What is the difference between Linux and Unix?

Question

Is there any difference or they are the same? So does Linux stand for Unix something?
Thanks,

Answer 1

You know both of them a kind of Operating system.
But linux is new generations of Unix.
So it has more user friendly graphic,utilities,tools,... .

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

Linux is a free popular unix-like system created by Linus Torvald, (linus' linux .. linux get it?) :) plus later a few tens of thousands of internet "friends" and the gnu organization.

Linus had the operating system and gnu had the compiler and toolkits. .. which is why some want Linux to be called GNU linux.

Linux Journal and Linux Mag are good places to know more about this.

Unix is a system that was formed form ATT bell labs to make telephone switches.. it grew.

In the 1970s Unix was free to Universities. In the 1980s it wasn't. "Unix .. live free or Die" was a slogan.

Linux is one of the OSes that survived in an effort to have a free Unix. FreeBSD is another.

Today when one says "Unix" they often mean Solaris from Sun. Because of the pressure from Linux, low end solaris for pc's is free.

Also Today Linux comes is easy to install distributions (distros). One almost must pick one. Much too difficult to assemble Linux without one.

I like ubuntu .. and the philosophy .. we are who we are because of all of us...

But look at:
Ubuntu, Red Hat (and fedora), OpenSuse, Knoppix.

Knoppix and Ubuntu have a "livecd" that you can boot on your computer to see linux without installing it onto your drive.

If you have two drives, you can have a dual boot system and give it a protracted test drive.

Also, any computer with 700mhz and 256mb ram or more and 10G of disk can run Linux. These now are about $100 used.

ps
There are several free software licences. I like the bsd or apache or perl licences better than the gnu licence - the gnu licence has more lock in than I would like.

enjoy

Answer 4

Linux is written to the POS standard for Unix, so it functions like Unix. The underlying code is quite different however. From a user perspective, Linux is an evolved Unix.

-Dio

Answer 5

Unix is proprietary.

Linux is open source.

Proprietary = Only those with sufficient permissions can legally use or modify the operating system. Unix was however used to power many universities and thier mainframe computers and networks back in the day.

Open Source = You are free to do whatever you want with the software. You can download it, give it away, modify it however you want. It is yours. Many large businesses use Linux for thier servers because of the lower costs associated with it. Universities use it as the new de-facto standard also.

Answer 6

You pay for Unix. Linux is free.

Answer 7

Simple answer.

Unix - Designed by programmers for programmers

Linux - Designed by hackers for hackers

Unless you are an expert user, stick with windows.

(Before you beat me up, this is only MY opinion based on many years of experience with computers)