[clark33]

Hi guys,

I'm operating Ubuntu 8.10 and plan to use the terminal command line. Is the "terminal" the same program found on all Linux systems, being universal?

I've head people talk about Unix (even in job adverts), is unix the exact same thing as "terminal command line" in Linux?

- im really hoping you say yes to the last question as its something i need to learn.

thanks!

[Baez]

Yes command line in a Linux environment accepts all Unix commands so you can learn Unix from there.

[kmote]

The problem with answering a question like this is that the "commands" in *nix are individual programs stored in a location listed in your $PATH variable

echo $PATH |tr ':' '\n'; file -L `which sed`

.
If the program is there, you can probably use it, if not you may be able to either get a binary or compile it in from source.
I have had a look and there does not seem to be a standard which says "to be [standard] compliant there must be a [standard] compliant version of the program 'tail' ".
Having said that, linux is a great place to learn unix.

[Baez]

Yep there is no standard but it's very similar therefore isn't much of a problem anyway.

[clark33]

Sorry to ask such a basic question:-

Is Linux a built GUI OS based on Unix Code?

and if i wanted to learn Unix - i could do so through the Ubuntu terminal part (like DOS/command line in windows)?

[Baez]

Yes you can learn Unix code through Linux. We've stated that already.

Linux is not programmed in Unix however. It is programmed in C. Linux just means Unix-Like.

[oldskool]

Yes, Unix-based as Baez said. Linus Torvalds developed it from C as he also said, and combining Unix with Linus, you get "Linux".