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Best UNIX Operating System

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Best UNIX Operating System

UNIX is an operating system that was created in the 1960s and has been constantly improved since then. We mean collecting applications that allow the computer to work by the OS. It is a dependable, multi-user, multi-tasking system for servers, PCs, and laptops. UNIX systems also have a GUI that is similar to Microsoft Windows and provides a user-friendly environment. However, UNIX knowledge is required for operations that are not covered by a graphical program or when no windows interface is accessible, such as in a telnet session. In this article, you will learn the best UNIX operating system with its features.

  1. Oracle Solaris
  2. Darwin
  3. FreeBSD
  4. HP-UX
  5. Microsoft/SCO Xenix
  6. SGI IRIX
  7. Mac OS
  8. NetBSD
  9. SCO OpenServer
  10. IBM AIX

Oracle Solaris

Best UNIX Operating System

Sun Microsystems was the original developer to create a Unix-based operating system. It’s also compatible with AT&T’s System V and the BSD OS. SunOS was the first OS to break ground at Sun Microsystems. After getting its first-generation inspiration from BSD, this OS publication was released in 1982. The machines that ran this operating system were powerful, affordable, and reliable due to the Sun’s use of SPARC because of scalable processor architecture. The version buildup of the operating system to 3.x with the name SunOS. SunOS with Solaris was identified as the operating system version 4.0.

The development of the operating system progressed significantly, and the introduction of SunOS 5.0 from Unix system V supplanted the BSD. It was released in 1992. Sun’s Solaris 2.4 release supported both X86 and SPARC computers. These creations were derived from a single source code base. Oracle later purchased Sun Microsystems and ended the Open Solaris project.

Features of Oracle Solaris

There are various features of Oracle Solaris. Some features of the Oracle Solaris are as follows:

  1. The operating system is quite stable and mature with two decades of active development.
  2. Oracle provides excellent enterprise assistance, which is both commendable and beneficial.
  3. The ZFS file system is extremely dependable and has a faster read/write performance.
  4. This operating system allows you to run famous legacy apps on any current machine.
  5. It’s designed specifically for businesses and large-scale applications.

Darwin

Best UNIX Operating System

Darwin is a free and open-source Unix operating system based on NeXTSTEP, BSD, Mach, and other open-source projects. It was launched in the year 2000 by Apple Inc. The Darwin core components serve as the foundation for Apple’s macOS. The Darwin kernel is XNU, a hybrid kernel-based on OSFMK 7.8. (Mach). In the year 2002, Apple and the Internet Systems Consortium launched OpenDarwin, a community-led operating system that did not survive and was shut down in 2006. The OpenDarwin is only helpful for Mac projects.

Features of Darwin

There are various features of Darwin. Some features of the Darwin are as follows:

  1. Darwin provides an advanced file system with all of the modern capabilities.
  2. It is a fantastic open-source initiative from Apple that promotes independence and flexibility while also assisting developers.
  3. It includes a full-featured networking module that supports standard protocols.
  4. It serves as the foundation for OSX and the fresh new macOS.
  5. You may use any programming language on Darwin, including Python, Ruby, Perl, etc.

FreeBSD

Best UNIX Operating System

FreeBSD is defined by the original BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution). FreeBSD is defined as a feature-complete OS. It is due to its well-known characteristics, which include full-fledged documentation, device drivers, tools, and a kernel. Engineers William Jolitz and Lynne Jolitz renamed the operating system 386BSD after adapting it to the 80386 CPUs.

FreeBSD is widely rumored to have played an important role in developing Apple OS. However, the success of 386BSD in the user’s domain prompted a subset of these users to create FreeBSD. In November 1993, the first official version was launched. This operating system’s functional design makes it suitable for various applications. As a result, it works well in both server and desktop environments.

