Unix History


Unix Timeline

Below, you can see the preview of the Unix History (click on the white zone to get a bigger image):

1969 1980 1985 1990 1995 1999 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 index
Preview page 1 Preview page 2 Preview page 3 Preview page 4 Preview page 5 Preview page 6 Preview page 7 Preview page 8 Preview page 9 Preview page 10 Preview page 11 Preview page 12 Preview page 13 Preview page 14 Preview page 15 Preview page 16 Preview page 17 Preview page 18 Preview page 19 Preview page 20 Preview page 21 Preview index


This is a simplified diagram of unix history. There are numerous derivative systems not listed in this chart, maybe 10 times more! In the recent past, many electronic companies had their own unix releases. This diagram is only the tip of an iceberg, with a penguin on it ;-).

If you want to print this timeline, you can download one of the following files:

Printer using A4 paper PS PDF
Printer using Letter paper PS PDF
Plotter EPS PDF If you have some problem
with the EPS file, look here.

Here is the index of the Unix History :

Printer using A4 paper PS PDF
Printer using Letter paper PS PDF

Here is the ChangeLog of this history.

If you have put this diagram on the wall of your office and have taken a photo of it, please send me a copy and I'll put it on this page. ;-)

Note 1 : an arrow indicates an inheritance like a compatibility, it is not only a matter of source code.
Note 2 : this diagram shows complete systems and [micro]kernels like Mach, Linux, the Hurd... This is because sometimes kernel versions are more appropriate to see the evolution of the system.
Note 3 : I have now a page where I explain how I build this chart.


Some Home Pages :

Brian Dennis Ken Bill Steve Linus RMS
  Brian Kernighan    Dennis Ritchie    Ken Thompson    Bill Joy    Steve Jobs*    Linus Torvalds    Richard Stallman 

You can also find here some unix people.

* You may be wondering "Why does Steve Jobs appear in this unix history?". Simply because he has made the best unix computer ever : a NeXTcube powered with the NeXTSTEP operating system. And now : Mac OS X.


Some Unixes :

Here is a listing of the unixes that are present in my chart :

1BSD
2BSD
3BSD
4BSD
4.4BSD Lite 1
4.4BSD Lite 2
386 BSD
Acorn RISC iX
Acorn RISC Unix
AIX
AIX PS/2
AIX/370
AIX/6000
AIX/ESA
AIX/RT
AMiX
AOS Lite
AOS Reno
ArchBSD
ASV
Atari Unix
A/UX
BOS
BRL Unix
BSD Net/1
BSD Net/2
BSD/386
BSD/OS
CB Unix
Chorus
Chorus/MiX
Coherent
CTIX
CXOS
Darwin
Debian GNU/Hurd
DEC OSF/1 ACP
Digital Unix
DragonFly BSD
Dynix
Dynix/ptx
ekkoBSD
Eunice
FireFly BSD
FreeBSD
GNU
GNU-Darwin
Gnuppix GNU/Hurd-L4
HPBSD
HP-UX
HP-UX BLS
IBM AOS
IBM IX/370
Interactive 386/ix
Interactive IS
IRIX
Linux
Lites
LSX
Mac OS X
Mac OS X Server
Mach
MERT
MicroBSD
Mini Unix
Minix
Minix-VMD
MIPS OS RISC/os
MirBSD
Mk Linux
Monterey
more/BSD
mt Xinu
MVS/ESA OpenEdition
NetBSD
NeXTSTEP
NonStop-UX
Open Desktop
Open UNIX
OpenBSD
OpenServer
OpenSolaris
OPENSTEP
OS/390 OpenEdition
OS/390 Unix
OSF/1
PC-BSD
PC/IX
Plan 9
Plurix new
PWB
PWB/UNIX
QNX
QNX RTOS
QNX/Neutrino
QUNIX
ReliantUnix
Rhapsody
RISC iX
RT
SCO UNIX
SCO UnixWare
SCO Xenix
SCO Xenix System V/386
Security-Enhanced Linux
Silver OS
Sinix
Sinix ReliantUnix
Solaris
SPIX
SunOS
Triance OS
Tru64 Unix
Trusted IRIX/B
Trusted Solaris
Trusted Xenix
TS
Tunis
UCLA Locus
UCLA Secure Unix
Ultrix
Ultrix 32M
Ultrix-11
Unicos
Unicos/mk
Unicos/mp
Unicox-max
UNICS
UNIX 32V
UNIX Interactive
UNIX System III
UNIX System IV
UNIX System V
UNIX System V Release 2
UNIX System V Release 3
UNIX System V Release 4
UNIX System V/286
UNIX System V/386
UNIX Time-Sharing System
UnixWare
UNSW
USG
Venix
Xenix OS
Xinu
xMach
z/OS Unix System Services

Here is now some unixes that are not [yet] in my chart. Some web sites have listed them, like this site or this site. If you want to find more unixes, try Google :-)

ABCenix
ACIX
AD
Altos System V
ARIX
AurOS
BOS/X
C Executive
CLIX
Consensys Unix
Concentrix
ConvexOS
CPIX
Cromix
CX/UX
DC/OSx
Dell Unix
DG/UX
DISTRIX
DNIX
DomainOS
DRM System
DTIX
DVIX
ENIX
EP/IX
Esix SVR4
Eurix
FOR:PRO
FreeMiNT
FTX
Genix
HCR
Helios
HEP-UPX
HI-UX
IDRIS
INOS
LSX
LynxOS
MachTen
MacMach
MAXION/OS
MCS
Micronix
Microport SVR4
MicroPort Unix
MMOS
MP-RAS UNIX
MST UNIX
Mulplix
Munix
NachOS
NCR Unix
NDIX
News-OS
NUXI new
Oasis
ONIX
OPUS
OS 9
OS/MP
OSx
PCUNIX
PNX
QNIX
Regulus
RT/EMT
RTUX
SORIX
SOX
Sphinx
SPP-UX
Stellix
SUNIX
Super-UX
System B
Thix
TI System V
TNIX
Topix
TOS
Tropix
UHC Unix
Umax
UniPlus
Uniq
Unisis
Unity
UNOS
UTEK
UTS
UTX/32S
UX
UXP/DS
UZIX
VM/IX
VOLVIX
Xoftnix
Zeus


Some useful UNIX links :

Some links about some UNIX lawsuits :

Some links :

My other links :


Last update : june 26, 2006
Please send comment to Éric Lévénez
The address of this page is http://www.levenez.com/unix/.

You can freely use this diagram for non-commercial purpose.