UNIX-LIKE OPERATING SYSTEMS
21 SEPTEMBER 2025
The Unix operating system project appears to have started in 1969 at Bell Labs.
Something resembling contemporary Unix-like systems may have been developed in
1973 when Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson rewrote the Unix kernel in C. Both of
these important milestones, unfortunately, predate me by a number of years.
Nevertheless, operating systems created in the image of Unix and, more
importantly, that inherit its philosophy, have survived. Linux and OpenBSD are
two such systems that I am personally familiar with.
Operating systems like OpenBSD and Linux are free and open-source alternatives
to commercial operating systems such as Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows.
OpenBSD is developed by a group of hackers led by Theo de Raadt. Linux is
community-driven, although, increasingly and ironically, under the stewardship
of corporations such as IBM and Microsoft.
Commercial operating systems, and the corporations behind them, are becoming
increasily hostile towards their users. Viewing their users merely as a means
to an end, the unbridled harvesting of personal data for targetted advertising,
influencing the behavior of the masses, and training generative neural networks
has become their primary objective. the book ‘The Age of Surveillance
Capitalism’ by Professor Shoshana Zuboff documents in detail unassailable
evidence and poignant consequences of the surveillance activities by these
corporations.
The year 2020 transformed my personal computing experience. In March 2020, I
stumbled upon Arch Linux and discovered that I could customize my desktop
environment to look and work any way I liked. I exercised that newfound freedom
to create a Matrix-themed setup:
The system employs the X display server and the i3 window manager. The terminal
emulator used is Urxvt. The translucent effect is achieved with the help of the
Xcompmgr compositor. This sort of setup was popular among minimalist Linux
users.
In February 2024, I switched to an OpenBSD system with Xenocara (the OpenBSD
build of X display server) as the display server and i3 as the window manager:
Unlike Linux, OpenBSD includes a coherent desktop environment out of the box.
Except for the window manager, for which I prefer a tiling one, I’m now using
the default OpenBSD setup. For the window manager, I use dwm from the Suckless
team.
Files: dotfiles.tar.gz
The Unix operating system project appears to have started in 1969 at Bell Labs. Something resembling contemporary Unix-like systems may have been developed in 1973 when Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson rewrote the Unix kernel in C. Both of these important milestones, unfortunately, predate me by a number of years.
Nevertheless, operating systems created in the image of Unix and, more importantly, that inherit its philosophy, have survived. Linux and OpenBSD are two such systems that I am personally familiar with.
Operating systems like OpenBSD and Linux are free and open-source alternatives to commercial operating systems such as Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows. OpenBSD is developed by a group of hackers led by Theo de Raadt. Linux is community-driven, although, increasingly and ironically, under the stewardship of corporations such as IBM and Microsoft.
Commercial operating systems, and the corporations behind them, are becoming increasily hostile towards their users. Viewing their users merely as a means to an end, the unbridled harvesting of personal data for targetted advertising, influencing the behavior of the masses, and training generative neural networks has become their primary objective. the book ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ by Professor Shoshana Zuboff documents in detail unassailable evidence and poignant consequences of the surveillance activities by these corporations.
The year 2020 transformed my personal computing experience. In March 2020, I stumbled upon Arch Linux and discovered that I could customize my desktop environment to look and work any way I liked. I exercised that newfound freedom to create a Matrix-themed setup:
The system employs the X display server and the i3 window manager. The terminal emulator used is Urxvt. The translucent effect is achieved with the help of the Xcompmgr compositor. This sort of setup was popular among minimalist Linux users.
In February 2024, I switched to an OpenBSD system with Xenocara (the OpenBSD build of X display server) as the display server and i3 as the window manager:
Unlike Linux, OpenBSD includes a coherent desktop environment out of the box. Except for the window manager, for which I prefer a tiling one, I’m now using the default OpenBSD setup. For the window manager, I use dwm from the Suckless team.
Files: dotfiles.tar.gz