Linux distributions spread through the computing community to pick up where the original Unix left off. Despite the decline of the original Unix, many ideas live on in modern technology.

The official answer to that question is simple. UNIX® is any operating system descended from that original Bell Labs software developed by Thompson, Ritchie et al in 1969 and bearing a licence ...

As a reminder that this is a perfectly capable platform for the job, here’s the original UNIX running on a vintage DEC PDP7.