DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LINUX AND UNIX
Linux is an open source, free to use operating system widely used for
computer hardware and software, game development, tablet PCS,
mainframes etc. Unixis an operating system commonly used
in internet servers, workstations and PCs by Solaris, Intel, HP etc.
1.
What is it?
2.
Cost
3.
User
4.
Manufacturer
5.
Usage
6.
Development
and
Distribution
LINUX
UNIX
Linux is an example of Open
Source software development
and Free Operating System
(OS).
Linux can be freely distributed,
downloaded freely, distributed
through magazines, Books etc.
There are priced versions for
Linux also, but they are
normally cheaper than
Windows.
Everyone. From home users to
developers and computer
enthusiasts alike.
Unix is an operating system that
is very popular in universities,
companies, big enterprises etc.
Different flavors of Unix have
different cost structures
according to vendors
Unix operating systems were
developed mainly for
mainframes, servers and
workstations except OSX, Which
is designed for everyone. The
Unix environment and the clientserver program model were
essential elements in the
development of the Internet
Linux kernel is developed by the Three bigest distributions are
community. Linus Torvalds
Solaris (Oracle), AIX (IBM) &
oversees things.
HP-UX Hewlett Packard. And
Apple Makes OSX, an unix based
os..
Linux can be installed on a wide The UNIX operating system is
variety of computer hardware,
used in internet servers,
ranging from mobile phones,
workstations & PCs. Backbone of
tablet computers and video
the majority of finance
game consoles, to mainframes
infastructure and many 24x365
and supercomputers.
high availability solutions.
Linux is developed by Open
Unix systems are divided into
Source development i.e. through various other flavors, mostly
sharing and collaboration of
developed by AT&T as well as
code and features through
various commercial vendors and
forums etc and it is distributed
non-profit organizations.
by various vendors.
7.
GUI
8.
File system
support
Text mode
interface
9.
10. Price
11. Security
12. Threat
detection and
solution
13. Processors
14. Examples
15. Architectures
Linux typically provides two
GUIs, KDE and Gnome. But
there are millions of alternatives
such as LXDE, Xfce, Unity,
Mate, twm, ect.
Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, Jfs, ReiserFS,
Xfs, Btrfs, FAT, FAT32, NTFS
BASH (Bourne Again SHell) is
the Linux default shell. It can
support multiple command
interpreters.
Free but support is available for
a price.
Linux has had about 60-100
viruses listed till date. None of
them actively spreading
nowadays.
In case of Linux, threat
detection and solution is very
fast, as Linux is mainly
community driven and
whenever any Linux user posts
any kind of threat, several
developers start working on it
from different parts of the world
Dozens of different kinds.
Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat,
Debian, Archlinux, Android etc.
Originally developed for Intel's
x86 hardware, ports available
for over two dozen CPU types
including ARM
Initially Unix was a command
based OS, but later a GUI was
created called Common Desktop
Environment. Most distributions
now ship with Gnome.
jfs, gpfs, hfs, hfs+, ufs, xfs, zfs
format
Originally the Bourne Shell. Now
it's compatible with many others
including BASH, Korn & C.
Some free for development use
(Solaris) but support is available
for a price.
A rough estimate of UNIX
viruses is between 85 -120
viruses reported till date.
Because of the proprietary nature
of the original Unix, users have to
wait for a while, to get the proper
bug fixing patch. But these are
not as common.
x86/x64, Sparc, Power, Itanium,
PA-RISC, PowerPC and many
others.
OS X, Solaris, All Linux
is available on PA-RISC and
Itanium machines. Solaris also
available for x86/x64 based
systems.OSX is PowerPC(10.010.5)/x86(10.4)/x64(10.5-10.8)
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LINUX AND WINDOWS
LINUX
Linux is an example of Open
Source software development and
Free Operating System (OS).
Linux can be freely distributed,
2. Cost
downloaded freely, distributed
through magazines, Books etc.
There are priced versions for Linux
also, but they are normally cheaper
than Windows.
Everyone. From home users to
3. User
developers and computer
enthusiasts alike.
Linux kernel is developed by the
4.
Manufacturer community. Linus Torvalds
oversees things.
1. What is it?
5. Usage
6.
Development
and
Distribution
Linux can be installed on a wide
variety of computer hardware,
ranging from mobile phones, tablet
computers and video game
consoles, to mainframes and
supercomputers.
Linux is developed by Open Source
development i.e. through sharing
and collaboration of code and
features through forums etc and it
is distributed by various vendors.
WINDOWS
Windows is the family of operating
system (OS) from Microsoft, which is
the most famous OS in the world.
For desktop or home use, Windows
can be expensive. A single copy can
cost around $50 to $ 450 depending
on the version of Windows.
Everyone. From home users to
developers and computer enthusiasts
alike.
Microsoft created the Windows
operating system, but allows other
computer manufactures to distribute
their own computers with Windows
pre-installed.
On PC's desktops, laptops, servers
and some phones.
Windows is developed and
distributed by Microsoft.
7.
Linux typically provides two GUIs,
GUI KDE and Gnome. But there are
The Windows GUI is an integral
component of the OS and is not
replaceable. This can be a con
millions of alternatives such as
LXDE, Xfce, Unity, Mate, twm, ect.
File system Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, Jfs, ReiserFS,
support Xfs, Btrfs, FAT, FAT32, NTFS
Text mode
interface
Price
Security
BASH (Bourne Again SHell) is the
Linux default shell. It can support
multiple command interpreters.
FAT, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT
Windows uses a command shell
and each version of Windows has a
single command interpreter with
dos-like commands, recently there
is the addition of the optional
PowerShell that uses more Unixlike commands.
Free but support is available for a
price.
$50-$450
Linux has had about 60-100
viruses listed till date. None of
them actively spreading nowadays.
According to Dr. Nic Peeling and
Dr Julian Satchell's “Analysis of
the Impact of Open Source
Software” there have been more
than 60,000 viruses in Windows.
Anti Virus cost about $20 to $400
In case of Linux, threat detection
and solution is very fast, as Linux
Threat is mainly community driven and
detection and whenever any Linux user posts any
solution kind of threat, several developers
start working on it from different
parts of the world
Processors Dozens of different kinds.
Examples
when it comes to Windows 8's
Metro.
Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat, Debian,
Archlinux, Android etc.
After detecting a major threat in
Windows OS, Microsoft generally
releases a patch that can fix the
problem and it can take more than
2/3 months. Sometimes sooner,
Microsoft releases patches and
updates weekly.
Limited but most (80%)
Windows 8, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP
Very few games available natively.
Some games can be played through
Gaming Wine, but often not all features are
available.
Although there are many GUI
applications, most of the work is
User
done through Terminal (a console
experience
window), and if a problem arrises
GUI is rarely usable to fix them.
Because hardware manufacturers,
such as NVidia, often does not
Graphics
provide documentation for linux
performance
developers, drivers can not use full
card performance.
Company / Linus Torvalds
developer
Linux is a Unix-like and POSIXcompliant computer operating
system assembled under the model
Introduction of free and open source software
(from development and distribution. The
Wikipedia) defining component of Linux is the
Linux kernel, an operating system
kernel first released
Available Multilingual
language(s)
License GNU/Free
Supported All
platforms
Almost all games are compatible
with Windows. Some CPU
intensive and graphics intensive
games are exclusive to Windows
PC's.
Everything can be controlled
through GUI and incompatibility
problems are rare.
Combined with newest DirectX
versions and full graphics card
support the performance is almost
as good as it can get.
Microsoft
Microsoft Windows is a series of
graphical interface operating
systems developed, marketed, and
sold by Microsoft. Microsoft
introduced an operating
environment named Windows on
November 20, 1985 as a graphical
operating system shell for MSDOS.
Multilingual
Proprietary
PowerPC: versions 1.0 - NT 4.0;
DEC Alpha: versions 1.0 - NT 4.0;
MIPS R4000: versions 1.0 - NT
4.0; IA-32: versions 1.0 - 8; IA-64:
version XP; x86-64: versions XP 8; ARM: version RT;
Default user Gnome or KDE (Depends on
interface distro)
Graphical (Windows Aero)
Preceded by Basic Terminal (CLI)
MS-DOS
Source model Open Source
Update Many
method
Terminal Multi Terminal Windows
Closed / Shared source
Windows Update
--
ARCHITECTURE OF LINUX
Linux is one of popular version of UNIX operating System. It is open source as its source code is freely available. It is
free to use. Linux was designed considering UNIX compatibility. It's functionality list is quite similar to that of UNIX.
Components of Linux System
Linux Operating System has primarily three components



