UNIX- Making Lives Easier

UNIX is a computer operating system that was developed by a group of people in 1969 when the need of more easy and user friendly operating system was felt by the people. There are many other operating systems that are Unix-like including BSD, Linux, and Solaris etc. UNIX operating systems are broadly employed on server machines and workstations. UNIX is also called an open system, which means that its source code is written in C language and it is available to everyone to make necessary changes to it according to one’s own will. C language is easy to compile and is universally understood by all programmers.

There are many advantages of UNIX over other operating systems. It is designed to be portable and at the same time multi-tasking in a time sharing configuration. The method for storing data is plain text. Also, there is a hierarchical structure to store files and directories. These small programs are slave programs which mean that they are dependent upon a master program to run everything else, which is called Kernel.

Kernel is the heart of any operating system and so it is to UNIX. From handling files at a lower level to providing access of hardware to a program, from starting to stopping processes, everything is handled by Kernel. If there are any issues in providing access of hardware to two applications at the same time, then Kernel helps in resolving such conflicts. Kernel contains several components that are of great importance. Configuration and machine dependent parts, that include boot code and codes associated with accessing ROM and RAM, are placed under "conf". "Dev" is used to access drivers of I/O devices that are attached to the system. "Sys" is the component that deals with providing memory management, process scheduling with microprocessor and answering system calls. "h" is the component that defines the header files in the system and some specific system information.

UNIX system is a combination of several components that are necessary to run it. These are Kernel, development environment, libraries, documents and the portable source code written in C language for all these components. Later on, the source code was translated into binary language as well. There are several UNIX commands that a basic user should know in order to work on this open source operating system. Some of its categories are discussed below.

sh- The shell programmable Command line interpreter, appears right in the beginning before you get into the windows type system. After you have entered the windows type system, to close the applications, you will be directed to a command window as well; examples are cp, ls, grep, find, etc. The GUI of UNIX used is more or less like Command line interface for Windows but some changes have been made to it to make it more user-friendly. Current systems also include TCP/IP facilities which help in establishing a connection between your network and other computers all over the world via internet.

Do you have questions about Unix? The best place on the internet to ask questions and share your knowledge about Unix is UnixBin.