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- I need explanation on Unix and Linux
I need explanation on Unix and Linux
As far as I know Linux is an operating system just like windows and Mac,
and there are lots of distributions of Linux like Debian, fedora, Ubuntu etc...
So what is UNIX? I hear This term a lot, but still confuses me.
and there are lots of distributions of Linux like Debian, fedora, Ubuntu etc...
So what is UNIX? I hear This term a lot, but still confuses me.
I am not a historian by any means. Please take this with a grain of salt.
UNIX was an operating system created for/by AT&T at Bell Laboratories by many people. Most notably/famously, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson. It was an operating system "for programmers, by programmers". It was meant as a developer's platform. I believe it was written in C (although early version may have been in assembly). It served as a base for many operating systems to come, introducing suck things as built-in manuals (man pages), a shell interpreter (first the Thompson shell, then the Bourne shell, then the Bourne-Again Shell (BASH), which we all know and love), and early versions of file systems etc. It also implemented a now-ubiquitous build environment, using make It should be noted that UNIX was the whole package: An operating system, kernel (roughly: the layer between your hardware and your programming languages/software), and programs.
Now fast forward a bit. A lot of people tried UNIX and thought "I need to have this at my place of research/school/business". However, it was not explicitly clear how licensing was to work. So, rather than dealing with all that, several people set out to create open-source versions of UNIX. One such example is MINIX, by Andrew Tanenbaum. Another example is the GNU project, created by Richard Stallman (although his version didn't start until 1983). Of course, we all know which ended up being the big winner: Linux, created by Linus Torvalds. Technically, Linux is just a kernel. Most of the software tools on Linux "distributions" (also called distros) is from the GNU project . So it's a bit of a misnomer to call Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora (etc) a "Linux operating system". However, this was a subject of controversy from Richard Stallman.
One quote from Stallman goes: "Calling the whole system "Linux" leads people to think that the system's development was started in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. That is what most users seem to think. The occasional few users that do know about the GNU Project often think we played a secondary role — for example, they say to me, 'Of course I know about GNU — GNU developed some tools that are part of Linux'".
Of course, this mention wouldn't be complete without the mentioned another quote, in which he famously said: "I'd just like to interject for moment. What you're refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. "
So nowadays, "Linux" distros are really made of a Linux kernel, systemd for initialization of hardware, GNU software tools, and a windowing system (Called the X Windowing system).
I hope that helps clear it up.
As a bonus, here is an interesting video from Computerphile (great channel, I recommend subscribing) about UNIX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rPPqm44xLs
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.en.html
UNIX was an operating system created for/by AT&T at Bell Laboratories by many people. Most notably/famously, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson. It was an operating system "for programmers, by programmers". It was meant as a developer's platform. I believe it was written in C (although early version may have been in assembly). It served as a base for many operating systems to come, introducing suck things as built-in manuals (man pages), a shell interpreter (first the Thompson shell, then the Bourne shell, then the Bourne-Again Shell (BASH), which we all know and love), and early versions of file systems etc. It also implemented a now-ubiquitous build environment, using make It should be noted that UNIX was the whole package: An operating system, kernel (roughly: the layer between your hardware and your programming languages/software), and programs.
Now fast forward a bit. A lot of people tried UNIX and thought "I need to have this at my place of research/school/business". However, it was not explicitly clear how licensing was to work. So, rather than dealing with all that, several people set out to create open-source versions of UNIX. One such example is MINIX, by Andrew Tanenbaum. Another example is the GNU project, created by Richard Stallman (although his version didn't start until 1983). Of course, we all know which ended up being the big winner: Linux, created by Linus Torvalds. Technically, Linux is just a kernel. Most of the software tools on Linux "distributions" (also called distros) is from the GNU project . So it's a bit of a misnomer to call Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora (etc) a "Linux operating system". However, this was a subject of controversy from Richard Stallman.
One quote from Stallman goes: "Calling the whole system "Linux" leads people to think that the system's development was started in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. That is what most users seem to think. The occasional few users that do know about the GNU Project often think we played a secondary role — for example, they say to me, 'Of course I know about GNU — GNU developed some tools that are part of Linux'".
Of course, this mention wouldn't be complete without the mentioned another quote, in which he famously said: "I'd just like to interject for moment. What you're refering to as Linux, is in fact, GNU/Linux, or as I've recently taken to calling it, GNU plus Linux. Linux is not an operating system unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning GNU system made useful by the GNU corelibs, shell utilities and vital system components comprising a full OS as defined by POSIX. "
So nowadays, "Linux" distros are really made of a Linux kernel, systemd for initialization of hardware, GNU software tools, and a windowing system (Called the X Windowing system).
I hope that helps clear it up.
As a bonus, here is an interesting video from Computerphile (great channel, I recommend subscribing) about UNIX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rPPqm44xLs
http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.en.html
closed account (z05DSL3A)
| So what is UNIX? |
Mac OS X is UNIX as it has been certified to comply with the Single UNIX Specification.
See the Open group for more info:
http://www.opengroup.org/unix
I'm just going to add something from a regular linux user standpoint.
As a beginner, I'd suggest you look up how to make a usb liveboot of a linux distribution. This will let you pocket your entire system with you to school, to work, and back home. (For me it was like being able to temporarily turn any computer into My Own Computer wherever I went.)
