What is the Difference between linux and unix?

Question

i know a little about both but was wondering, what the major differences were ?

Answer 1

Primarily, Linux is an Intel based version of Unix with many PC based enhancements and extensions.

Answer 2

Mac is UNIX. Registered UNIX systems: * AIX * HP/UX * Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server * Reliant UNIX * SCO * Solaris * Tru64 UNIX * z/OS * NCR UNIX SVR4 * NEC UX/4800 * SGI IRIX 6.5 Linux is made to work like UNIX, but is not UNIX registered. It is among a group of OSes called "UNIX-like". Many people get confused by the similarity in spelling and pronunciation, so they think Linux must be a type of UNIX. Not so. Apple used an OS (version 1.0 to 9.2.2) that was not even closely related to UNIX from 1984-2001, and that keeps many people from realizing that OS X uses the X for three reasons: X=ten, X for UNIX, and X for NeXT. Windows is not even closely related to any of the UNIX or UNIX-like OSes. It was originally designed as an overlay for MS-DOS, and still has many of the details of the DOS system. It is designed for BIOS compliance, a huge limitation that Microsoft has been trying to walk away from for the past ten years, but it seems the dozens of PC makers won't go along with the change to EFI that allows Mac OS and Linux (when installed on an EFI system) to out-perform Windows in most measurements. It would take a thousand words to explain the fine details that make these different. Some general concepts are: -- Most Linux OS varieties are available free. That is a big attraction for some people. Mac OS costs US$29.95. Windows costs around US$200 -- The largest number of apps are available for Windows OS. The next largest number are for Mac OS. Fewer are available for Linux. Very few home use applications are designed for UNIX systems except the Mac system. Most UNIX use is for government, educational facilities, and scientific research. As far as what people install, it seems most people do not install anything. They buy a computer that has an OS already installed. They don't question it. If the OS stops working, they take the computer to a shop and pay to get the same or an updated version of the same OS installed again. They already have a system DVD that came with the computer, so they see no need to buy some OS DVD tey are not familiar with, erase their documents, and install a whole new experience. The computer is a tool, not a toy to them, so it isn't fun as a piece of hardware. The Internet is fun, movies are fun, but not the hardware or the OS. There is an old saying that a computer nerd uses a computer to use a computer. The number of geeks using computers is far less than the non-geeks. The geeks just make a lot more noise, so we think they represent most people. I am sure if shops started selling only computers with Linux installed, most of their customers would go elsewhere to buy a computer. The average person has no use for Linux, because it can't play most games, can't run Microsoft Office, can't synch to an iPod, can't synch to an iPhone, can't play QuickTime movies, and can't play Shockwave Flash. There are hack-style ways to get around a couple of these limitations such as running another OS in Wine, but the average person has no interest in bending over backward to make Linux work almost as well as Windows or OS X. That's not to say Linux isn't a powerful, flexible, secure system. It just is a nitch system that the average person has no interest in. That's why it hoovers around 1% of the home market.

Answer 3

First off, what UNIX are we talking about here? There are two "main" flavors, BSD, and System V. System V is what AT&T developed, nurtured and sold to people. BSD is the UNIX that came from Berkeley University.

I've personally only had experience with BSD and Linux, so I'm most probably not the one you should be asking about this, but as far as I can tell, GNU/Linux has grown together to what it is now while *BSD and other UNIXes are designed to what they are. Or to put it another way, GNU/Linux has been put together with no specific plan in mind while BSD/System V have always have had guidelines and stuff.

There isn't much difference on a user-level - Generally there are the same apps that works in almost the same way. But there are quite a bit of difference between BSD and Linux beneath the surface, the biggest being that BSD programs are compiled from scratch using an ingenious invention known as ports. In the Linux world you usually have binary packages for everything (there are exceptions, but usually you have binaries).

Anyhow, there are a few more differences like that, but in the end it's more a matter of taste and preference than anything else. Hope that clears it up.


MattyMoose


#:911394 5:56 pm on Mar. 11, 2004 (utc 0)

If you've never used either *NIX or *NUX, I'd suggest you download a copy of VMWare (trial edition, etc), as well as an ISO of the latest RedHat (Fedora, I think) and Latest FreeBSD (5.2.1). Install them both, compare, play around, rm -rf / and so on.
There's no point in asking people which is better, or what the differences are, since someone (like me) might say that RPM sucks, and therefore you should'n't use RedHat, but FreeBSD instead, whereas someone else might say RPM is the best, and the ports system is horrible.

The best way to find out is to do it yourself. With a VMWare machine, you don't "risk" losing any of your current install base, and you can play around as much as you like and get a feel for the differences.

-MM

Answer 4

from a technical point of view there are no major differences. Most people aren't satisfied with believing that Linux and UNIX are very similar but here are some differences

Linux is freeware while Unix is not.

Unix is mainly used for mainframes

Unix:operating system.everything should be entered as commands like DOS single user operating system.

however
Both UNIX and LINUX are Open source

Answer 5

Unix is popular operating system, developed by AT&T in 1969, that was very important in the development of the Internet. It is a multi-processing, multi-user, family of operating systems that run on a variety of architechtures. UNIX allows more than one user to access a computer system at the same time.

A widely used Open Source Unix-like operating system. Linux was first released by its inventor Linus Torvalds in 1991. There are versions of Linux for almost every available type of computer hardware from desktop machines to IBM mainframes. The inner workings of Linux are open and available for anyone to examine and change as long as they make their changes available to the public. Because of its robustness and availability, Linux has won popularity in the Open Source community as well as among commercial application developers.

Unix: An Operating System developed in olden days in which kernel interacts directly with the hardware.kernal is consider to be heart of this os. In this Operating system everything is considered as a file, provides greater security. Ex: posix Linux: Linux is an Operating system which use unix as its base and gives further more facilities and applications. Merely speeking GUI is made in linux having unix as its core. Ex: Redhat, Fedora, Susee, Mandrake. Solaris OS also using the same unix kernal all the unix commands will work on solaris and have 500 more solaris specific commands. Differnent organizations used the UNIX kernal and added their own essence to form their own version of linux. Both UNIX and LINUX are Open source.

Answer 6

linux IS unix. or rather it's a clone of unix. While unix started out as a tangible project at Bell Labs it is basically more of a type of system rather than an actual system, so Solaris, AIK, HP-UX, Linux, BSD are all Unix generally speaking.

Answer 7

Linux is open source and has many contributors worldwide. It was designed to by like Unix, but less costly. Unix is not free.

Answer 8

Linux is a version of unix.

Answer 9

i think unix & linux is same OS because linux is like unix, the different linux is OS free you don't need to register

Answer 10

there good download linux and install it its better than windows xp