Solairs
4. Mac OS X
5. IRIX
Linux Distribution (Operating System) Names
A few popular names:

1. Redhat Enterprise Linux


2. Fedora Linux
3. Debian Linux
4. Suse Enterprise Linux
5. Ubuntu Linux

Common Things Between Linux & UNIX


Both share many common applications such as:

1. GUI, file, and windows managers (KDE, Gnome)


2. Shells (ksh, csh, bash)
3. Various office applications
4. Development tools (perl, php, c, c++)
5. Posix interface
A Sample UNIX Desktop Screenshot

Fig.01: UNIX Desktop - IRIX 6.5 Desktop

A Sample Linux Desktop Screenshot


Fig.02: Linux KDE desktop environment

UNIX and Linux Hardware


Commercial UNIX hardware has more advanced initial boot options such as

 Decide how to boot


 Check system health
 Set hardware parameters etc
The BIOS that is standard in PCs which is used by Linux has few, of these features. UNIX hardware or servers are
pretty expensive as compare to Linux server systems.
Linux Unix Hide All
Linux is an example of Open Unix is an operating system that is
Source software development and Free very popular in universities,
What is it?: Operating System (OS). companies, big enterprises etc.
Linux is developed by Open Source
development i.e. through sharing and
collaboration of code and features through Unix systems are divided into various
forums etc and it is distributed by various other flavors, mostly developed by
Development and vendors such as Debian, Red Hat, SUSE, AT&T as well as various commercial
Distribution: Ubuntu, GentuX etc. vendors andnon-profit organizations.

In 1969, it was developed by a group of


It is based on UNIX and eventually after adding AT&T employees at Bell Labs and
many features of GUI, Drivers etc, Linus Dennis Ritchie. It was written in “C”
Torvalds developed the framework of the OS language and was designed to be a
that became LINUX in 1992. The LINUX kernel portable, multi-tasking and multi-user
Inception: was released on 17th September, 1991 system in a time-sharing configuration.
Market share for Desktop Less than 0.5 percent of the PC
PC: The market share of Linux is about 0.8% market.
Initially Unix was a command based
Linux typically provides two GUIs, KDE and OS, but later a GUI, popularly known
GUI: Gnome. But Linux GUI is optional. as X Window was created for UNIX.
In case of Linux, threat detection and solution is
very fast, as Linux is mainly community driven
and whenever any Linux user post s any kind of In case of Unix, user has to wait for a
Threat detection and threat, several developers start working on it while, to get the proper bug fixing
solution: from different parts of the world patch.
Linux can be freely distributed, downloaded
freely, distributedthrough magazines, Books etc.
There are priced versions for Linux also, but Different flavors of Unix have different
Cost: they are normally cheaper than Windows. cost structures
A rough estimate of unix viruses is
Linux has had about 60-100 viruses listed till between 85 -120 viruses reported till
Security: date date.

Unix operating systems were


developed mainly for
mainframes,servers and workstations.
The Unix environment and the client-
server program model were essential
Linux, like all Unix variants, is designed to elements in the development of the
User: handle multiple concurrent users. Internet
Linux users refer to it as Shell and it can support
Text mode interface: multiple command interpreters.

You might also like