Chapter 1. The Backstory

The focus of this book is migrating from Linux-based systems to Mac OS X. To lay the foundation for the information to come, a little history is in order. This chapter provides a brief history of UNIX, BSD, and Mac OS X.

Of Macros and Manuals: UNIX

The creation of Mac OS X really starts with the creation of UNIX. That story is well known, especially among Linux geeks—a group that owes a great debt of gratitude to the work of -Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, and a team of Bell Labs engineers. In the summer and early fall of 1969, these engineers cobbled together a rough operating system based on the Multiplexed Information and Computing Service (MULTICS) operating system. MULTICS was a project taken on jointly in 1966 by Bell, ...

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