What is Linux and Unix and what's the point of them?

I know Linux is a 2nd operation system. What would the difference between Linux and my Vista be? Why do I need two operating systems on my computer?





And what is Unix?

What is Linux and Unix and what's the point of them?
To answer your first question, Linux is a Unix-type operating system. This will almost definitely lead to the question, "what is Unix?" Unix is basically, an operating system that was started eons ago by a lot of clever people, that has grown and grown, and is as powerful as any other operating system that you can have, but is also FREE!





To answer your 2nd question, I have just made the first point, Linux is widely and freely available, Vista is widely, but not so freely (I know you can get free downloads through some channels e.g. Academic Use). Also getting a bit more technical, Vista is very demanding on a computer's resources (RAM, Processor). A computer with 1 GB of RAM will just about be able to handle Vista, but won't allow you to harness its power properly. To do that, you'd need to pay more. With a Linux-based system, (Here I need to do some name-dropping so here goes - Ubuntu -my fave, Suse, Debian) 1GB of RAM is more than enough, and you don't even need that much hard drive space to get the whole operating system. The main point though, the whole idea of Linux-based systems, is that they are Open Source software, which means that a lot of smart, kind, computer boffins help to make it. And if something breaks or isn't working (in terms of software), they'll all help to fix it. Still at no charge! I'm sure you know this wouldn't be quite the case with Microsoft. The arguement is that with MS, when there's a problem, they can cover it up for as long as they can get away with because they have an image to protect, haven't quite figured out how to fix it as there are limited human resources, etc.


I hope I don't sound anti-Microsoft though, because I'm not really, (I'm typing this from an XP computer). But I don't like the idea of asking (and eventually forcing) people to get Vista when XP is still fine and dandy and beautiful and so popular and suits me just fine.





To answer your 3rd question, you don't need two operating systems on your machine. Except you really want to do some deep computing work, and experts/random know-it-alls recommend its best for you to use another OS.





And your final question, well, I think I already answered that. I have an installation of Ubuntu on a Virtual Machine, which is based on Linux, which is based on Unix. Which is quite a decent base to base things on. Whether or not is better than anything else, depends on a lot of factors, most important of which is personal experience.
Reply:Unix isn't a second operating system. It's an operating system. It was designed by Bell Laboratories, from the beginning, to be secure when multiple people have access to your computer.





Linux is a kernel - the heart of an operating system. When used with gnu utilities, you have an operating system that is functionally very similar to Unix, but is free (as in "free beer"). If someone has written an application for Unix or for Linux, it normally works on either, although you may have to recompile it, usually an automated process that may take a few seconds.





Windows is an *proprietary* operating system. It evolved from DOS, which thought there would be only one operator for the computer, and you'd keep the computer secure by locking the door when you left. Obviously *that* doesn't work if you have a wire running to the internet and 3 billion rapscallions trying to interfere with your peaceful enjoyment of the computer.





You don't need two operating systems. You can use Linux, which is usually pretty pricey (although Solaris is a Unix that is free), or you can use Windows, which is pricey and unsafe, although it allows you to run most software, or you can run Linux, which is free for the download and secure.





The disadvantage of Linux is that there's a limited amount of software available for the desktop, even worse than a Mac. And there aren't drivers for all the printers, scanners, etc., that you might want to add to your computer, although the situation there is a lot better than a Mac.





(Mac's operating system, OS-X, won't run on your computer. It's a version of BSD, which like Linux is a Unix workalike, but it's not free. In fact, it costs $129/year to run OS X.)
Reply:Linux is a better operating system then windows. It lets you pretty much do whatever you want. (unlike windows) Its sorta like dos.





Think of it like this...You buy an apple pie from the store but someone else made it so you dont know whats in it. (Windows) or You make your own apple pie and obviously you know what goes into it. You can alter it in many ways everytime. You can add more eggs and subtract more milk. (like Linux)





Linux is much more secure then windows. And, you dont need to use Linux and Windows. You can use one or the other.
Reply:Linux and Unix are stand alone operating systems. No one says you have to have Linux or Unix or for that matter Windows. There are many who only run Linux, and Sun Micros's Solaris 10 (Unix) is also free now.


Those who run Linux or Unix as a second OS do so more times than not put of curiosity.


Actually Unix is older than Windows having been written in 1969.
Reply:You don't "need" to have Linux on your computer, but many people like it because it is open source, which means you can access all of the source code for the operating system, something you cannot do with any Windows product. The main difference is that to successfully run Linux, a person needs to be somewhat tech savvy, as there is much more stuff that needs to be done manually when setting up the OS, particularly with drivers, etc. Some of the newer distros of Linix have more drivers built in, but there may still be some manual tweaking that needs to be done. UNIX is an operating system designed for servers upon which Linux is based. UNIX was developed around 35 years ago, and used primarily for servers/mainframes.
Reply:You don't ever need two operating systems... unless you need two operating systems ;-)





If you don't know the difference, you will either get a PC with Microsoft Vista or an Apple with Mac OSX.





The differences between Linux (with the hundreds of different distributions) and UNIX (which also comes from a variety of software vendors) is simply too numerous to answer here.


.