I know Linux is an operating system but I see memes and posts about people arguing whether UNIX is an operating system or a kernel and stuff like that. So what separates the two? And what exactly is a kernel?
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Unix is an older operating system dating back into the 1970s. This was back when 1 computer was highly expensive, and having many people able to use it was a valuable thing. It was imitated by many different other operating systems, and Linux is a member of that family of imitators.
“Linux”, as a proper name specifically, only refers to the kernel, which is the software that runs the system as a whole. Your CPU has 2 main modes of operation: Operating System, and Application (to over-simplify a bit). Only the kernel’s code runs on the CPU in Operating System mode, and all programs/apps run under it in Application mode. Direct access to the hardware, like sending commands to a hard drive, isn’t possible in Application mode, and it’s up to the kernel to handle those things for the apps, doing both the execution of the commands on behalf of the apps, but also enforcing rules like if a user doesn’t want their files read by other users, then Linux won’t allow it (administrator user excepted). The kernel does all the multi-tasking, app separation, memory allocation, files and directory management, crashing misbehaving apps, etc.
The meme you might have heard about is the GNU/Linux debate. If Linux is *just* the kernel, then what apps does it run? The traditional answer is GNU project apps, from the Free Software Foundation. These finish up the Unix look-alike goal that Linux provides with the common processing, mostly command-line apps that go with Linux. Now it doesn’t have to be GNU apps specifically, but overhauling the operating system’s fundamental apps is a huge undertaking.
So now you have a full blown operating system, starting up, detecting hardware, and running the first apps that provide you with a Login screen, etc.
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