UNIX: What is this operating system and how is it different from Linux?

Definitely, one of the most revolutionary operating systems that they existed during the golden age of computers, that is, in the late 1960s and early 1970s; it was UNIX. Which was developed by Bell Laboratories under the responsibility of AT&T.

In this sense, UNIX stood out for its great capacity, thanks to the fact that its main attribute was based on be a multitasking or “multitasking” operating system and had the ability to open multiple programs, although not simultaneously. But, even so, it was a step beyond the other existing operating systems that were only dedicated to one thing.

That is why it is valuable know the history and impact of this OS general purpose, portable, multi-user and interactive, in computing. Therefore, below, we indicate the most important aspects and in addition to this, its main differences with Linux and its uses today.

History and impact of UNIX on computing What has made it so special?

Since 1960, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AT&T Bell Laboratories together with General Electric, began a novel project in order to establish an experimental operating system that was called “multics” to run on a central or mainframe computer. This, with the aim of developing a great interactive operating system that had several innovations.

However, by creating and developing a game known as “Space Travel” to test this experimental operating system, the experts noticed that it ran very slowly on the General Electric machine with Multics. Whereby, Ken Thompsonone of the Bell Labs programmers started creating a new operating system together with another programmer, named Dennis Richie (This was responsible for creating the C language).

Since then, they have given way to a new project baptized as “UNICS” which is the acronym for “Uniplexed Information and Computing System”. But given the popularity of the pun that saw UNICS as a emasculated Multics system, The operating system adopted the official name of “UNIX” circa 1969 when it was first released.

In this way, the famous SO was born, which, to this day, is still considered as one of the most important in the history of the computer world. Thus, its direct creators were Thompson and Ritchie who, initially, offered a series of small programs based on UNIX.

In short, after a failed project known as Multics, programmers at AT&T Bell Labs focused on coming up with a good answer to it, creating a fast and secure multitasking and multiuser operating system which was better received.

Since, it worked in most of the computers of the time that were hulks shared by several users at the same time through connected terminals that sent the orders to a central computer.

Main reasons for your notable impact

• Basically, it was the first proposal developed as a small software, but effective at the same time. With what, it was possible to build a code that was short, simple, clear, modular and extensible with the ability to be maintained and reused for other purposes by different developers who were not the original creators.
• UNIX has been everywheresince it can be run on most servers that allow you to access the web, it is found inside billions of phones and you can run this operating system inside a browser.
• The creation of UNIX was a great education for professionals to operate industrial and truly expensive equipment. Taking into account that, thanks to this OS, it was also easy for specialists to talk about computing and today, some fundamental ideas about software remain the same than at that time.

Are Linux and UNIX the same thing? Main differences between both OS

On many occasions, users often confuse Linux with UNIX or vice versa. But, despite the fact that both terms are very similar, the truth is that there is a noticeable difference between them. In view of that, it is necessary to refer to the most important distinctions between these two main operating systems in the world of computing.

It should be noted that, mainly, these differences are based on the usefulness of both, the type of software they are and the tools contained in each of the systems. Next, an explanation of each of these aspects.

Utility

With respect to the main utility of UNIX, this is based on the use in server systems, except for the MacOS X operating system, which is a desktop operating system. Taking into account that said server systems refer to complicated operating systems to installlike those compatible only with specific hardware and systemswhere the commands predominate over the graphical interface.

On the other hand, Linux has operating systems for both servers and clients. Specifying that, within this world, a large number of distributions can be found, many desks and various tools that have been created for them. For example, on the subject of desktop systems, there is Ubuntu, Debian or Linux Mint.

software type

While the UNIX It is a proprietary system that cannot be modified., Linux is not. This is because UNIX is owned by the well-known AT&T company and, therefore, the only one that has permission to modify and/or update it.

In contrast, Linux is an operating system with a completely free and free kernel or kernel. Thanks to the fact that it is under the GNU license and for this reason, any user has the possibility of modifying the source code that, fortunately, is available to everyone.

System tools

As we mentioned before, UNIX was designed so that it can be reused for different purposes by other developers, even if they are not its original creators. Therefore, it is emphasized that this operating system was not created to meet a predefined objective and with it, can adapt the system tools to any requirement.

Instead, from its inception, Linux was a functional operating system to which programs and tools were added that were written by or for the project under development, specifically.

What uses can be given to the UNIX operating system today?

Today, UNIX operating systems are widely used in a multitude of devices. Which range from the most capable supercomputers to the most popular mobile phones today and of course, also taking into account the computers that we use day after day. A) Yes, Mac OS and Linuxx are clear examples of such operating systems.

Now, you may wonder what this is due to and it is, mainly, thanks to the philosophy that manages said SO, from these premises:

• A large collection of small programs that manage to work in series.
• A hierarchical file system.
• The use of text files to store data.
• The treatment given to devices as files.

Consequently, the UNIX operating system has achieved great popularity due to their ability to solve problems that were present before their appearance and for which applications or programs designed for a single system were not available on others. Which means that, thanks to UNIX, since its inception different systems can be transported very easily.

With this, at present, this OS is also estimated as an excellent mechanism to be used by programmers. Since, said they will be able to find the same programming tools, similar environments and run their programswithout any restrictions, on any system running UNIX.