Features of FreeBSD

There are various features of FreeBSD. Some features of the FreeBSD are as follows:

  1. FreeBSD is basically pre-configured, and you may use it right away without any advanced adjustments.
  2. FreeBSD includes various firewalls that may be used on servers without any further configuration.
  3. It has a feature called Jails that allows for virtualization with some complex capabilities.
  4. It uses the pkg binary packaging system, which is a new and enhanced binary packaging system.
  5. This system runs on unmodified Linux binaries without a hitch, and it also serves as a fantastic Linux emulator.

HP-UX

Best UNIX Operating System

HP-UX stands for Hewlett Packard Unix. It is described by UNIX System V release 4, which was launched in 1984. Its initial development goal was to compete with HP’s Proprietary Integral PC. It was eventually added to the hardware platforms of commercial servers in the 9000 series. HP-UX introduced all users’ access control list functionality under an OS file access authorization.

This operating system has some enterprise characteristics by a number of tools and capabilities built into its core. It is well-known for its excellent security management features as well as its memory management flexibility and availability.

Features of HP-UX

There are various features of HP-UX. Some features of the HP-UX are as follows:

  1. It provides better security, scalability, and reliability.
  2. HP offers four different services for adopting HP-UX in your organization.
  3. It has zero downtime and continuous service on the servers, which is a significant benefit.
  4. It supports virtualization technology, which may aid you in saving money on hardware in various ways.
  5. The development environment is feature-rich and powerful, and it may be used to create critical applications.
  6. This operating system is integrated with HPE’s specific security mechanisms to keep your data safe.

Microsoft/SCO Xenix

Best UNIX Operating System

The Xenix Unix-based OS was under a Microsoft license, and it was discontinued during the late 1970s. The popularity of UNIX later influenced Microsoft, leading it to buy AT&T’s license rights. It is still not widely known that Microsoft used to influence UNIX rights. Although, Microsoft was not directly involved in the commercialization of Xenix to specific clients.

Companies including Intel, IBM, and SCO were given commercial licenses to transfer the Unix operating system on their CPUs. Microsoft’s competitive advantage was lost due to its split with AT&T. Later, Microsoft sold their UNIX rights to SCO, an interested company. SCO then embarked on a rebranded Xenix release and renamed it SCO UNIX. The last version of this OS was SCO UNIX V.2.3.4, released in 1991 because its development was halted.

Features of Microsoft/SCO Xenix

There are various features of Microsoft/SCO Xenix. Some features of the Microsoft/SCO Xenix are as follows:

  1. It is cost-effective.
  2. It is easy to maintain.
  3. It provides a rich toolset for the sysadmins.
  4. XENIX is a trademark of Microsoft.

SGI IRIX

Best UNIX Operating System

SGI (Silicon Graphics) created the IRIX OS, which is now defunct. The functional purpose of the operating system was to run natively on MIPS servers and workstations. Its developmental inspiration is tied to BSD extensions, and UNIX System V. Its version up to IRIX 6.0 was compliant with UNIX 95, POSIX, and UNIX System V Release 4. It is well-known for its innovative use of the XFS file system. IRIX also supported Real-time graphics and disks. As a result, visualization vendors in the disciplines of science and animation found it handy. The IRIX operating system is also a pioneer in developing a desktop GUI. MIPS-based SGI products became obsolete when the world accepted X86 processors. The last version of IRIX was 6.5, which was released in 1998. After then, Silicon Graphics was taken over by Rackable Systems.

Features of SGI IRIX

There are various features of SGI IRIX. Some features of the SGI IRIX are as follows:

  1. A sizable hobbyist group still uses this operating system for several reasons.
  2. It was one of the first systems to contain an XFS file system and an OpenGL graphics library.
  3. It is based on Unix System V and is backward compatible with older hardware and software.
  4. It comes with the MIPS Pro compiler, which supports a variety of legacy programming languages, including C.
  5. It was capable of executing multi-threaded graphics and scientific analysis software.
  6. It supported many graphics and animation tools, and it was the most appealing aspect of this operating system at the time.