Look up the different Distributions of linux you can try. Knoppix was my first distro. It has a wide assortment of programs that will demo what types of programs are available on linux, though they've recently decided that at startup you get an odd options-menu before you get to the desktop so they're a bit less newbie-friendly. Most people start off with Ubuntu, which means it is well supported on a wide array of computers and very newbie-friendly. I'm currently enjoying my Fedora distribution on my laptop and Antix on my older tower computer. Debian has also been around for years and many distros are based off of her (I've noticed many distros based off of her call Debian their mother distro).
(You aren't limited to one version of Linux, and some are specifically made for certain needs)
One of the best things about Linux is that there are so many different options. Take the very desktop itself. If you don't like your current desktop environment on your distro there are probably ways of changing how it looks, or try out one of the unlimited other environments (try out gnome, lxde, xfce, icewm, jwm, openbox, fluxbox,cinnamon, mate, etc).
Most distributions come with a package manager like YUM, APT-GET, DNF, etc. which have a wide assortment of free programs that are very fully tested and compiled to work with the current version of your distro. I'm not a Mac person but I've often heard linux package managers described as being like Apple's play store, only everything is free. Apparently Windows is now trying to copy the package manager aproach but it's still not quite up to snuff yet.
Many Linux distros are light weight, so if you have an older computer that is slow running Windows or Mac, you can probably get it back up to useability with a small distribution like Antix.
I think what I'm trying to say is that Linux won't tie you down. It's so easy to switch from one distro to another that it's often an enjoyable experience. With liveCD's and liveUSB's you'll get to try out a new distro without even installing to your computer (though the CD approach is very slow booting in comparison to a true install). You can easilly make your system dual bootable so you can swap between each by simply rebooting, though I suggest making a backup of Windows or Mac first because mistakes are possible.
Some programs I suggest from your basic linux package manager;
gcc (g++) - gnu c++ compiler
openshot - video editor
audacity - audio editor
gedit / leafpad - text editors
libreoffice - Word proccessor suite (comparible to microsoft word)
blender - 3d modeling and animation
codeblocks - IDE
geany - multi language code editor (almost an IDE, but lighter-weight)
firefox - internet browser
GIMP - gnu image manipulation program (similar to adobe photoshop)
mypaint - similar to microsoft paint
gnome-mplayer - video/audio player
VLC - Video/audio Player
gparted - Hard drive formating
baobab - Hard drive analysis
k3b - DVD/CD burner, can be used to create liveCD's of linux
SDL2, SFML, QT4&5, and many other Cross-Compatible GUI libraries are also available.
As a beginner, I'd suggest you look up how to make a usb liveboot of a linux distribution. This will let you pocket your entire system with you to school, to work, and back home. (For me it was like being able to temporarily turn any computer into My Own Computer wherever I went.)
Look up the different Distributions of linux you can try. Knoppix was my first distro. It has a wide assortment of programs that will demo what types of programs are available on linux, though they've recently decided that at startup you get an odd options-menu before you get to the desktop so they're a bit less newbie-friendly. Most people start off with Ubuntu, which means it is well supported on a wide array of computers and very newbie-friendly. I'm currently enjoying my Fedora distribution on my laptop and Antix on my older tower computer. Debian has also been around for years and many distros are based off of her (I've noticed many distros based off of her call Debian their mother distro).
(You aren't limited to one version of Linux, and some are specifically made for certain needs)
One of the best things about Linux is that there are so many different options. Take the very desktop itself. If you don't like your current desktop environment on your distro there are probably ways of changing how it looks, or try out one of the unlimited other environments (try out gnome, lxde, xfce, icewm, jwm, openbox, fluxbox,cinnamon, mate, etc).
Most distributions come with a package manager like YUM, APT-GET, DNF, etc. which have a wide assortment of free programs that are very fully tested and compiled to work with the current version of your distro. I'm not a Mac person but I've often heard linux package managers described as being like Apple's play store, only everything is free. Apparently Windows is now trying to copy the package manager aproach but it's still not quite up to snuff yet.
Many Linux distros are light weight, so if you have an older computer that is slow running Windows or Mac, you can probably get it back up to useability with a small distribution like Antix.
I think what I'm trying to say is that Linux won't tie you down. It's so easy to switch from one distro to another that it's often an enjoyable experience. With liveCD's and liveUSB's you'll get to try out a new distro without even installing to your computer (though the CD approach is very slow booting in comparison to a true install). You can easilly make your system dual bootable so you can swap between each by simply rebooting, though I suggest making a backup of Windows or Mac first because mistakes are possible.
Some programs I suggest from your basic linux package manager;
gcc (g++) - gnu c++ compiler
openshot - video editor
audacity - audio editor
gedit / leafpad - text editors
libreoffice - Word proccessor suite (comparible to microsoft word)
blender - 3d modeling and animation
codeblocks - IDE
geany - multi language code editor (almost an IDE, but lighter-weight)
firefox - internet browser
GIMP - gnu image manipulation program (similar to adobe photoshop)
mypaint - similar to microsoft paint
gnome-mplayer - video/audio player
VLC - Video/audio Player
gparted - Hard drive formating
baobab - Hard drive analysis
k3b - DVD/CD burner, can be used to create liveCD's of linux
SDL2, SFML, QT4&5, and many other Cross-Compatible GUI libraries are also available.
Last edited on
Hmm...
I just re-read your prompt.
Sorry about not giving any information that was actually pertinent to your question.
Derp derp derrrrrp. o_O
I just re-read your prompt.
Sorry about not giving any information that was actually pertinent to your question.
Derp derp derrrrrp. o_O
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