Is OS X similar to a *nix system?

[ardchoille50]

I have been researching OS X prior to purchasing a Mac mini in a couple of months. What I am seeing is that OS X has quite a number of similarities to Linux systems - I've been using Linux as my sole OS since 2001.

Is OS X that similar to Linux? Can someone help educate me on this? I thought Apple products used an in-house operating system.

 

[Intell]

Mac OS X is a UNIX system, very closely based on BSD. It's sub-systems are fully POSIX compliant as of Mac OS X 10.5. Because of this, it is considered a *NIX system.

 

[ardchoille50]

Mac OS X is a UNIX system, very closely based on BSD. It's sub-systems are fully POSIX compliant as of Mac OS X 10.5. Because of this, it is considered a *NIX system.

Well, that explains all of the similarities I'm seeing. That also means that I'm not going to be as unfamiliar with a Mac mini as I previously assumed.

 

[mobilehaathi]

I've been quite happy since switching from Linux to OSX several years ago!

 

[ardchoille50]

I've been quite happy since switching from Linux to OSX several years ago!

Thank you very much for that! Helps alleviate the nervousness I have been feeling.

 

[OGDK]

Wait, one thing you will miss is apt-get. There's no apt-get in OS X, only 3rd-party things like Homebrew and MacPorts that try to be the same thing but aren't as good.

OS X is a *nix operating system (not just similar to one), the best one for personal use I think. Install Xcode and the Xcode Command Line Tools to get all the compiling commands, and you'll feel right at home… except for no apt-get

 

[ardchoille50]

Wait, one thing you will miss is apt-get. There's no apt-get in OS X, only 3rd-party things like Homebrew and MacPorts that try to be the same thing but aren't as good.

OS X is a *nix operating system (not just similar to one), the best one for personal use I think. Install Xcode and the Xcode Command Line Tools to get all the compiling commands, and you'll feel right at home… except for no apt-get

I doubt I'll miss apt-get, I've been using Synaptic for the past couple years. I will want XCode, though, as I plan on creating apps at some point.

I think the one thing I may miss is the bash shell, I have been writing my own bash scripts for quite a while.

 

[mfram]

I think the one thing I may miss is the bash shell, I have been writing my own bash scripts for quite a while.

Bash is on Mac. No problem. It's the same bash as on Linux. The difference is that the command line utilities are not the GNU versions. They derive from BSD. So the switches may act a little different. It's like how other Unix systems are slightly different. Have you used other Unix systems other than Linux?

 

[ardchoille50]

Bash is on Mac. No problem. It's the same bash as on Linux. The difference is that the command line utilities are not the GNU versions. They derive from BSD. So the switches may act a little different. It's like how other Unix systems are slightly different. Have you used other Unix systems other than Linux?

Oh, nice to know I'll find bash in the Mac world. No, I came from Windows 98 SE to debian GNU/Linux in 2001 and have been solely on Linux since then.

 

[MacUser2525]

Oh, nice to know I'll find bash in the Mac world. No, I came from Windows 98 SE to debian GNU/Linux in 2001 and have been solely on Linux since then.

Went the same route except it was 1999 Redhat 5.2 off the start Debian at the end. If you start missing your old command line tools Mac Ports or Homebrew are the place to get them and has been mentioned watch out for the switches most are compatible but the BSD variant of commands used have some differences. You need Xcode command line tools installed if you want a compiler.

 

[ardchoille50]

Went the same route except it was 1999 Redhat 5.2 off the start Debian at the end. If you start missing your old command line tools Mac Ports or Homebrew are the place to get them and has been mentioned watch out for the switches most are compatible but the BSD variant of commands used have some differences. You need Xcode command line tools installed if you want a compiler.

As long as I can do

man $app_manpage

I think I'll be ok.

I guess OS X won't be foreign territory after all.

 

[bradl]

Oh, nice to know I'll find bash in the Mac world. No, I came from Windows 98 SE to debian GNU/Linux in 2001 and have been solely on Linux since then.

Went the same route except it was 1999 Redhat 5.2 off the start Debian at the end. If you start missing your old command line tools Mac Ports or Homebrew are the place to get them and has been mentioned watch out for the switches most are compatible but the BSD variant of commands used have some differences. You need Xcode command line tools installed if you want a compiler.

Similar for me, but I went from Macs with System Software 7.x to Linux (Slackware) all the way up to 2 years ago, when I went back to Macs. Haven't looked back since.

