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  4. Operating Systems
  5. Linux Kernel vs macOS

Linux Kernel vs macOS

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

macOS
macOS
Stacks926
Followers562
Votes6
Linux Kernel
Linux Kernel
Stacks74
Followers81
Votes2

Linux Kernel vs macOS: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this document, we will explore and compare the key differences between the Linux Kernel and macOS operating systems.

  1. Architecture: The Linux Kernel follows a monolithic architecture, where the entire operating system is implemented as a single piece of software. On the other hand, macOS uses a hybrid architecture, combining elements of both monolithic and microkernel architectures. This allows for better security and stability in macOS compared to Linux.

  2. User Interface: macOS provides a proprietary graphical user interface (GUI) called Aqua, which is known for its sleek design and ease of use. Linux, on the other hand, offers a variety of user interface options, such as GNOME, KDE, and XFCE, which can be customized to meet individual preferences.

  3. Hardware Compatibility: macOS is specifically designed to run on Apple hardware, providing optimized performance and compatibility. In contrast, Linux Kernel is widely known for its extensive hardware compatibility, supporting a wide range of devices and architectures. This makes Linux a favored choice for users with diverse hardware configurations.

  4. Software Availability: macOS has a rich software ecosystem, with a wide range of applications and tools available through the App Store. While Linux has also seen significant growth in software availability, with thousands of open-source applications, it still falls short in terms of proprietary software support. Many popular proprietary applications are not officially developed for Linux, although alternative open-source options exist.

  5. Community and Development: The Linux Kernel has a large and active community of developers and contributors, with regular updates and improvements. This vibrant community ensures rapid bug fixes, security patches, and feature enhancements. macOS, on the other hand, has a closed-source development model, with updates and improvements primarily driven by the Apple development team. While both approaches have their own advantages, Linux benefits from the collective efforts of a larger developer community.

  6. Customization and Flexibility: Linux Kernel offers extensive customization options, allowing users to tailor the operating system to their specific requirements. This includes the ability to choose different desktop environments, themes, and software packages. macOS, although providing some customization options, is generally less flexible in terms of customization.

In Summary, Linux Kernel and macOS differ in architecture, user interface, hardware compatibility, software availability, community and development support, as well as customization and flexibility.

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Advice on macOS, Linux Kernel

Jennifer
Jennifer

Mar 16, 2020

Needs advice

Netdata introduces Linux eBPF (Extended Berkeley Packet Filter) monitoring. With this enabled, monitor real-time metrics of Linux kernel functions and actions from the very same monitoring and troubleshooting dashboard used for watching entire systems, or even entire infrastructures.

This collector uses eBPF to monitor system calls inside your operating system’s kernel. For now, the main goal of this plugin is to monitor IO and process management on the host where it is running.

67.2k views67.2k
Comments
Justin
Justin

Open Source Program Manager at Reblaze

Aug 15, 2019

Review

If you have a file (demo.txt) that has 3 columns:

Column-1    Column-2    Column-3
Row-1a      Row-2a      Row-3a         
Row-1b      Row-2b      Row-3b
Row-1c      Row-2c      Row-3c
Row-1d      Row-2d      Row-3d
Row-1e      Row-2e      Row-3e

and you want to only view the first column of the file in your CLI, run the following:

awk {'print $1'} demo.txt

Column-1
Row-1a
Row-1b
Row-1c
Row-1d
Row-1e

If you want to print the second column of demo.txt, just replace $1 with $2

96.4k views96.4k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

macOS
macOS
Linux Kernel
Linux Kernel

Desktop, laptop and home computers, and by web usage, it is the second most widely used desktop OS, after Microsoft Windows.

Development on the LInux kernel.

Statistics
Stacks
926
Stacks
74
Followers
562
Followers
81
Votes
6
Votes
2
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 4
    Clean Interface
  • 1
    No promoted content
  • 1
    M1
Cons
  • 1
    Outdated window management
Pros
  • 1
    The best
  • 1
    Sometimes you just have to write your own drivers
Integrations
Slack
Slack
Google Chrome
Google Chrome
Firefox
Firefox
Hyper
Hyper
FUSE for macOS
FUSE for macOS
iTerm2
iTerm2
Sketch
Sketch
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to macOS, Linux Kernel?

Ubuntu

Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an ancient African word meaning ‘humanity to others’. It also means ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’. The Ubuntu operating system brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the world of computers.

Debian

Debian

Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel or the FreeBSD kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. FreeBSD is an operating system including a kernel and other software.

Arch Linux

Arch Linux

A lightweight and flexible Linux distribution that tries to Keep It Simple.

Fedora

Fedora

Fedora is a Linux-based operating system that provides users with access to the latest free and open source software, in a stable, secure and easy to manage form. Fedora is the largest of many free software creations of the Fedora Project. Because of its predominance, the word "Fedora" is often used interchangeably to mean both the Fedora Project and the Fedora operating system.

Linux Mint

Linux Mint

The purpose of Linux Mint is to produce a modern, elegant and comfortable operating system which is both powerful and easy to use.

CentOS

CentOS

The CentOS Project is a community-driven free software effort focused on delivering a robust open source ecosystem. For users, we offer a consistent manageable platform that suits a wide variety of deployments. For open source communities, we offer a solid, predictable base to build upon, along with extensive resources to build, test, release, and maintain their code.

Linux

Linux

A clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance.

CoreOS

CoreOS

It is designed for security, consistency, and reliability. Instead of installing packages via yum or apt, it uses Linux containers to manage your services at a higher level of abstraction. A single service's code and all dependencies are packaged within a container that can be run on one or many machines.

Gentoo Linux

Gentoo Linux

It is a free operating system based on either Linux or FreeBSD that can be automatically optimized and customized for just about any application or need.

Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux

Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox.

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