Unix Operating System

-:Present by
Nilesh Shelke
Contents

 What is Operating System?

 UNIX Operating System
 General Characteristics of UNIX OS
 Components of UNIX
 UNIX Vs Other OS
 Why use UNIX?
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
What is Operating System..??

 Operating System is a program that acts as an interface between the user of a computer and the computer
hardware.
 In simple terms, an operating system is a manager. It manages all the available resources on a computer,
from the CPU, to memory, to hard disk accesses.
 Operating system goals:
- Control/execute application programs.
- Make the computer system convenient to use.
- Make solving user problems easier.
- Use the computer hardware in an efficient manner.
UNIX Operating System

 UNIX is a kind of multi-tasking, multi-user computer Operating System that derive from the AT&T Unix,
developed in the 1970s at the Bell Lab research center by Ken Thompson and the late Dennis Ritchie.
 UNIX was meant to be a programmer’s workbench to be used for developing software to be run on multiple
platforms more than to be used to run application software.
 The system grew larger as the operating system started spreading in the academic circle, as user added their
own tools to the system and shared them with colleagues. Therefore, UNIX was designed to be portable,
multi-tasking and multi-user in an time-sharing configuration.
General Characteristics of UNIX as an
Operating System (OS)

 Multi-user & Multi-tasking - most versions of UNIX are capable of allowing multiple users to log onto the
system, and have each run multiple tasks.
 Over 30 Years Old - UNIX is over 30 years old and its popularity and use is still high.
 Large Number of Applications – there are an enormous amount of applications available for UNIX operating
systems. They range from commercial applications such as CAD, Maya, WordPerfect, to many free
applications.
 Free Applications and Even a Free Operating System - all of the applications available under UNIX, many of
them are free.
 Less Resource Intensive - in general, most UNIX installations tend to be much less demanding on system
resources. In many cases, the old family computer that can barely run Windows is more than sufficient to run
the latest version of Linux.
Components of UNIX

 The UNIX system is composed of several components that were originally packaged together.
 By including the development environment, libraries, documents and the portable, modifiable source code
for all of these components, in addition to the kernel of an operating system, UNIX was a self-contained
software system.
UNIX VS Other OS

The UNIX system had significant impact on other operating systems. It won its success by:
 Direct interaction.
 Providing the software at a nominal fee for educational use.
 Running on inexpensive hardware.
 Being easy to adapt and move to different machines.
Why Use UNIX?

 Unix is most widely used in all forms of computing systems such as desktop, laptop, and servers. On Unix,
there is a Graphical user interface similar to windows that support easy navigation and support environment.
 One of the biggest reasons for using Unix is networking capability.
 With Unix, networking capability is simply part of the operating system.
 Unix is ideal for such things as world wide e-mail and connecting to the Internet.
 Unix was written in a machine independent language.
Advantages

 Full multitasking with protected memory. Multiple users can run multiple programs each at the same time
without interfering with each other or crashing the system.
 UNIX is very portable, which means it can run on a number of different hardware platforms, making it easy
for user to install on whatever hardware they choose to use.
 It has Very efficient virtual memory, so many programs can run with a modest amount of physical memory.
 It access Control and security. All user must be authenticated by a valid account and password to use the
system at all. All files are owned by particular accounts. The owner can decide whether others have read or
write access to his files.
 Disadvantages

 It’s traditional command line shell interface is user hostile -- designed for the programmer, not the casual user.
 Commands often have cryptic names and give very little response to tell the user what they are doing.
 Unix is not a very user-friendly operating system
 An application program written for one version of UNIX may not run on other versions.
Thank You !