Zickar Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 What is the difference between Unix and Linux (If there is any) cause it sometimes gets confusing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudy Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 straight from Wikipedia: The Unix operating system was conceived and implemented in the 1960s and first released in 1970. Its wide availability and portability meant that it was widely adopted, copied and modified by academic institutions and businesses, with its design being influential on authors of other systems. The GNU Project, started in 1984 by Richard Stallman, had the goal of creating a "complete Unix-compatible software system"[5] made entirely of free software. The next year Stallman created the Free Software Foundation and wrote the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) in 1989. By the early 1990s, many of the programs required in an operating system (such as libraries, compilers, text editors, a Unix shell, and a windowing system) were completed, although low-level elements such as device drivers, daemons, and the kernel were stalled and incomplete.[6] Linus Torvalds has said that if the GNU kernel had been available at the time (1991), he would not have decided to write his own.[7] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTD Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 (edited) There really isn't a great deal of difference. And part of all the confusion is how we have come to define "Unix." There are two statements that annoy me: 1. “Unix is a single/particular operating system” and 2. “Linux is not Unix”. First, there is the original “UNIX ?”, which today is a registered trademark of The Open Group and the corresponding particular implementation is what AT&T/USL created, Novell bought, and then finally sold to SCO. For years now, this is no longer a particular operating system; it is adefinition> of an operating system. Additionally, decades ago the term “Unix” was coined, too. This is a generic term forlabeling all classes of operating systems with a UNIX/POSIX/SUS-style API without having to use the registred label UNIX?i>, which even today is still partly associated with the original AT&T Unix implementation. So we have UNIX?” and “Unix”. UNIX? is the registered trademark of The Open Group, and the term "Unix", on the other hand, is usually used to cover the large set of UNIX-like operating systems. So, Linux is not UNIX?. But Linux is a Unix operating system. And . . . Unix (as opposed to UNIX® ) is not an operating system. It is a large set of similar but different enough operating systems. And Linux is a member of this larger class of Unix operating systems - even if the Linux folks sometimes do not wish to believe this themselves;) ;) Edited December 5, 2008 by LTD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zickar Posted December 5, 2008 Author Share Posted December 5, 2008 There really isn't a great deal of difference. And part of all the confusion is how we have come to define "Unix."There are two statements that annoy me: 1. ?Unix is a single/particular operating system? and 2. ?Linux is not Unix?. First, there is the original ?UNIX ??, which today is a registered trademark of The Open Group and the corresponding particular implementation is what AT&T/USL created, Novell bought, and then finally sold to SCO. For years now, this is no longer a particular operating sysdefinitionefinition of an operating system. Additionally, decades ago the term ?Unix? was coined, too. This is a labeling all classes of operating systems with a UNIX/POSIX/SUS-style API without having to use the registred label UNIX?d label UNIX?, which even today is still partly associated with the original AT&T Unix implementation. So we have UNIX?? and ?Unix?. UNIX? is the registered trademark of The Open Group, and the term "Unix", on the other hand, is usually used to cover the large set of UNIX-like operating systems. So, Linux is not UNIX?. But Linux is a Unix operating system. And . . . Unix (as opposed to UNIX? ) is not an operating system. It is a large set of similar but different enough operating systems. And Linux is a member of this larger class of Unix operating systems - even if the Linux folks sometimes do not wish to;)elieve this themselves. ;) So can we say that Linux is a distro of Unix ?? Because If I recall well Ubuntu,Fedora and these sort of OS are called Linux Distros and in case Linux is a member of the Unix operating systems are there other members ?? What are they called ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran Posted December 5, 2008 Veteran Share Posted December 5, 2008 I think Mac OSX is based on BSD which is based on Unix. I think Linux is a Unix-compatible OS, but that it is a ground-up new OS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowstick Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Linux is not Unix. It's a copy, but not Unix. The different BSDs, Solaris, SCO, AIX, HPUX, UnixWare and god knows what there is are Unix, because they're descendants of the original Unix, forked off at various points and gone through further seperate developments. That and they adhere to the System V standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted December 6, 2008 Veteran Share Posted December 6, 2008 It's probably best described as a Unix clone. It contains no proprietary Unix code. It is also not certified as a "Unix" (since those certs cost money, and would only apply to a specific release and would need to be re-done). However, if you know one of the official Unix flavors, catching onto Linux would be easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rpgfan Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 I feel that I should note Linux (Linux is the kernel, not the OS) was based on the MINIX kernel, and the roots of MINIX's original design are traceable to UNIX, meaning that it isn't really UNIX. Technically, MINIX isn't really UNIX since only its design is based on the UNIX OS. FWIW, OS