And don't worry about apt-get. As you know, not everything in Linux is Ubuntu. Personally, I just got tired of rolling my own everything. Yes, I've used different software distributions, but I got tired compiling Afterstep, compiling my own kernel, setting up NTP, the whole entire lot. After nearly 20 years, it got old for me, and I just didn't want to keep doing it.

Waited for the right Macbook Air to come out, and pulled the trigger on it. Loved it enough I built a hackintosh to try the desktop. Last machine I'm ever going to build. Next I'm going legit with either a new Mini or iMac. Or if the options are available (read: 1TB SSD), BTO a new MBA and not worry about a desktop again.

Outside of flightsimming, which I already have a dedicated PC for, there is nothing I need in Windows or Linux that I can't do on a Mac.

BL.

 

[OGDK]

As long as I can do

man $app_manpage

I think I'll be ok.

I guess OS X won't be foreign territory after all.

You can do that as long as you have Command Line Tools installed (which you can download within Xcode). See, I went from Windows to Mac then tried Linux, and I was already familiar with Linux.

 

[ardchoille50]

Similar for me, but I went from Macs with System Software 7.x to Linux (Slackware) all the way up to 2 years ago, when I went back to Macs. Haven't looked back since.

And don't worry about apt-get. As you know, not everything in Linux is Ubuntu. Personally, I just got tired of rolling my own everything. Yes, I've used different software distributions, but I got tired compiling Afterstep, compiling my own kernel, setting up NTP, the whole entire lot. After nearly 20 years, it got old for me, and I just didn't want to keep doing it.

Waited for the right Macbook Air to come out, and pulled the trigger on it. Loved it enough I built a hackintosh to try the desktop. Last machine I'm ever going to build. Next I'm going legit with either a new Mini or iMac. Or if the options are available (read: 1TB SSD), BTO a new MBA and not worry about a desktop again.

Outside of flightsimming, which I already have a dedicated PC for, there is nothing I need in Windows or Linux that I can't do on a Mac.

BL.

I'm getting tired of the constant compiling/tinkering just to get something to work. And submitting a bug report to the developer of an app only to be told that it wasn't his problem (upstream), and the upstream folks send me back to the developer of the app.

linux is nice, but it suffers from too many cooks in the kitchen working on the same meal without collaboration. There's much to be said for using a system from a company that controls both the hardware and the software.

I'm 50 years old and planning to buy a Mac mini , Core i7 model, in March.. it will likely be my last desktop computer.

 

[mobilehaathi]

I'm getting tired of the constant compiling/tinkering just to get something to work. And submitting a bug report to the developer of an app only to be told that it wasn't his problem (upstream), and the upstream folks send me back to the developer of the app.

linux is nice, but it suffers from too many cooks in the kitchen working on the same meal without collaboration. There's much to be said for using a system from a company that controls both the hardware and the software.

These were pretty much my exact reasons for switching (plus native Adobe Illustrator support). Now if OSX wasn't a unix system, I might have held out. As other have pointed out bash exists (thank god). The first thing you'll probably want to do is go to /Applications/Utilities/ and grab Terminal.app to place on your application dock for easy access.

 

[ardchoille50]

These were pretty much my exact reasons for switching (plus native Adobe Illustrator support). Now if OSX wasn't a unix system, I might have held out. As other have pointed out bash exists (thank god). The first thing you'll probably want to do is go to /Applications/Utilities/ and grab Terminal.app to place on your application dock for easy access.

Oh, yes, I'll have the Terminal app in my dock as one of my first steps.

So glad to hear that I'm not alone regarding reasons to switch.

 

[bradl]

Oh, yes, I'll have the Terminal app in my dock as one of my first steps.

So glad to hear that I'm not alone regarding reasons to switch.

If you're really missing it, X is available as well. Quartz is available for download if running Mountain Lion or Mavericks, while X11 is native within Lion.

Other than that, you should be pretty well set with the best of both worlds, and nothing to compile, unless you want to.

Oh, you'll find some things missing that you may normally see in Linux, so if you're homesick for those, MacPorts may have what you're looking for, source code included.

BL.

 

[ardchoille50]

Here is a screenshot of my current Linux system, it's as close as I could get to OS X within the limitations of Linux.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Here is a screenshot of my current Linux system, it's as close as I could get to OS X within the limitations of Linux.

You might not even notice the difference!