Lecture 1: Unix/Linux Intro - VOCABULARY Flashcards

80 vocabulary flashcards covering UNIX/Linux history, concepts, distributions, tools, and common terms.

UNIX

A collection of related operating systems, Unix-like or *nix, originally based on AT&T Bell Labs UNIX.

Unix-like

UNIX-family systems that resemble UNIX in interface and behavior.

*nix

Short form for Unix-like systems.

AT&T UNIX

The original UNIX developed at Bell Labs, the basis for later variants.

BSD

Berkeley Software Distribution, a BSD UNIX lineage from UC Berkeley.

Berkeley Software Distribution

BSD UNIX family including 1BSD–4.4BSD.

SVR4

System V Release 4, a major System V UNIX release.

System V

UNIX variant from AT&T with multiple releases (V2, V3, V4).

Time sharing

Computing where multiple users share a computer’s resources; prominent 1961–1969.

Multics

Early time-sharing OS developed by MIT, Bell Labs, GE; ambitious but costly.

Project Multiplexed Information and Computing Service

Full name of Multics project.

MIT

Massachusetts Institute of Technology; partner in Multics.

Bell Labs

Bell Telephone Laboratories; co-developer of UNIX and Multics.

GE

General Electric; partner in the Multics project.

Ken Thompson

Co-creator of UNIX.

Dennis Ritchie

Co-creator of UNIX; helped develop the C programming language.

Rudd Canaday

Early contributor to UNIX.

Write programs that do one thing well

UNIX design philosophy emphasizing small, focused tools.

Write programs to work together

UNIX philosophy promoting interoperability of tools.

Text streams as a universal interface

UNIX concept using text streams as a common data interface.

1BSD

First BSD distribution released by UC Berkeley.

2BSD

Second BSD release from Berkeley.

3BSD

Third BSD release in the BSD lineage.

4.2BSD

BSD release with networking enhancements.

4.3BSD

BSD release following 4.2BSD.

4.4BSD

BSD release with further enhancements; influential in Unix history.

Bill Joy

Key BSD developer who later helped shape SunOS.

Sun Microsystems

Company behind SunOS and hardware; later acquired by Oracle.

Oracle

Company that acquired Sun Microsystems.

SunOS

Sun’s UNIX variant derived from BSD lineage.

1974 Unix tape

Unix tape Berkeley received in 1974 that spurred BSD development.

BSD 1977 release

BSD release year identified in the BSD lineage.

System III

System III release (1982) in the System V family lineage.

System V.2

System V release 2 (1984) in the System V family.

System V.3

System V release 3 (1986) in the System V family.

System V.4

System V release 4 (1988) in the System V family.

Version 7

Version 7 UNIX released in 1979.

XENIX

Microsoft’s UNIX variant introduced in 1979+.

OSF/1

UNIX operating system from the Open Software Foundation (1992).

UNIX Implementations

Different UNIX variants, including AIX, Digital UNIX, HP-UX, IRIX, SCO UNIXWARE, Solaris.

AIX

IBM’s UNIX variant.

Digital UNIX

DEC’s UNIX variant (later Tru64 UNIX).

HP-UX

Hewlett-Packard’s UNIX variant.

IRIX

SGI’s UNIX variant.

SCO UNIXWARE

SCO’s UNIXWare product.

Solaris

Sun’s UNIX variant (modern descendants of SunOS).

UNIX Families

Grouping of UNIX variants by lineage (BSD-based and System V-based).

Dawn of Unix

Era 1969–1973 when UNIX emerged and gained traction.

UNIX dominance (1974–1990)

Period when BSD expansion and DARPA support solidified UNIX’s lead.

Linux born

Period 1991–1995 when Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernel.

Linus Torvalds

Creator of the Linux kernel.

Minix

Educational UNIX-like OS used as a learning base for Linux.

Andrew Tanenbaum

Creator of Minix and a mentor figure in Unix/Linux history.

GNU Project

Open-source project that supplied many tools for Linux distributions.

Open Source Software

Software with freely available source code and collaborative development.

Linux distributions

Packaged collections of the Linux kernel plus userland tools.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Popular enterprise Linux distribution.

CentOS

Free rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Fedora

Community-driven Linux distribution affiliated with Red Hat.

Debian

A major Linux distribution started in 1993; basis for others.

Ubuntu

Popular Debian-based Linux distribution.

SUSE Linux Enterprise

SUSE’s enterprise Linux distribution.

OpenSUSE

Community edition of SUSE Linux.

Linux kernel

Core of the Linux operating system; interfaces with hardware.

POSIX

Portable Operating System Interface; standard UNIX interface specification.

Portable Operating System Interface

POSIX, the standard specifying UNIX-like APIs.

Modularity

Design goal to keep components modular and interchangeable.

Simplicity

Design goal to keep systems straightforward and understandable.

Portability

Ability of software to run on various hardware with minimal changes.

Manual pages (man)

Built-in UNIX documentation accessed via the man command.

man sections

Nine sections in man pages, from user commands to kernel information.

-k switch

Option to search manual pages by keyword.

/usr/share/man

Directory where system manual pages are stored.

/usr/local/man

Directory for locally installed manual pages.

/usr/local/share/man

Location for locally installed manuals (alternative).

Info

Alternative documentation system to man with more examples.

Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah

Apple UNIX-based OS release with UNIX-core and Aqua UI.

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Mac OS X version with 64-bit kernel and server improvements.

Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

Mac OS X release with cloud sharing support.

Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan

Mac OS X release with improved performance, security, stability.

FreeBSD 6.0

FreeBSD version introducing multithreaded file system and wireless support.

FreeBSD 9.1

FreeBSD version with improved load balancing and multithreading.