UNIX and LINUX

UNIX

      The base software that controls a computer system and its peripherals. In this sense, UNIX behaves in the same way that the perhaps more familiar PC operating systems Windows or MacOS behave. It provides the base mechanisms for booting a

computer, logging in, running applications, storing and retrieving files, etc.
      More specificially, the word "UNIX" refers to a family of operating systems that are related to one or both of the original UNIX operating systems - BSD and SystemV. Examples of modern UNIX operating systems include IRIX(from SGI), Solaris (from Sun), Tru64 (from Compaq) and Linux (from the Free Software community). Even though these different "flavors" of UNIX have unique characteristics and come from different sources, they all work alike in a number of fundamental ways. If you gain familiarity with any one of these UNIX-based operating systems, you will also have gained at least some familiarity with nearly every other variant of UNIX.

LINUX

Linux is an operating system, a large piece of software that manages a computer. It is similar to Microsoft Windows, but it is entirely free. The accurate name is GNU/Linux but

"Linux" is used more often.

Linux is not one company's product, but a number of companies and groups of people contribute to it. In fact, the GNU/Linux system is a core component, which is branched off into many different products. They are called distributions.

Distributions change the appearance and function of Linux completely. They range from large, fully supported complete systems (endorsed by companies) to lightweight ones that fit on a USB memory stick or run on old computers (often developed by volunteers).

Difference between UNIX and LINUX

Unix is a proprietary software operating system. As said above, it was developed by Bell Labs for its own use but over the years was licensed to other tech companies. The Unix OS works primarily on Command Line Interface, though, recently, there have been developments for GUI on Unix systems.

Unix is not free. Different flavors of Unix have different cost structures according to vendors.

Unix is not as flexible as Linux. It has less compatibility with different types of hardware. Unix installation requires a strict and well-defined hardware machinery and works only on specific CPU machines.

Since Unix OS is not a freeware and therefore its source code is not available. You cannot modify and sell your version of Unix therefore.

Unix installation is comparatively much costlier than Linux since it requires special hardware and can be run only on specific CPU processors. It is mostly used in big data servers around the world.

Unix comparatively supports very fewer File systems. It supports the following File systems: