Unix = Linux

[stickmansquark]

I was just oping somebody could point out the key differences between Unix and Linux, because they seem to have merged into a single OS in my opinion.

[Info Tech Geek]

Read the history of Linux, it is very interesting and educational. I think it was posted as a thread in here. I will look for it.

http://ragib.hypermart.net/linux/

History of Linux & Unix http://linuxrefresher.com/additional/history.htm

[hiddeninclouds]

Taken from http://linuxrefresher.com/additional/history.htm

1991
Linux is introduced by Linus Torvalds, a student in Finland. Who post to the comp.os.minix newsgroup with the words:
Hello everybody out there using minix -

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones.

[stickmansquark]

sorry, I still dont understand the difference between Unix and Linux. They seem to have the same desktops and access to the same programs, but i like debian more because it seems more people are involved with the developing process of it.

[DeadAddict]

Unix and Linux are both trademarked names. The Unix trademark is now owned by OpenGroup, though the source code is owned by Santa Cruz Operations. The Linux trademark is owned by Linus Torvalds.

Linux is a Unix clone consisting of a kernel originally written by Linus Torvalds and now maintained by him and many others. Unlike other flavors of Unix that were based on licensed source code, Linux is based on Minix, which mimics in a way that does not infringe on the Unix license. That's why it's practically free.

A great deal of software that comes packaged in Linux distribution is GNU software. The GNU project was a way to produce Unix-compatible operating systems that were free of licensing and cooperative restrictions.

The term Linux pertains only to the kernel. The functionality that people associate with the Linux OS are actually separate pieces of code, the majority of which are GNU. It was not until Linux came together with GNU that the full power of the Linux OS (or GNU Linux, as GNU advocates would like to call it) was realized.

Unix itself was a creation of AT&T labs. Its success led to the creation of divergent versions of Unix. Of course without the proper license, these versions could not call themselves Unix, only Unix-like. As these clones proliferated, cross-compatibility became an issue.

In 1984, the X/Open Company broached the idea of an open Unix system. This brought together industry experts to create guidelines and standards to follow in all Unix clones. These folks devised the Single Unix Specification, which includes a requirement for POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface for Unix) compliance.

POSIX is an ISO and IEEE standard that defines Unix interfaces so that porting code from one flavor of Unix to another is as simple as recompiling the source code. Linux, like many other Unix clones, is POSIX compliant.
Does this answer your question "What's the difference between unix and linux?"? Because that's basically the rundown of the differences. Linux is a Unix Clone, but there are also big differences. In the price it costs