What is Unix?
The UNIX OS was born in the late 1960s at the AT&T Bell Labs. It basically began as a one-man project under the leadership of Ken Thompson and became one of the most widely used operating systems now it worked on the command-line interface but recently there have been developments for GUI (graphical user interface) on UNIX systems. It is an OS that is popular in companies, universities, and big enterprises which is commonly used in Internet servers, workstations, and PCs. UNIX is written in C which allowed quicker modification, acceptance, and portability. It is a multi-user, multitasking operating system that can a master control program in workstations and servers. So hundreds of commercial applications are available on the UNIX OS which is why it was rapidly adopted.
What is Linux?
Linux is an operating system built by Linus Torvalds in 1991. The name Linux comes from the Linux kernel. It is software on a computer that basically enables applications and the users to access devices on the computer to perform some specific function. We can install it on different computers mobile phones, tablets, video game consoles, etc and the development of Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free and open-source software collection today many companies and similar numbers of individuals have released their own version of OS based on the Linux kernel. It can run multiple uses of programs and the individual accounts are protected because of authorization. Now Linux is a replica or a clone of Unix many would say but it does not use its code.
Difference between Linux and Unix?
let's move on to the differences between both OS.
- Server admin mostly uses UNIX in Internet servers workstations in PCs while everyone from home users to developers and computer enthusiasts used Linux alike because they can install Linux OS on various types of devices like mobile phones, tablets, and computers.
- UNIX systems have different versions and AT&T as well as primarily developed these versions. Other commercial vendors while Linux as most of us know is open-source and thousands of programmers collaborate online and contribute to its development. Its features through forums etc are distributed by various vendors.
- UNIX is available on PA-RISC and Itanium machines. Solaris is also available for x86 or x64 based systems. It originally was developed Linux for Intel's 86 hardware.
- UNIX was originally made to work in bourne shell or the basic shell. It is now compatible with many others software, whereas in Linux bash is the default shell it offers supports for multiple command interpreters.
- UNIX has a common desktop environment and also has gnome whereas Linux provides two GUI which are the KDE and GNOME.
- UNIX is not portable but Linux is portable and is booted from a USB stick which is a big plus on the side of Linux.
- The threat detection and solution procedures, while UNIX users require a longer wait time to get the proper bug fixing patch threat detection, and the solution is quick in Linux because Linux is mainly community-driven. So if Linux users post any kind of threat, a team of qualified developers works to resolve this threat now.
- Unix is not available to anyone whereas Linux being an open-source OS, the source is available to the general public
- UNIX different flavors have different pricing depending upon the type of vendor whereas, Linux is freely distributed and downloaded. there are priced versions for Linux as well but they are normally cheaper than that of Windows.
Limitations of Unix
Firstly, it has an unfriendly interface, apart from that developers designed the UNIX OS for a slow computer system. So you can't really expect fast performance versions on various machines that are slightly different in UNIX. So it lacks consistency and finally, UNIX does not provide any assured hardware interrupt response time. It does not really support real-time response time systems, apart from this the shell interface can be treacherous because a single typing mistake can destroy a lot of files.
Limitations that Linux Possesses
First, there is no standard edition of Linux. Linux has a patch of support for drivers which basically may cause the miss functioning of the entire system. Many of the programs we are using for Windows will only run on Linux with the help of complicated emulators for example the Microsoft Office. Linux is really suitable for only corporate users it is significantly harder to introduce in a home setting Linux for new users, at least is not as easy to use as Windows.
Conclusion
69.5 percent of all the major websites use the UNIX OS. It’s historically leading the chart but despite that Linux has expanded its market rapidly since 2018. Linux is easily coexisted along with other operating systems and its portability gives it a solid edge in the market today but in the end, the choice is yours Linux or UNIX both have their own pros and cons.
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