Start-up phase

Start-up phase

Unix and the birth of Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing System) is a certain source of. Multics is from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, AT & T Bell Laboratories and General Electric cooperation in the operating system, is designed to run on GE-645 mainframe, but too large because the whole objective of looking too many features, Multics Although released Some products, but low performance and ultimately ended in failure.

AT & T into the final withdrawal of the Multics project resources, a developer, Ken Thompson will continue to GE-645 software development and, ultimately, to prepare a space travel game. After the actual operation, he discovered that the game is very slow and expensive-consuming - each operation will cost 75 U.S. dollars.

In the help of Dennis Ritchie, Thompson PDP-7 with the assembly language rewrite this game and to give them the DEC PDP-7 on the up and running. The experience with the experience of Multics project, to Thompson began a DEC PDP-7 on the new operating system project. Thompson and Ritchie led a group of developers, the development of a new multi-task operating system. This system includes an order to explain and some practical procedures, the project known as UNICS (Uniplexed Information and Computing System), because it can also support the multi-user operation. Later, the name was changed to UNIX.

Development period

Unix is the first compilation of language used by some applications are called by the B-language interpretation of language and mixed by the assembly language. B in-system programming language, not strong enough, so Thompson and Ritchie to a transformation, and in 1971 co-inventor of the C language. 1973 Thompson and Ritchie C language rewrite of the Unix. At the time, in order to achieve maximum efficiency, the system procedures are prepared by the assembly language, so Thompson and Ritchie This is very bold innovation and revolutionary meaning. C language used by Unix code simple compact and easy to transplant, legible and easy to modify, after the Unix for the development laid a solid foundation.

1974, Thompson and Ritchie cooperation in the ACM published a communication on the UNIX articles, UNIX This is the first time in Bell Labs outside. Since then UNIX by the government agencies, research institutions, companies and universities noted that, and gradually to pop open.

1975, UNIX released version 4, 5, 6 3. In 1978, has about 600 computers running the UNIX. 1979, version 7 release, this is the last release of a broad-based version of UNIX. In the 1980s version 8, 9 and 10 have been released only a small number of licensed to the University. Since then the direction of research has led to the emergence of Plan 9, this is a new distributed operating system.

1982, AT & T based on the development of version 7 of the UNIX System Ⅲ the first version, this is a commercial version for sale only. In order to solve the chaos UNIX versions of the situation, AT & T has integrated the development of other universities and companies of various UNIX, the development of the UNIX System V Release 1.

This new release of the UNIX business no longer includes the source code, so the University of California at Berkeley to continue the development of BSD UNIX, as a UNIX System III and V of the alternative. BSD UNIX on one of the most important contribution to the TCP / IP. BSD has eight major releases included in the TCP / IP: 4.1c ,4.2,4.3,4.3-Tahoe ,4.3-Reno, Net2, 4.4 and 4.4-lite. These release of TCP / IP code is now almost all systems in the TCP / IP to achieve predecessors, including AT & T System V UNIX and Microsoft Windows.

Other companies have begun their own Xiao Xingji or workstation to provide commercial versions of UNIX systems, and some choice as a base version of System V, while some chose to BSD. BSD, a major developer, Bill Joy, on the basis of the development of BSD in the SunOS, and eventually founded Sun Microsystems.

1991, a group of BSD developers (Donn Seeley, Mike Karels, Bill Jolitz and Trent Hein) from the University of California, founded the Berkeley Software Design, Inc (BSDI). BSDI is the first in the common cheap Intel platform to provide full-featured commercial BSD UNIX vendors. Later, Bill Jolitz left BSDI, began a 386 BSD work. 386BSD was considered FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD ancestors.

AT & T will continue to increase the UNIX System V documents locked, system management, operations control, flow and remote file system. 1987 to 1989, AT & T decided to Xenix (Microsoft's development of a x86-pc version of UNIX), BSD, SunOS and for the integration of System V System V Release 4 (SVR4). This new release will be the integration of multiple identities, ending a chaotic competitive situation.

After 1993, most commercial publishers are based on UNIX SVR4 develop its own variant of the UNIX.