X did something similar with its kernel - it has BSD roots, but it isn't really a BSD derivative per se. The term for Linux distros in general is more accurately "GNU/Linux" since it is made up of the Linux kernel and drivers with GNU tools, but most people just shorten the name to "Linux". Other than that, everybody else pretty much covered what I would have said. UNIX was the original OS, and BSD and everything came later. As a result, the term "Unix" refers collectively to the various UNIX derivatives. The abbreviation "*nix" is used to refer to Unix and Linux operating systems in general. Note that it almost never includes MINIX. As for certified UNIX operating systems, I don't know anything about that topic, but I'm sure markjensen is correct. From what I've heard, you can get Linux certified too but for free. I think it's called Linux Genuine Advantage or something, and it is supposed to show that it is a legally owned and certified copy of Linux... I'm not sure if you would want to check into that or not, but it supposedly exists. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted December 6, 2008 Administrators Share Posted December 6, 2008 Topic moved here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glowstick Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 As for certified UNIX operating systems, I don't know anything about that topic, but I'm sure markjensen is correct. From what I've heard, you can get Linux certified too but for free. I think it's called Linux Genuine Advantage or something, and it is supposed to show that it is a legally owned and certified copy of Linux... I'm not sure if you would want to check into that or not, but it supposedly exists. :p UNIX certification means that the system adheres to various standards, LGA means squat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeblogg Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 linux isn't a company right? it is just a type of operating system. i'm confused about this whole thing as well. :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted December 6, 2008 Veteran Share Posted December 6, 2008 Linux is just an Open Source kernel. As a user, you never, ever "see" Linux. It was developed by a community of developers, initially hobbyists, now including large corporations, too. The work gets done through the GNU OS, which allows a user to type commands to list directory contents off of a drive, or to edit a file and such. Most of what you "see" in Linux is actually the work of the Gnome or KDE teams who create the two most popular desktop environments. There are others, as well, so your choice isn't limited to just those two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouldy Punk Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Linux is what is known as a kernel. It's the main core of an operating system. It is considered "UNIX-like" - which means, its not officially anything to do with UNIX - it just nicked some of UNIX's principles and standards. A Kernel on its own, doesn't really do much. So, various companies and individuals added tools and programs and all sorts to it to create their own distributions. So, for example, the Debian distribution, is the Linux kernel + GNU tools + a bunch of other stuff that Debian thought would be good in an operating system. Similarly, Ubuntu is a distribution of linux that is the Linux kernel + GNU Tools + a bunch of stuff Debian thought was useful + a bunch of stuff Ubuntu thought was useful. The reason why Ubuntu has Debian 'stuff' in it is because Ubuntu is based off Debian. So no, 'Linux' isn't a company. It's a core chunk of code called a 'kernel' that every linux distribution uses and modifies to create their own distribution. I hope that makes sense, I'm quite tired, so I may have gone astray somewhere. I think it's about right though :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran Posted December 6, 2008 Veteran Share Posted December 6, 2008 This site is not bad for an introduction......... shift wiki It's true at least for the Linux bit. Shift has now only got Gnome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zickar Posted December 6, 2008 Author Share Posted December 6, 2008 Linux is what is known as a kernel. From the Shift wiki and from what I have learned in the past I'm starting to think that a Kernel is basically like a firmware right ?? It tells Hardware how to interact with software and vice verse .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTD Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 From the Shift wiki and from what I have learned in the past I'm starting to think that a Kernel is basically like a firmware right ?? It tells Hardware how to interact with software and vice verse .... Here's some good ol' Wikipedia cut 'n paste, along with a snazzy little diagram: In computer science, the kernel is the central component of most computer operating systems (OS). Its responsibilities include managing the system's resources (the communication between hardware and software components). As a basic component of an operating system, a kernel provides the lowest-level abstraction layer for the resources (especially memory, processors and I/O devices) that application software must control to perform its function. It typically makes these facilities available to application processes through inter-process communication mechanisms and system calls. These tasks are done differently by different kernels, depending on their design and implementation. While monolithic kernels will try to achieve these goals by executing all the code in the same address space to increase the performance of the system, microkernels run most of their services in user space, aiming to improve maintainability and modularity of the codebase. A range of possibilities exists between these two extremes. Diagram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kernel_Layout.svg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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