UNIX HISTORY

History:

Bell Labs researchers who had worked on Multics (Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, Joseph Ossanna, and others) still wanted to develop an operating system for their own and Bell Labs’ programming, job control, and resource usage needs. When Multics was withdrawn Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie needed to rewrite an operating system in order to play space travel on another smaller machine (a DEC PDP-7 [Programmed Data Processor 4K memory for user programs). The result was a system called UNICS (UNiplexed Information and Computing Service) which was an 'emasculated Multics'.

First version:

The first version of Unix was written in the low-level PDP-7 assembler language. Later, a language called TMG was developed for the PDP-7 by R. M. McClure. Using TMG to develop a FORTRAN compiler, Ken Thompson instead ended up developing a compiler for a new high-level language he called B, based on the earlier BCPL language developed by Martin Richard. When the PDP-11 computer arrived at Bell Labs, Dennis Ritchie built on B to create a new language called C. Unix components were later rewritten in C, and finally with the kernel itself in 1973.

Unix V6:

                 V6, released in 1975 became very popular. Unix V6 was free and was distributed with its source code

UNIX System V:

In 1983, AT&T released Unix System V which was a commercial version.

Meanwhile, the University of California at Berkeley started the development of its own version of Unix. Berkeley was also involved in the inclusion of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networking protocol.

Ubuntu:

Linux was already established as an enterprise server platform in 2004, but free software was not a part of everyday life for most computer users. That’s why Mark Shuttleworth gathered a small team of developers from one of the most established Linux projects — Debian — and set out to create an easy-to-use Linux desktop: Ubuntu.

Ubuntu vision:

The vision for Ubuntu is part social and part economic: free software, available to everybody on the same terms, and funded through a portfolio of services provided by Canonical.

Ubuntu Realeases:

The Ubuntu team broke new ground in committing to a programme of scheduled releases on a predictable six-month basis. It was decided that every fourth release, issued on a two-year basis, would receive long-term support (LTS). LTS releases are typically used for large-scale deployments.

Difference from linux :

Ubuntu is different from the commercial Linux offerings that preceded it because it doesn’t divide its efforts between a high-quality commercial version and a free ‘community’ version. The commercial and community teams collaborate to produce a single, high-quality release, which receives ongoing maintenance for a defined period. Both the release and ongoing updates are freely available to all users.