Mac OS

Best UNIX Operating System

Apple’s Mac OS is a commercially available UNIX-based OS that is developed and supported by the company. The Mac OS is a renamed version of the Mac OS X. It is largely influenced by the NeXT and Darwin operating systems. MacOS was initially supported on PowerPC-based PCs. Later in 2006, mac OS 10.4 versions with Intel CPU compatibility were introduced. It has been commonly known for its unique graphical user interface. Apple provides an integrated development environment known as Xcode, which provides interfaces to various supported compilers. In September 2017, Apple announced the latest version of macOS, High Sierra. Its new edition comes with a new Apple File System, Picture in Picture, Siri, desktop Tabs, Apple Pay, universal clipboard, and other features. According to common belief, Steve Jobs attempted to hire Linux developer Linus Torvalds in 2000, when Apple made big investments in OS X.

Features of Mac OS

There are various features of Mac OS. Some features of the Mac OS are as follows:

  1. The macOS security system is excellent, with excellent developer support.
  2. It provides support to graphics and video editing suites.
  3. It is the most attractive operating system with a vibrant user interface.
  4. The performance will be optimized because it only operates on Apple systems.
  5. It includes the bash shell by default and the terminal interface that is comparable to that of Linux distros.

NetBSD

Best UNIX Operating System

NetBSD is a free and open-source OS built on the codebases of 4.4BSD and 386BSD. The motto of the operating system is a highly portable operating system. NetBSD splits its device drivers into machine-dependent and machine-independent components using a unique hardware abstraction layer to hide the hardware access details. NetBSD has enabled symmetric multiprocessing since version 2.0 in 2004. NetBSD is used in large-scale server systems, desktop systems, mobile devices, and embedded systems because of its code clarity, meticulous design, and portability characteristics.

Features of NetBSD

There are various features of NetBSD. Some features of the NetBSD are as follows:

  1. This operating system is designed to run on ARM processors, which gives it a significant edge in IoT applications.
  2. It offers a simple and classic design language that is easy to learn and use.
  3. It is highly documented, and there are several ways to gain direct support as a community-supported operating system.
  4. It uses the very flexible pkgsrc package management and the pkgin binary, and the updating system is fantastic.
  5. Hardware acceleration and virtualization support paved the path for more complex applications.

SCO OpenServer

Best UNIX Operating System

You might be surprised to learn that Microsoft once purchased the Unix license from AT&T to construct their own Unix-flavored operating system called Xenix. Later, though, Microsoft switched its attention away from Zenix and sold the company to SCO. The SCO OpenServer operating system replaces Microsoft’s Xenix operating system.

The first version of OpenServer was based on Unix System V, which was a prominent operating system at the time. Although, the latest version is based on FreeBSD, a Unix-like operating system.

Features of SCO OpenServer

There are various features of SCO OpenServer. Some features of the SCO OpenServer are as follows:

  1. The developer company can help you to set up and manage this operating system on your server with special business support.
  2. It is often built to manage small and medium-sized organizations with minimal configuration.
  3. You can manage and update server hardware at any time with no downtime, which is critical for large enterprises.
  4. It provides better stability to the system.

IBM AIX

Best UNIX Operating System

AIX (Advanced Interactive eXecutive) is based on UNIX System V operating system and 4.3BSD-compatible enhancements. It is classified as an enterprise-class operating system. It is popular in the commercial UNIX OS market. After AIX was released in 1986, the IBM 6150 RT machines were the first to run it.

AIX was the first operating system to have a journaling file system. It is well-known for its dependability, scalability, and security. Various hardware platforms were supported, including PS/2 personal computers, System/370 mainframes, POWER, Apple Network Server, PowerPC, and RS600.

Features of IBM AIX

There are various features of IBM AIX. Some features of the IBM AIX are as follows:

  1. IBM has developed specific hardware known as Power Systems that works best with the AIX operating system.
  2. AIX servers have far less downtime than any other server OS on the market.
  3. They offer regular updates that are compatible with modern applications.
  4. It has a high priority that is protected by a trusted execution feature.

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