UNIX

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Unix
Type: Time-sharing
Creator: Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy at Bell Labs
Multitasking: Multitasking with paging/swap
Architecture: Originally PDP-7, then PDP-11 now cross-platform.
Date Released: 1969


Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. Today's Unix systems are split into various branches, developed over time by AT&T as well as various commercial vendors and non-profit organizations.

Versions of relevance for hobbyists include:

  • Unix System 5 - The first version with known source and binaries available.
  • Unix System 6
  • Unix System 7 - One of the most complete and the last generally available and PDP-11 version of Research UNIX
  • 2.11 BSD - A still-maintained version for PDP-11s
  • 4.2 BSD - The first shipping version of BSD with TCP/IP, FFS & termcap for the VAX.
  • 4.3 BSD - A version of pre-POSIX BSD, for the VAX.

NetBSD will run on a variety of 32-bit older systems from the VAX to the Amiga. OpenBSD runs well on the VAX.