Difference between Linux and Unix

Linux

Linux is an open source multi-tasking, multi-user operating system. It was initially developed by Linus Torvalds in 1991. Linux OS is widely used in desktops, mobiles, mainframes etc.

Unix

Unix is multi-tasking, multi-user operating system but is not free to use and is not open source. It was developed in 1969 by Ken Thompson team at AT&T Bell Labs. It is widely used on servers, workstations etc. Following are the important differences between Linux and Unix.

Following are the important difference between Linux and Unix.

Sr. No.	Key	Linux	Unix
1	Development	Linux is open source and is developed by Linux community of developers.	Unix was developed by AT&T Bell labs and is not open source.
2	Cost	Linux is free to use.	Unix is licensed OS.
3	Supportd File systems	Ext2, Ext3, Ext4, Jfs, ReiserFS, Xfs, Btrfs, FAT, FAT32, NTFS.	fs, gpfs, hfs, hfs+, ufs, xfs, zfs.
4	GUI	Linux uses KDE and Gnome. Other GUI supported are LXDE, Xfce, Unity, Mate.	Unix was initially a command based OS. Most of the unix distributions now have Gnome.
5	Usage	Linux is used in wide varieties from desktop, servers, smartphones to mainframes.	Unix is mostly used on servers, workstations or PCs.
6	Default Shell	Bash (Bourne Again SHell) is default shell for Linux.	Bourne Shell is default shell for Unix.
7	Target processor	Linux was initially developed for Intel's x86 hardware processors. Now it supports 20+ processor families.	CUnix supports PA-RISC and Itanium family.
8	Example	Ubuntu, Debian GNU, Arch Linux, etc.	SunOS, Solaris, SCO UNIX, AIX, HP/UX, ULTRIX etc.

Mahesh Parahar

Updated on: 31-Oct-2023

17K+ Views

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