Unix

It is a a family of operating systems derived from the original Unix system developed by AT&T Bell Labs in the 1970s.

POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface)

It is a standard for Unix operating systems, maintained by IEEE which ensures cross-compatibility between various operating systems.

GNU Project

It is project for developing free software (and operating system). GNU stands for “GNU is Not UNIX”

Linux

It is a free and open source operating system used in all of the top super-computers.

Kernel

It is the interface between software and the hardware. It runs the hardware at low level. Some functionalities include:

  • Process scheduling
  • Inter-process communication
  • Networking
  • Memory management
  • File handling (virtual file system)

Shell

It is a text based user interface in UNIX/Linux. A “shell” around the kernel