Unix History
Unix Timeline

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

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 freely download one of the following PDF files:

A4 Letter Plotter A4 Letter
History Index

Warning: it seems that Adobe Reader has some problems reading the large plotter version of the Unix History chart, but happily you can use another PDF viewer for this task. By the way, if you are on macOS, just use Safari :-)

Here is the ChangeLog of this history.

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.

Another chart on the wall

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. ;-)

My other charts:

Some Home Pages
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

Unix History on Google

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
Android
AOS Lite
AOS Reno
AppleTV
ArchBSD
ASV
Atari Unix
A/UX
BBX
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
Dell Unix
DesktopBSD
Digital Unix
DragonFly BSD
Dynix
Dynix/ptx
ekkoBSD
Eunice
FireFly BSD
FreeBSD
FreeDarwin
GNU
GNU-Darwin
Gnuppix GNU/Hurd-L4
HPBSD
HP-UX
HP-UX BLS
IBM AOS
IBM IX/370
Inferno
Interactive 386/ix
Interactive IS
iOS
iPhone OS
iPod OS
IRIS GL2
IRIX
Junos OS
Linux
Lites
LSX
macOS (Mac OS X)
Mach
MERT
MicroBSD
MidnightBSD
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
OpenDarwin
OpenIndiana
OpenServer
OpenSolaris
OPENSTEP
OS/390 OpenEdition
OS/390 Unix
OSF/1
OS X
PC-BSD
PC/IX
Plan 9
Plurix
PureDarwin
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
UniSoft UniPlus
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. If you want to find more unixes, try Google :-)

ABCenix
ACIX
AD
ÆrieBSD
Altos System V
ANALIX
ARIX
AurOS
Bitrig
BKUNIX
BOS/X
BS2000/OSD-BC
C Executive
CLIX
Consensys Unix
Concentrix
ConvexOS
COSIX
CPIX
Cromix
CX/UX
DCC-IX
DC/OSx
DG/UX
DISTRIX
DNIX
Domain/OS
DRM System
DTIX
DVIX
EDIX
ENIX
EP/IX
Esix SVR4
Eurix
FOR:PRO
FreeMiNT
FTX
Genix
HCR
Helios
HEP-UPX
HI-UX
IDRIS
Illumos
INOS
LSX
LynxOS
MachTen
MacMach
MAXION/OS
MCS
Micronix
Microport SVR4
MicroPort Unix
Mimos
MMOS
MP-RAS UNIX
MST UNIX
Mulplix
Munix
NachOS
NCR Unix/NS
NDIX
News-OS
NUXI
Oasis
ONIX
OPUS
OS 9
OS/MP
OSx
PacBSD
PCUNIX
PNX
Punix
QNIX
REAL
Regulus
RetroBSD
RT/EMT
RTUX
SORIX
Sortix
SOX
Sphinx
SPP-UX
Stellix
SUNIX
Super-UX
System B
Thix
TI System V
TNIX
Topix
TOS
Tribblix
Tropix
UHC Unix
Umax
UniFLEX
Uniq
Unisis
Unity
UNOS
USIX
UTEK
UTS
UTX/32S
UX
UXP/DS
UZIX
VM/IX
VOLVIX
Xoftnix
Zeus
Some useful UNIX links

Unix on Wikipedia
Some links about some UNIX lawsuits

Unix Lawsuits on Google
Some links
My other links
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