#How to run unix on mac how to
#How to run unix on mac for mac os x
#How to run unix on mac mac os x

When I boot up my computer, there's a place called lindsayrgwatt that looks like the image below (Note that my hard drive is called The Whirr Box and I've an iDisk you may not. On my Mac, my user name is lindsayrgwatt. This is also the directory where you start at when you log into UNIX. In UNIX, everything is measured relative to this root directory (examples are forthcoming).Įach user on a system has a home directory. First, they're all hierarchical and they roll up to a master directory denoted as root. Let's talk a bit more about those directories. Conceptually, just remember that in UNIX there's a specific program you call to do anything. Want to copy a file? On your Mac you'd simply choose the Duplicate command. Whenever you want to do anything, you use a program that you execute via the command line. The universe now consists of directories, each of which can contain files, programs or other directories. On your Mac, you're used to thinking in terms of storing things (files and applications) in folders or the desktop and then using commands within an application to do things (e.g., create a folder in the Finder, etc.).

#How to run unix on mac how to

Double-click it to open and you should see an image like the one below.īefore diving into the guts of UNIX, let's talk briefly about different concepts in UNIX and how to relate them to what you know in the Mac OS The command line is accessed on your Mac via a program called Terminal that is found via Applications::utilities::Terminal. People have written graphical user interfaces to run on top of UNIX (Apple wrote Aqua X11 is another popular one), but to get the full power, you need to use the command line. This is an important thing to understand: if you want to really use UNIX on your Mac, you're going to have to get below the graphical interface and use the command line. It takes the raw power and stability of UNIX and adds a beautiful graphical interface called Aqua on top.

#How to run unix on mac mac os x

The Mac OS X is an operating system that is build on top of UNIX (prior to OS X, Macs didn't use UNIX). When you use UNIX you're basically getting 40 years of continuous improvement under the hood, meaning that you're using one of the most powerful and stable operating systems around. UNIX is an operating system that dates back to 1969 when it was created by folks at Bell Labs. It's a little out of date as the switch to Leopard changed how some commands are handled, but it's excellent reading - and written by a true expert.

#How to run unix on mac for mac os x

For further reading, I suggest checking out Learning Unix for Mac OS X Tiger. It's not exhaustive and is aimed at people without a Computer Science degree who want to learn more and get to the point where they can ask smart questions. Or maybe you want to get a server up and running so you need to learn about the command line. Maybe you want to install some software like MySQL. Why would you possibly want to learn UNIX on the Mac? Maybe you want to get under the hood of your Mac to know how it works.