Older Folks and Vaping Back Porch - Part Four

[Robert Cromwell]

Just because Unix and Linux act pretty much the same if you use the same Kernel ie Korn or whatever one you use. That is just the user interface.

I have one PC here loaded with a Sun Unix OS. It is a bit different from Unix.
I worked Sun servers for about a decade.

We used clusters with failover capability of the biggest servers that Sun made.

 

[Semiretired]

I don't think so Matt re; MAC OS being Linux ... it's a certified UNIX

Register of Open Branded Products

But then my view of Linux and Unix are if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck then ....

Linux came from Unix with just enough differences to make them not the same. Linux is open source (free) and Unix is closed free (you gotta pay). But in a way Mike is entirely right - quacks like a duck then...

 

[Robert Cromwell]

Linux came from Unix with just enough differences to make them not the same. Linux is open source (free) and Unix is closed free (you gotta pay). But in a way Mike is entirely right - quacks like a duck then...

Not when the lawyers get hold of it.
The quack is gone and you are stuck holding the bill.

Can we apply the same logic to vaping? If it looks like smoking....

 

[Semiretired]

Can we apply the same logic to vaping? If it looks like smoking....

That's what is happening isn't it???

 

[Robert Cromwell]

That's what is happening isn't it???

yep that is exactly my point.
So why is Unix the same as Linux when we know they are not the same thing?

 

[MikeE3]

Linux came from Unix with just enough differences to make them not the same. Linux is open source (free) and Unix is closed free (you gotta pay). But in a way Mike is entirely right - quacks like a duck then...

Not the way I remember it. Linux was a complete re-write ... the 'idea' came from Unix but it's not a code based dirivitive.

 

[Robert Cromwell]

Not the way I remember it. Linux was a complete re-write ... the 'idea' came from Unix but it's not a code based dirivitive.

That is my understanding as well.

Kinda like a TV. the picture may look the same but how they get the picture up there can be very different.

 

[umanbean]

Linux primary audience today is commercial applications - servers and stuff - we are left more to the wolves in the normal consumer market... We have a couple of Linux users in our group - I am sure they will jump in with more info...

Exactly.

If Linux had had wider adoption, therefore more users, before now, developers would have written more & better "consumer" programs for it sooner, and also more versions of Windows programs now in popular use would have been ported over to Linux sooner... which would have led to even more users, which would have led to even more support - on and on, so forth.

Gates made what will probably go down as the single-most smartest business decision in human history when he *licensed* BASIC & MS-DOS to IBM instead of selling it to them outright. Oh BTW - he also started his journey to 'richest man on earth' by plagiarizing BASIC from some other language (can't recall right now), and later plagiarized part-or-most of CP/M to make MS-DOS 1.0.

(The above paragraph is strictly from my memory of 30+ years ago, and my memory isn't what it used to be. I haven't read anything of Gates' history or beginnings in... well, 30+ years. Feel free to correct me on anything I might have misconstrued.)

I used Linux for a year or so. It is really meant for people who are more computer-sophisticated than myself. Took a while before I had the software I needed, and learned how to use it. Then, when I transited back to windows, I had to re-learn what I had forgotten. It was fun, and really ideal for elderly computers because it can be so lightweight.

It wouldn't be only for computer-sophisticated people - if it were more widely used and supported, and had had more user-friendly front-ends developed sooner. Also, MS wouldn't have a death-grip on the consumer/business market, viruses wouldn't be as pervasive and potentially damaging, and open-source applications would rule.

I think ECF just burped - it kicked me out for a moment after my post...

Probably 'cause it's a Windows-based BBS... derp!

 

[3mg Meniere]

It wouldn't be only for computer-sophisticated people - if it were more widely used and supported, and had had more user-friendly front-ends developed sooner. Also, MS wouldn't have a death-grip on the consumer/business market, viruses wouldn't be as pervasive and potentially damaging, and open-source applications would rule.

Exactly. I enjoyed the simple virus protection. And the learning curve was steep, but a fun challenge. I really wouldn't mind trading in this POS for another second-hand laptop with Linux. Good way to do it if you don't have much money.

 

[Semiretired]

Not the way I remember it. Linux was a complete re-write ... the 'idea' came from Unix but it's not a code based dirivitive.

That is my understanding as well.

Kinda like a TV. the picture may look the same but how they get the picture up there can be very different.

Took me a while to find this - it is from an old Linux class I took years ago...

Unix was a proprietary (non-free) operating system. The GNU project set out to create a free (open source) clone of Unix, but they didn't have a kernel ready. Enter Linus Torvalds, a Finnish programmer. He wrote the Linux kernel as a hobby, releasing it under the GPL (general public license). The Linux kernel was similar to Unix, but not exactly the same. This kernel, coupled with the GNU applications, forms the basis for the many distributions we know today, generically referred to as 'Linux'.

But, it is a Different kernel! and a Different System Design!

 

[Semiretired]

If Linux had had wider adoption, therefore more users, before now, developers would have written more & better "consumer" programs for it sooner, and also more versions of Windows programs now in popular use would have been ported over to Linux sooner...

That is one of the reasons for the big push by Microsoft towards the adoption of Windows 10 (Market Share) - hence the offer of the initial free upgrade... I am sure they have more reasons, but that Market Share is important to them...

Mozilla recently announced it is dropping its Linux based internet engine - nobody to my knowledge has picked it up yet - if no one does it could be a big hit for Linux in the consumer market share...

 

[Semiretired]

Now, that I think about it - my interpretation of Linux with Unix may be just that - the way I am interpreting the words as they were written - not how they were meant... We all know - interpretation is half of the problems with the written word...

 

[MikeE3]

Now, that I think about it - my interpretation of Linux with Unix may be just that - the way I am interpreting the words as they were written - not how they were meant... We all know - interpretation is half of the problems with the written word...

Well we're kind of splitting hairs ... sort of like is the Orchid a derivative of the kayfun or a complete re-design?

 

[garyoa1]

Actually, IIRC, Gates bought his OS (DOS) from a friend of his. Who ls likely no longer a friend.
And not to let Jobs off the hook, he used the xerox OS.

 

[Semiretired]

And not to let Jobs off the hook, he used the xerox OS.

Yea, but Xerox did not believe it would ever go anywhere at the time...

 

[Robert Cromwell]

Well we're kind of splitting hairs ... sort of like is the Orchid a derivative of the kayfun or a complete re-design?

Which version of Kayfun?
Pls include subversion as well.

 

[Semiretired]

Well we're kind of splitting hairs ... sort of like is the Orchid a derivative of the Kayfun or a complete re-design?

Yep, that is why I said it more of interpretation of the words than anything else...

 

[garyoa1]

Yea, but Xerox did not believe it would ever go anywhere at the time...

Neither did Bills friend. Or IBM for that matter.

 

[Robert Cromwell]

so apple does use linux OS then?

 

[Semiretired]

Neither did Bills friend. Or IBM for that matter.

Gates - pulled off quite a few big moments using others work - hey he had insight...