Unix / Linux History - a web based tutorial

Unix / Linux History - A web based tutorial

Author: Kylie Davies. Release Version 0.5 Date: 2/07/03
TO DO: Add more FSF stuff, GNU and GPL information, Source works used appropriately (part kernel stuff) - maybe ask for permission.

History of Unix/Linux

Some nice timelines can be found at the URLS below. .

• http://www.matchstick.com/unix/history.html
• http://www.computerhope.com/history/unix.htm

The History of Unix from The Linux Users' Guide
Full guide is online at http://espc22.murdoch.edu.au/~stewart/guide/guide.html
--------------------------
Larry Greenfield

UNIX is a trademark of X/Open
MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation
OS/2 and Operating System/2 are trademarks of IBM
Linux is not a trademark, and has no connection to UNIX or to Unix System Laboratories.
Please bring all unacknowledged trademarks to the attention of the author.

Copyright © Larry Greenfield
427 Harrison Avenue
Highland Park, NJ
08904
may be reproduced and distributed in whole or in part, subject to the following conditions:

1. The copyright notice above and this permission notice must be preserved complete on all complete or partial copies.

2. Any translation or derivative work of The Linux Users' Guide must be approved by the author in writing before distribution.

3. If you distribute The Linux Users' Guide in part, instructions for obtaining the complete version of The Linux Users' Guide must be included, and a means for obtaining a complete version provided.

4. Small portions may be reproduced as illustrations for reviews or quotes in other works without this permission notice if proper citation is given.

5. The GNU General Public License referenced below may be reproduced under the conditions given within it.

Exceptions to these rules may be granted for various purposes: Write to Larry Greenfield, at the above address, or email greenfie@gauss.rutgers.edu, and ask. These restrictions are here to protect us as authors, not to restrict you as computer users.
---------------------------------

In 1965, Bell Telephone Laboratories (Bell Labs, a division of AT&T)Bell Labs was working with General Electric and Project MAC of MIT to write an operating system called Multics. To make a long story slightly shorter, Bell Labs decided the project wasn't going anywhere and broke out of the group. This, however, left Bell Labs without a good operating system.

Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie decided to sketch out an operating system that would meet Bell Labs' needs. When Thompson needed a development environment (1970) to run on a PDP-7, he implemented their ideas. As a pun on Multics, Brian Kernighan gave the system the name UNIX.

Later, Dennis Ritchie invented the ``C'' programming language. In 1973, UNIX was rewritten in C, which would have a major impact later on. In 1977, UNIX was moved to a new machine, away from the PDP machines it had run on previously. This was aided by the fact UNIX was written in C.

Unix was slow to catch on outside of academic institutions but soon was popular with businesses as well. The Unix of today is different from the Unix of 1970. It has two major versions: System V, from Unix System Laboratories (USL), a subsidiary of Novell, and BSD, Berkeley Software Distribution. The USL version is now up to its forth release, or SVR4, while BSD's latest version is 4.4. However, there are many different versions of Unix besides these two. Most versions of Unix are developed by software companies and derive from one of the two groupings. Recently, the versions of Unix that are actually used incorporate features from both of them.

USL is a company that was `spun off' from AT&T, and has taken over the maintenance of UNIX since it stopped being a research item. Unix now is much more commercial than it once was, and the licenses source code cost much more.

Please note the difference between Unix and UNIX. When I say ``Unix'' I am talking about Unix versions in generally, whether or not USL is involved in them. ``UNIX'' is the current version of Unix from USL. The distinction is because UNIX is a trademark of X/Open. (Officially, anybody can create a UNIX operating system, as long as it passes tests from X/Open. Since the tests haven't been created yet and are likely to cost money, Linux is currently not a ``real'' UNIX.)

Current versions of UNIX for Intel PCs cost between $500and $2000.

Source: http://espc22.murdoch.edu.au/~stewart/guide/section2_4_1.html#SECTION0041000000000000000

On UNIX in general

Information about UNIX and UNIX variants can be found at http://www.computerhope.com/unix/unix.htm

On Linux in general

Linux International’s take on Linux can be found at http://www.li.org/whatislinux.php

A comprehensive links page to a range of information (including history) about LINUX / UNIX is located at: http://www.southern.dpsnc.net/linux_unix/historyoflinux.html

On the Linux Kernel

“Unstable
V0.01
The first release of the Linux-Kernel to the public was in September 1991.The size of the tar.gz-archive was 71KB. This version only ran on Intel 80386 processors on a PC architecture. There was a basic virtual memory sub-system and a few drivers. The only supported file system was the MinixFS. There was no network support at all.
V2.4-test1
Also this version has an even minor number it is not the first stable version of the new kernel. It looks like Linus switched to a "redmond"-style versioning system. This Kernel was released on May 25th, 2000.
Stable
V1.0
The first stable release of the Kernel was in March 1994.
V2.2
The latest (stable) release of the Kernel was in January 1999. The size of the tar.gz-archive was 12.5MB (that is 180 times the size of V0.01) This version runs on multiple architectures including Intel x86, Sparc, Alpha, Ultra, M68k, and Power PC. There are hundreds of drivers and quite a few supported files systems. The network support of this Kernel is one of the best that exists today.”

Source: http://www.linux-history.org/kernel/