UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

whats the difference between unix & linux? code?

can anyone recommend a company that release unix software that operates with windows 98 & XP for rookies? please list a link...

thanks for your time

UNIX is a family of operating systems and a superset that includes Linux. There's no one single "UNIX" operating system exist, rather there are many systems that fit into family due to of core conceptions they implement. All systems of the family, including Linux of cause, share same set of basic commands, such as for file operations, editing, shells etc. However more complex issues such as system management and volume management are different as they reflect the differences in implementations and trends for brand oriented hardware.

There are many systems that you can get essentially for free: FreeBSD, Open BSD, some Linuxes and so on. Essentially, UNIX is a different OS and it may coexist with Windows on the same machine for education purposes. You can dedicate one partition to it and install any of aforementioned. If you really really new, I would recommend Mandrake Linux as it is most polished and has very convenient tools for automatic installations for beginner.
Get "UNIX Essentials and UNIX Core" DVD if you are going learn this stuff.
Hope it helps.