Kernel - Kernel is the core part of Linux. It is responsible for all major activities of this operating system. It is consists
of various modules and it interacts directly with the underlying hardware. Kernel provides the required abstraction to
hide low level hardware details to system or application programs.
System Library - System libraries are special functions or programs using which application programs or system
utilities accesses Kernel's features. These libraries implements most of the functionalities of the operating system and
do not requires kernel module's code access rights.
System Utility - System Utility programs are responsible to do specialized, individual level tasks.
Kernel Mode vs User Mode
Kernel component code executes in a special privileged mode called kernel mode with full access to all resources of
the computer. This code represents a single process, executes in single address space and do not require any context
switch and hence is very efficient and fast. Kernel runs each processes and provides system services to processes,
provides protected access to hardwares to processes.
Support code which is not required to run in kernel mode is in System Library. User programs and other system
programs works in User Mode which has no access to system hardwares and kernel code. User programs/ utilities use
System libraries to access Kernel functions to get system's low level tasks.
Basic Features
Following are some of the important features of Linux Operating System.







Portable - Portability means softwares can works on different types of hardwares in same way.Linux kernel and
application programs supports their installation on any kind of hardware platform.
Open Source - Linux source code is freely available and it is community based development project. Multiple teams
works in collaboration to enhance the capability of Linux operating system and it is continuously evolving.
Multi-User - Linux is a multiuser system means multiple users can access system resources like memory/ ram/
application programs at same time.
Multiprogramming - Linux is a multiprogramming system means multiple applications can run at same time.
Hierarchical File System - Linux provides a standard file structure in which system files/ user files are arranged.
Shell - Linux provides a special interpreter program which can be used to execute commands of the operating system.
It can be used to do various types of operations, call application programs etc.
Security - Linux provides user security using authentication features like password protection/ controlled access to
specific files/ encryption of data.
Architecture
Linux System Architecture is consists of following layers




Hardware layer - Hardware consists of all peripheral devices (RAM/ HDD/ CPU etc).
Kernel - Core component of Operating System, interacts directly with hardware, provides low level services to upper
layer components.
Shell - An interface to kernel, hiding complexity of kernel's functions from users. Takes commands from user and
executes kernel's functions.
Utilities - Utility programs giving user most of the functionalities of an operating systems.