UNIX is copyrighted name only big companies are allowed to use the UNIX
copyright and name, so IBM AIX and Sun Solaris and HP-UX all are UNIX operating
systems. The Open Group holds the UNIX trademark in trust
for the industry, and manages the UNIX trademark licensing program.
Most UNIX systems are
commercial in nature.
Linux is a UNIX Clone
But if you consider
Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) standards then Linux can be
considered as UNIX. To quote from Official Linux kernel README file:
Linux is a Unix clone written from scratch by
Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the
Net. It aims towards POSIX compliance.
However, "Open
Group" do not approve of the construction "Unix-like", and
consider it misuse of their UNIX trademark.
Linux Is Just a Kernel
Linux is just a
kernel. All Linux distributions includes GUI system + GNU utilities (such as
cp, mv, ls,date, bash etc) + installation & management tools + GNU c/c++
Compilers + Editors (vi) + and various applications (such as OpenOffice,
Firefox). However, most UNIX operating systems are considered as a complete
operating system as everything come from a single source or vendor.
As I said earlier
Linux is just a kernel and Linux distribution makes it complete usable
operating systems by adding various applications. Most UNIX operating systems
comes with A-Z programs such as editor, compilers etc. For example HP-UX or
Solaris comes with A-Z programs.
License and cost
Linux is Free (as in
beer [freedom]). You can download it from the Internet or redistribute it under
GNU licenses. You will see the best community support for Linux. Most UNIX like
operating systems are not free (but this is changing fast, for example
OpenSolaris UNIX). However, some Linux distributions such as Redhat / Novell
provides additional Linux support, consultancy, bug fixing, and training for
additional fees.
User-Friendly
Linux is considered as
most user friendly UNIX like operating systems. It makes it easy to install
sound card, flash players, and other desktop goodies. However, Apple OS X is
most popular UNIX operating system for desktop usage.
Security Firewall
Software
Linux comes with open
source netfilter/iptables based firewall tool to protect your server and
desktop from the crackers and hackers. UNIX operating systems comes with its
own firewall product (for example Solaris UNIX comes with ipfilter based
firewall) or you need to purchase a 3rd party software such as Checkpoint UNIX
firewall.
Backup and Recovery
Software
UNIX and Linux comes
with different set of tools for backing up data to tape and other backup media.
However, both of them share some common tools such as tar, dump/restore, and
cpio etc.
File Systems
§ Linux by default supports and use ext3 or ext4
file systems.
§ UNIX comes with various file systems such as
jfs, gpfs (AIX), jfs, gpfs (HP-UX), jfs, gpfs (Solaris).
System Administration
Tools
1.
UNIX comes with its
own tools such as SAM on HP-UX.
2.
Suse Linux comes with
Yast
3.
Redhat Linux comes
with its own gui tools called redhat-config-*.
However, editing text
config file and typing commands are most popular options for sys admin work
under UNIX and Linux.
System Startup Scripts
Almost every version
of UNIX and Linux comes with system initialization script but they are located
in different directories:
1.
HP-UX - /sbin/init.d
2.
AIX - /etc/rc.d/init.d
3.
Linux - /etc/init.d
End User Perspective
The differences are
not that big for the average end user. They will use the same shell (e.g. bash
or ksh) and other development tools such as Perl or Eclipse development tool.
System Administrator
Perspective
Again, the differences
are not that big for the system administrator. However, you may notice various
differences while performing the following operations:
1.
Software installation
procedure
2.
Hardware device names
3.
Various admin commands
or utilities
4.
Software RAID devices
and mirroring
5.
Logical volume
management
6.
Package management
7.
Patch management
UNIX Operating System
Names
A few popular names:
1.
HP-UX
2.
IBM AIX
3.
Sun Solairs
4.
Mac OS X
5.
IRIX
Linux Distribution
(Operating System) Names
A few popular names:
1.
Redhat Enterprise
Linux
2.
Fedora Linux
3.
Debian Linux
4.
Suse Enterprise Linux
5.
Ubuntu Linux
Common Things Between
Linux & UNIX
Both share many common
applications such as:
1.
GUI, file, and windows
managers (KDE, Gnome)
2.
Shells (ksh, csh,
bash)
3.
Various office
applications such as OpenOffice.org
4.
Development tools
(perl, php, python, GNU c/c++ compilers)
5.
Posix interface
A Sample UNIX Desktop
Screenshot
A Sample Linux Desktop
Screenshot
UNIX and Linux
Hardware
Commercial UNIX
hardware has more advanced initial boot options such as:
§ Decide how to boot
§ Check system health
§ Set hardware parameters etc
The BIOS that is
standard in PCs which is used by Linux has few, of these features. UNIX hardware
or servers are pretty expensive as compare to Linux server systems.
Further readings:
Following documents or
URL should help anyone to get more idea:
§ UNIX System Management and Security: Differences between
Linux, Solaris, AIX and HP-UX
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