DOS and UNIX

  DOS and UNIX are two operating systems that are predominantly text based. DOS doesn’t have its own GUI so you are restricted to the command line. In contrast, UNIX can have a GUI just like most Linux variants.

Here are some of the differences and similarities between DOS & UNIX.

1. UNIX vs DOS: Differences

Number of Users

DOS is Single-User, UNIX is Multi-User

Task Processing

DOS is Single Process, UNIX supports multi-processing, multiple processes per user, and job control from the shell

Command-Line Interface

DOS has its command interpreter (command.com). UNIX has the shell (C-shell, Korn Shell, Bourne Shell etc.)

Security

Some versions of DOS allow password protection on file. UNIX has username/password for logins, and user/group/world permissions on files and directories.

Portability

DOS runs on Intel processors and compatible devices (8088, 8086, 286, 386, 486, Pentium). UNIX is available for a very wide variety of hardware platforms.

Shell-Level Programming

DOS has batch files. UNIX has shell scripts.7

2. DOS vs UNIX: Similarities

     Feature                        Similarity                  

File System         Hierarchical directory structure.           

File Access         Permissions (read, write etc.) on files,    
                    programs and directories.                   

Task Input/Output   Standard Input, Output and Error            
                    channels. Input/output of one task may be   
                    connected to another process via "pipe"     
                    or redirected to/from file.